This Morning

 Yesterday there was a paint out in brown county at the T.C. Steele estate. I went and had a horrible performance. This morning I decided to wake up and get out and paint a sun rise. Unfortunately the under painting wasn't dry as the sun rose. While it was drying I looked around and saw this scene. After doing some thumbnails and value studies I put down a notan under painting and set it aside. When the first under painting dried I set about trying to re-create the sunrise. It was less than successful but turned out better than anything I did yesterday. After putting everything back in the truck I headed home. At home I put the small notan painting on the table and did a few small color studies. They are at the bottom of the post. These small color studies helped speed up the process tremendously. I found things in each of the studies that I liked, so I combined them into the larger piece. The final painting took me half the time that it typically takes to paint something that size. While I didn't stay true to any one study the end painting turned out fine. There are things that I would change about it, but as a whole it works for what I was trying to show. Also now that the color studies done I can try it again and already have a road map of where to go. I rarely do color studies but after this I will be giving them more use. For those that haven't used color studies, give them a try. At worst you will have wasted 5 minutes for 3 or 4 of them. If things go well you will have a better foundation for a large painting.