Tag Archives: painting hills

Befriending the shadows

I spent a few weeks last summer trying to paint the shadows in the valley. The shadows in the contours of the hills are hundreds of feet high – vast, lumbering areas of darkness that stealthily creep around as I watch. Inside the shadows are many areas of colour, making it very difficult to translate them into paint. The more I stare and try to simplify them so that they fit onto my tiny canvas, the more impossible the task seems to be.

oil sketch of hill shadow

purple hill shadow

oil sketch of hill shadow, blue and purple

blue and purple hill shadow

oil sketch of abstract hill shadow

a closer hill shadow showing abstract shapes but losing the connection with its background a little

oil sketch of crosdale shadows

shadows in Crosdale

oil sketch, orange hill shadows

warmer shadows, orange hues

oil sketch shadowless hills

and in the end there were no shadows