"Secret Canyon Pools"12x16, oil/linen
"Secret Wilderness Butte"9x12, oil/panel
Few brush strokes, many brush strokes - what's best? Well, it depends.
Here are two paintings I did at the end of the week. For the first one, I hiked up past Midgely Bridge and into Wilson Canyon to find a cool, shaded spot with little pools of water. My goal with this painting was to capture the scene with only a big brush and as few strokes as possible. I used two #12 flats. Although I might need to hit the darks a little harder in the foreground, I think it came off well.
For the second one, I hiked with Prescott artist Bill Cramer (www.billcramerpaintings.com) to Dead Man's Pass Trail, where we wandered off the trail into the manzanita and cat claw acacia. While I painted this 9x12, Bill did two paintings that were a bit bigger. "I'm fast," he says, and he does a great job. His pieces were masterfully blocked in and captured the light well. I put lots more brush strokes into this one than I did for the first! Even so, I think I avoided making it too "fussy."
