Ah, patience, faith and courage…traits in high demand when attempting a very large painting. The Overlook is a painting of two trees on a little bluff overlooking the bay south of Cape Ann. Fitst, the disappearing bush. It was there, but it just didn;t help so I removed it. Strangely it’s absence is hardly noticeable, so good move. Then I wrestled with how to express the sparsely leaved tree on the rightI left it bare at first, but then it looked dead, and that wasn’t the point: alive/dead. I was more interested in how the two trees were interacting, three actually, because there are two trees on the left. They are intertwined. Then how to show the blaze of light on the water? I at first painted the sky colors darker, to let the light on the water be the brightest, but it didn’t work, the sky just looked dirty. So I wrestled with all that too and finally, finally came to a place where it seemed light and whole.
