I love walking around Heron Lake in Yosemite Lakes Park. No matter what time of year you go, there’s always something wonderful to see. On this particular day, the smoke was thick due to the many fires in the area. I probably shouldn’t have been out in it but I just couldn’t stay indoors any longer. Between the heat and the smoke, I’d been cooped up for way too long.
As we walked I shot many pics and this one spoke to me the loudest. I was completely inspired and I created four paintings from this scene. The first one, “Wide Awake” woke me up at 12:30 am and demanded to be painted. Seriously! SO I painted and painted and then took a few naps later in the day 🙂 This is a palette-knife painting with a fairly traditional color palette.
The second painting, “Flash of Insight” was created with an elongated canvas using acrylic paint. I pushed the color. I pushed the composition. I pushed everything!
After that I went wild with the color. “Dance” is a palette knife painting and the pigments really do dance with each other. “Rush Hour” got its name due to the fact that I drank the caffeinated coffee rather than decaf that morning. Drinking the regular coffee was an oops, but I love how you can feel and see the intensity in the work.
I get so many ideas when I am painting. Should I try this? Should I try that? Creating multiple pieces from one scene allows me to try out many of my ideas. Huge grin, I think this scene may have run its course but then again, I never know. I’m still painting sock monkeys after all these years.
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