We last saw this painting of Alta Peak and the Kaweah River (just “Kaweah River” without any identifying titles because here all the forks have come together) looking hopeful, but with much work ahead. It was time, nay, past time to get this done. (So many distractions!)

Here you can see how I progress from the farthest things to the closest things, adding more definition and detail as I work forward. I’m not saying this is either the only or the right way to paint—it simply is the way I learned and what works best to achieve the level of detail that I prefer.

I could have kept going, and still wonder if I ought to add a few closer wildflowers, but I signed it and moved ahead. Chances are I will mix some new greens and brighten the closest grass.

We last saw this one of Blossom Peak and the river looking like this:

The river is rockier and even more confusing in this scene, so the work of simplification is the first challenge.

The afternoon light was waning while I sat, stared, and contemplated how best to interpret real life into something paintable and believable.

You can see that the colors here look different from the 2 photos above. That’s how it goes when painting with natural light. Lots of people use an “ott light”. I don’t understand the word “ott” and only use mine if I’m on a deadline and have to paint when light is low. My approach is based on the fact that no one who buys my paintings will be displaying them under an ott light. They need to look normal and natural and good in regular light.

So this one will have to just hang loose and be cool for awhile longer. That’s what people used to say before “mellow out”, “chill”, “chill out”, and “chillax” came into use. Now I don’t know what people say other than “it is what it is”, meaning you can’t do diddly squat about it. Wait, does anyone say “diddly squat” anymore?