I painted next to this rushing stream the whole day our daughter climbed the mountain. She may have done the hard work of climbing the mountain (which I’ll show you tomorrow) but I did the equally hard work of not worrying about her one bit while she was off by herself doing that. These paintings are what I did instead.

The one above I like a lot. It is 8″x10″ and done in pastel. I love the abstract quality of the shapes here that is achieved by zooming in so closely on only one little part of a huge scene.

You can buy the original painting here.

Obtain prints and merchandise of this image here.

The one below is larger, 18″x24″ and also done in pastel. I was fascinated by the shape of that rock! What I planned on being a conversation between the rock and the water, however, ended up with those two elements competing and cancelling each other out, resulting in no focal point at all. Also, that rock actually was that shape, but now I look at this painting and see only a large moss covered Hershey’s kiss. I’ll paint over it, turning it into something else.

Not every painting comes out the way you envision. But as with any painting, especially plein air ones in beautiful places, the process can be WAY more important than the product.