Duplicating Shapes

In general it is not a good idea to duplicate shapes throughout a painting but in this case it seems to work well. The triangle shapes of not only the mountain but all the fields help build a strong composition and gives the painting an almost abstract quality.

The painting was done in Flat Rock, N.C not far from our summer studio.

Last Light

It was just about sunset and the light was fading fast. Sound familiar? Well, it always seems to be the case about painting outside. The light is always changing. In this case I had to deal with a warm light coming through the glass of this greenhouse from one side and a lot of reflected light directly from the sky overhead. Working fast forced me to analyze the colors and values quickly.
I never would have gotten these rich colors had I worked from a photograph. There really is nothing like painting on location to see colors. The painting may not turn out as good as the studio paintings but for learning about color, it can't be beat.