So often I hear my wife or kids say “why in the world would you want to paint that“?

It’s funny the way the mind of an artist works. Whether a photographer or painter, I suppose we see things as they could be. We look through a lens of inspiration all around us, as seen in everyday life.

Artistic Photo Reference

As many artists do, I spent a lot of time throughout my life taking photos for artistic reference. You never know what shot will become the next painting inspiration.

Like this photo, taken on a hike through the Angeles National Forest.

Long after that hike was over and had become a distant memory, I ran across this reference photo in my quest to find an interesting subject for a limited palette painting.

If you are an artist, you should read my article about how and why artists should paint with a limited  to challenge themselves.

So Why This Photo?

Something about the composition of the rocks in relation to each other, and the trees behind it drew my eye. The manner in which the rocks intersected would make for a visually interesting waterfall painting.

The texture of the moss and even the leaves would also serve as an artful emphasis. Granted, this would take a little imagination…of what could be rather than simply the reality of what the eye sees.

For example: the manner in which rocks came down in a slant and intersect each other could create a visually dynamic waterfall. The reality is somewhat underwhelming. Now take a look at what I did with the falls in this close up of the painting.

By accentuating the waterfall as it spills over the unique rock formation, it gave me an opportunity to play with light as an accent in this piece.

The water doesn’t end in a foamy mass, but rather a visually stunning highlight and pop of color. I wanted to keep the eye focused on where the water would come down and be the focal point culminating in the reflective pool below.

You’ll note that in the actual photo the reflection is a mirror image. I wanted to keep the painting more impressionistic rather than detail oriented, so it became prudent to leave that mirror image out.

Artistic Challenges With This Painting

Because I used a limited palette for this painting, the challenge would be in the highlights. I wanted the painting to have a sunset flavor to it. So amid the green of the forest, the hues of sunset break through the trees.

This is actually tricky, and as an artist I had to “cheat” the light to do it. In the real world, this kind of light isn’t going to give you a green shadowing. It would produce more of a dark grayish blue, or subtle purple haze. Since I am limiting my palette to see how far I can go with two main hues, it stretches the imagination to how you can achieve a visually stunning highlight and shadow interplay with just those colors…even if it breaks the rules.

Adding An Element For Interest

I felt the painting looked a little plain when it was completed. Even as I worked the lighting, it wasn’t enough to sustain the piece on it’s own. So to visually help it out, I added a tree that is not in the photograph.

The tree would be as if it was bending into the picture… it couldn’t come from the bottom because there is water there, so I had to curve it into the picture.

Artist gotta figure out how to cheat to make things work better.

The lighting is what I was hoping for. To get that sense of the sunset flavor in the painting. Creativity includes finding ways of pushing color into different possibilities. I’ll look at the color wheel and say what color do I want to play with. And that will be my main color to do a haze over everything…or the under color coming through to effect the look. That’s one of the ways I approach limited palettes.

Santa Cruz Inspiration

There are several small islands off the coast of California. Catalina is one of those popular tourist island you are probably familiar with, while Santa Cruz was once a privately owned island that was less popular. As you can imagine, being largely untouched by tourists it was quite beautiful with loads of inspiration for any artist!

One weekend a co-worker friend of mine from Disney planned a day trip for a group of us to this little paradise.

Unlike Catalina with all the buildings and tourism, this secluded island was mostly in it’s natural state. The only exception was the owner’s house and buildings. Nothing about this place shouted commercialism, and nature was able to flourish in all it’s beauty and uniqueness. There are even species of plants and animals unique to this island!

On our hike we came upon this road in the middle of nature, and something about that gracefully rustic gate caught my eye. I couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures as artistic reference for the future. You never know what will become your next great painting!

Some of the Eucalyptus trees had a droopy almost weeping look to them while their boughs were so full and heavy. Everything about this place lent itself to a more romantic styled. I was especially captivated by the incredible shadowing and light when the sun broke through the trees.

Turning Reality Into Visual Interest

The painting itself is actually a color interpretation from the original. I decided to give it a warm colored sky, as if at eventide rather than the bright blue sky that graced us overhead. The addition of the reddish tint to the bushes adds a  visual pop of color.

Finally, I thought a lamp post might be a sweet little addition, again for interest and to lend itself to the dreamy quality of the space.

In this painting you can see my love of detail work. While my painting style is definitely not realism, it isn’t quite impressionism either. I like to see a marriage between the two, and I tried to accomplish just that with the look and feel of this painting.

You’ll notice some detail work in the foliage of the trees while still maintaining simplicity and looseness. I wanted to show the distinct tree variations so I emphasized the weeping quality with a bit of detail work.

The Original Painting

You may have seen the print for Old Shadow Road in the shop, but I recently donated the original to our local hospital Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley. 

I’m so thrilled that this hospital knows the value of art for their hospital. The space would be cold and sterile without some of the finer details such as artwork to brighten the view for their patients.

Because they need  help gaining funds for art, they asked several artists to donate pieces for auction. The funds will then go to purchase the quantity and quality of art required to fill the hospital.

It was such an honor to be part of raising funds, as well as to be the keynote speaker at the fund raising event. I hope Old Shadow Road is well loved by it’s new owner.

Shop | You can own your own copy of Old Shadow Road by buying the print here