Third Creek Foot Bridge

July 9, 2009 - 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas

Wow, I'm surprised it's been a month since I completed my last painting. This painting was done for some special friends who've made their cabin at Incline Village on Lake Tahoe's north shore available to my family. We were up there this past February and I found this beautiful scene in a park along the lake. The day was sunny and remarkably warm. The birch trees are still bare and the grasses aren't yet very green.

I'd read a little about "blocking" a painting and tried what I'd understood it to mean: basically laying down the dominant colors for later definition. I almost quit here.

I love the colors as I was able to use most of the earth tones in my collection, including red oxide (the bridge), yellow ochre (the ground cover), raw umber (on the ground and shading the trees) and a new color I picked up, especially for this painting, sap green (in the creek and on the trees). Throw in titanium white and carbon black (along with cad yellow and pthalo blue for the evergreens in the bacground) and that's it.

In total, I have about 30 hours into this painting. I'm realizing it's a good thing this is a hobby, because I'd starve if I had to make a living from it.