"Ponderosa"

 "Ponderosa" is a 12x16 oil painting I just completed this morning.  I've included the charcoal sketch I used as a reference for the painting and the original source of inspiration, a photograph taken near Flagstaff May of 2009 during early morning.  As you can see, the painting has changed significantly from the photograph, which was my intention.  I don't want to copy the photograph but paint a landscape that is about processing the scene through my creative filter, concentrating on mood of color and light instead of the details of a photograph.  I really should be working on my thesis, but I felt like I needed a boost from a morning in the studio.  I rationalized this by waking up at 6am so I would still have all of the afternoon to work on the left brained stuff.  Plus, I can't work all day on one side of the brain...  Sorry about all of the shiny spots on the image above, the painting was still wet and probably will be for a couple more weeks.  I used a comination of palette knife and a #10 brush on this painting.