Winter Shadows, 30 x 40, oil on linen

How about a winter painting post for this second day of summer? This painting, which was in the Paint & Pixels exhibition at The Museum at Indiana University of PA, was recently selected by the museum board for their permanent collection. It is a good example of alla prima (done all at once) painting. It was done this past February in Indiana County. I started it mid-morning and worked on it until mid-afternoon. During that time the shadows shifted a lot so I had to decide at some point where they needed to live. I liked the idea of having to visually "step over" the near shadows to get to the thick tree and the deep forest in the background. The sun was so brilliant that I had a terrible headache by the time I finished. The entire painting process took about five continuous hours and that includes an 8 x 10 inch study done first. No further work was done to it in my studio.