This is one of my smaller paintings. The challenge was to make something interesting out of a very bland reference. Isn't the name of the place lovely? Who wouldn't want to live in Happy Valley, ever after?

In the sketch I worked to rearrange the elements of the landscape so that the darks were connected, and so the trees on the left worked as a 'stopper', that is, so the eye wouldn't follow the curve of the creek and trees and go out of the painting to the right. The dark vericals there catches the eye and sends it back down, or up for that matter, and leads it back into the painting.

Another consideration was to create depth in the painting, by using colour to enhance the effect.

In the first picture below, I've 'mapped' out the lights and the darks, keeping cooler and lighter colours in the areas that are to recede, and warmer and/or deeper colours for what is to come forward.

The second picture shows the state of the painting as I'm halfway through, and the final is the finished painting.



I added a lot of warm yellows and oranges to the dried grasses, giving it a look of beautiful autumn in warm sunlight. Thus, a snowless winter picture got way more interesting -- for us who love colour. I needed an 'antidote' to all the cool paintings I've painted lately.

A larger version of the finished painting can be seen in this clickable link.