Grateful Notices: Softwestern View, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

Exhibited: Breckenridge Gallery, Breckenridge, CO

Private collection: North Carolina

About this oil:

After recently doing a few bright skyscapes, I opted to try out something more subdued. Playing off my last evening sky oil, “Yellow to Orange Sunset,” I used the same composition with much softer tones.

The challenge was to create a work that would be attractive in its own way without the dramatic color. This new set of color harmonies would demand a new approach.

As the painting evolved, I began to focus on movement as a substitute for high color. In this version, the hills are filled with patterns and behind the soft, multi-colored clouds are lighter cloud forms moving upward in the composition.

All of these things happened along the way, strategies to create a better work of art. The result is an interesting, colorful scene but more of a whisper this time.