This painting was inspired by Cades Cove, a breathtaking area located in the Smoky Mountains. I love painting nature because I can use vibrant colors to bring it to life and show how I see the world from my perspective.
In this painting I used mostly flat brushes because I wanted the brush strokes to be very expressive and visible. Each brush stroke in this piece is intentional and thought out. The same goes for the colors.
My process started by washing the canvas with a diluted brown paint so that I wasn't starting with absolutely nothing on the canvas. This is a technique that I have used for a lot of my paintings because I find it easier to paint over an underpainting than on a white blank canvas.
After I established my composition, I started color blocking and experimenting with the values I wanted to use. I spent a lot of time looking at my reference photo and analyzing the colors. Ultimately, I used the reference photo for composition and not for the colors of the painting, because I wanted my painting to be more vibrant.
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