Resting River Pool

The pool along this flow of the river was no doubt formed by an unfathomable number of years of crashing water carving out a hollow where beautiful blue-green water swirls and then spills out again along its journey downstream.

This painting was done in two phases - the woods and the primary values first, then the rocks and water for no other reason than time allotment. The water was done wet on wet and since I've been painting water a lot recently, I've learned to add color without losing my pure whites or my darkest darks. Something I thought couldn't be done effectively with wet oils without getting muddy colors.

I think I'll stick with water for a while. It seems the more color layers I put down the more colors I see - like the top layers reveal the deeper colors within water.

 Resting River Pool, 7 x 5 in, Oil on stretched canvas