2019
While walking on the trails near my house one early morning, I turned to see the creek, looking into the sun. The sun was shining in a spotlight form onto the creek in a couple of places, really creating hot spots in the water. I took a few photos and later sketched the image before settling on it. After working on the painting for a few weeks, I found myself lost. I had created too many points of interest, and lost what I was really looking at that morning. So in a series of attempts at scaling back things of lesser importance and heightening other areas I was trying to emphasize I got near to what I was trying to portray. As a final move, I cut off 2" of the top and created a truly square composition, which finished the piece. Sometimes I bring myself back to thinking about landscape in a more portraiture kind of mindset, taking away extra details and focusing on only the essential parts that give the image life.