Bragg Creek - wip

Bragg Creek - a work in progress

20" x 24" oil on canvas

I am truly a beginner when it comes to oil paint... I LOVE the gorgeous values I see in oil paintings, but trying to achieve that look and keep things highly representational is not all that easy I have found.

This is a painting of a place about 1/2 hour away from where I live, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. As you can see, it is in the fall of the year. Here in southern Alberta, we have mostly yellows as our fall tree colors, but the bushes and some of the grasses have touches of orange and red.

I have yet to define the "path" which will lead your eye into and through the painting. I will do that with touches of bright color in the bushes which dominate the growth in this painting. As well, I want to add more depth to the color of the mountains in the background to create more atmosphere. Right now, they are too difficult to see.

There's much to do yet... rocks in the water, details in the foreground bushes and grasses, highlights... but I think I will let this layer dry before I go back in. Otherwise, I find that it is quite messy and it takes me longer to develop the painting than if I worked on something else for a bit and came back to this one when it's ready to receive more attention!

I hope to have this one completed in the next couple of weeks though. I want to enter it into an art show that is toward the end of September, and it needs to have plenty of time to dry!

BRAGG CREEK - underpainting

Bragg Creek underpainting

20" x 24" standard canvas

I love being able to drive for 30 minutes and end up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains! A couple of years ago, in the fall, I was in Bragg Creek, a small hamlet just 30 minutes west of my home. It was a glorious fall day - bright, warm and so special for late September! I had left the retreat I was attending, and gone for a drive with my camera in hand. At one point, I stopped to take a picture just before a bridge which crossed over a small stream. The late afternoon sun was perfect, the reflections in the stream crisp and still. In the very far distance you could see the mountains as well as the closer foothills.

I used this photo for my calendar which I produced and sold at my 2009 Art Show which I held in my home. It was a very successful venture - and I am anticipating it being even better this year.

I enjoyed this photo, and the afternoon of exploration so much that I decided to do an oil representation of this location. The canvas is 20" x 24", so there is quite a bit of canvas to cover. As I work on this painting, I also will be working on my "sky" series of smaller paintings, as well as about a dozen textured acrylic paintings. I do love what I do!