Windy Point Paint-Out
I was back at Windy Point toward the end of May for another attempt at these wonderful rocks. The first photo is the view I chose. I just loved being up there painting. My eye traveled up and over the edge to the far distant mountain - it felt like I was at the top of the world.
Here is my plein-air study. It was not finished, just a rough-in of the scene. I worked on it more once I got home. However, unfortunately, I really messed it up, so ended up scraping it all off.
I loved the scene so much though, that I decided to go ahead and do a larger painting from my photos. The wind and water does strange and beautiful things to the stone - also to the sturdy juniper trees scattered about the area, twisting them into odd shapes. Life feels clean and new in such a place - no sound other than the wind, distant traffic, and the occasional bird song.
This was the beginning. Hmmm, I wasn't sure what to do next, so let it sit on the easel for a week or so, then ...
... got rid of that small cliff at the very bottom, and now it seemed there was too much empty space and the left side of the lowest rock looked really boring.
After some final pondering, a bit of advice from fellow artists, and determined tweaking, here is the final painting. The entire process took me almost two months - lots of thinking, and sporadic bursts of painting. It is the first time I've painted this large in quite some time which might have something to do with all my procrastinating. I'm not sure, but I'm finally satisfied.
© Susan Woodward - "Windy Point #2" - 12 inches x 16 inches on stretched canvas.
