"Fresh Tracks"
I started this painting after taking a hike through the mountains nearby where I live. We had just received some snowfall which is a pretty common occurrence around here and something I'm fairly used to but every once in a while these moments arise where I'm just completely taken back and this was one of them. We had come around a couple corners on the trail and I began to notice the light shining through the trees and it was starting to catch my eye we came through this one section of the trail where it really intensified and it never fails that when I see things like this and I experience times like this I'm just stopped in my tracks and I knew I had to depict something that related to what I was seeing.
The area where we were hiking is a place that we visit often, I’m lucky enough to see this place all times of the year, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. I’ve been through this spot many many times in the past however this particular time was just out of this world unique as well as beautiful and that's what I tried to capture in this painting I used a standard plain panel which I gessoed several times and sanded lightly. The paint I'm using is Gamblin artist oils along with Liquin impasto and I use primarily one brush. This particular brush I used in this painting is what I consider to be my plein air painting brush. It's a very crisp and precise angled flat brush. It's a smaller flat brush which I think really suits well for loose painting with a tight feel. When I started this painting I used a mixture of indian yellow along with paint thinner and I used a lot of paint thinner to wash over the board and then wiped it dry with a shop rag and that gave me that nice golden tone which I used to my advantage.
As I worked through this brightly colored sunset, I painted this piece alla prima using wet on wet oil painting techniques and I painted this over the course of a few days. I pretty much worked all day each day on this painting and I used less medium to a point where I was able to keep the paint wet throughout this entire process. On the third day, it was starting to really dry and tack up a bit on me, but at that point I was into the foreground and was able to tie my work into the previous layer even though it was starting to tense up a bit in consistency. I really enjoy working in this technique because it helps me with my plein air process. It helps to challenge myself and try to achieve what I'm after without taking a break and hesitating to think about what I'm doing. I find that if I'm just doing it rather than thinking about it or pondering what I'm going to do, it allows me to just open up my style and really dive in and start feeling the paint more than than thinking about what to do with it and it seems like when I get into that state, so to speak, creativity really starts to flow for me and that's where I feel like a lot of my work really starts to shine and so I very much so love working in alla prima. Working with wet paint is something that I didn't used to do, however, it’s something I found that really helped me advance further more quickly over time and that's a personal thing that I think is good to try.
Specifics:
8x10" Original oil painting - canvas panel
This painting comes with a certificate of authenticity which is also documented in a hard copy catalog of original paintings. This catalog is in the possession of myself, the artist.
I personally guarantee that this painting will last for many years to come. I use nothing but the highest grade archival materials in creating and framing this artwork to ensure that this painting is ready to withstand the ages. If you have any questions about this painting or any concerns please feel free to contact me.
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