Landscape Interpretation

Painting at Wayne Art Center the other night, I decided to do a quick study on an 8 x 10 canvas.

I also decided that I should follow Georganna's sage advice and worked from an actual image instead of some invented scene that only my mind's eye could see.
 

I am always searching for images of beauty....images that reach me at a fundamental level, reassuring me that the world is an awe inspiring, dazzling, wonderful place.

I often have my camera with me just in case I witness a magical moment that I might want to revisit or later turn into a painting.

I also have file folders of pictures that have been gathered for years from different sources.....magazines, books, newspapers.

These are images that make me think, "One of these days, I'm going to do something with this."

 

It was time to use this image:

I like the apparent simplicity of the landscape that actually becomes more complex once the various textures of the groundplane are studied.
I also like how movement in the clouds can be imagined because of the angle of the underlying shadows.
I like how the perspective of the brick path nearby drainageway pulls my eye to the distant horizon.
I like how I'm left wondering where does this path go?
I don't like that there's someone on the path.....he/she is intruding on my private moment.

Does my painting look just like the inspirational image?

No, but that's all right.

I just wanted to capture the essence of a feeling that the original image inspired within me.

And I wanted to get rid of that person on the walkway.