Sweetwater Creek #2

In the second painting of my Sweetwater Creek series I decided to hold off on the impasto work. I like the water in this piece and the reflections of the trees seem more pronounced. The depth provided by the blacks, grays and blues in the top center make a bit of intrigue as to where the water ends and land and trees begin.

Even when looking at this work now, I wonder if I should not done some impasto work. I guess I'm always my best and worst critic, as the few people who have seen this painting like it better than Sweetwater Creek #1.

All comments welcome.

Sweetwater Creek

Sweetwater Creek is located in Eastern North Carolina near Williamston. During a recent trip to the region I took some pictures from the highway overpass. Things like sunken trees and dark muddy water with brilliant defined reflections make this a very interesting landscape.

There are several different acrylic painting techniques I used to create this picture. The water was painted in different grays, greens and purples – when complete I applied a thick sap green glaze over the water this allowed for a sharp contrast with the foreground. The grassy area in the foreground is different bands of greens and yellows accented by speckles of contrasting greens and yellows to represent the wet grass. The further background in the top 1/3 of the painting represents the dense forestry I saw in that area.

Certainly the most involved and eye catching elements of this work are the trees. The detail work and heavy impasto allow these trees to jump off the canvas. In some cases (like the red in the upper left) dried paint/glaze is adhered to the canvas using gel medium.

Sweetwater Creek 20x20” Acrylic on Canvas