I took a photo a couple of autumns ago that was a landscape of a tree leaning over the Patapsco River in Maryland. I actually posted the photo on this platform’s predecessor. It was a rather simple subject with fall colors and I thought at the time that it would be nice as a painting. When I started painting, I was a little intimidated by all the detail so it sat in my Things To Paint folder on my iPad for about 10 months after I started painting. It was only when I learned how to simplify the subject and eliminate unnecessary details that I gave it a try on a small 8”x10” canvas panel. Even simplified, I think it captures the feeling I had when I shot the photo rather well and may do it on a large canvas at some point in the future.
Lean to the River, 8“X10” Oil on Canvas Panel
Here’s the original photo. You can see the areas I simplified and that I added some blue to what was a rather muddy river. I was trying to do the painting in a loose impressionist style.
