Here we are in the middle of winter with just under two months to go. In the Pittsburgh area we haven't had a bunch of snow at once, just consistent cold and one or two inches on a regular basis. One of the nice things about being an artist is that you can do a painting to act as a reminder of the warm weather to look forward to, and that is what I did.

  I finished "Sunset Trail" this past Saturday but again, winters cold is right outside my studio so I didn't want to take my camera out in it to take my photos. I wish all my paintings would just come together like this one did but I know that it doesn't work that way. You just enjoy the moment when you do.

  The painting came about as I was going through some reference materials while the other painting I was working on was drying some so that I could resume work on it. I just saw this great way to unleash all these warm colors and have that blue on top of the painting to enhance them. I decided to take the wet painting off the easel, put a fresh canvas on and go for it.

  The trail lends you into the painting right into the setting sun. Some of the foliage and branches also point to it as well. The main thing I was concerned with was to make sure that I varied the colors used to hightlight everything. Some are more on the orange side and some more on the yellow side.

  I was able to get a photo of the painting today as the temperature got into the thirties so that I could get it on my website. This painting will definitely be at my upcoming show at Matthew's Arts in Bellevue this July but more about that in my next post, take care!