Zion Terrain

Here's one of my shots from our trip to Zion National Park in June. I love the cascading layers of rock and the whole hillside seeming to tumble toward us. And of course the colors in Bryce and Zion are amazing. This scene wanted to be painted.





I started with an underpainting in cool colors to establish the structure of the terrain. Took a few liberties (I always do!) -- removed most of the foliage to focus on the rock forms and invented a little arroyo on the left






Here's the final painting. I decided to remove the tree on the top of the hill, since it seemed out of scale and looked a little bit like a candle on a melting birthday cake in my underpainting!



This painting sold at the Scene on the Strait. I really enjoyed working on it -- am planning to do a series inspired by the Bryce/Zion landscape.