Wrestling with the angel....

Morning Celebration, in progress

Sometimes painting is like wrestling with the painting. You know the old story — Jacob wrestling with the angel all night long, saying, "Bless me! Bless me!"? Working on this painting has been a bit like that. We've been wrestling.

Morning Celebration, in progress

Here it is, on the easel, in its early stages. The canvas is 36"x48." I'm working from a photograph I took nearly a year and a half ago, of a tree and meadows just around the corner from my house.

Morning Celebration, in progress

I rose before dawn that morning specifically to photograph morning light and shadow on the fields and trees. It's a particularly beautiful spot — I created my first painting of this area years before I lived right here.

Morning Celebration, in progress

It was 22° that morning — not much for my cousins in Sweden or Alaska, but cold for California. The ground was white with ice, creating the most gorgeous blue shadows.... I'm playing with the color here, because I want a warmer feeling in the painting, but I want to retain those beautiful shadows.

More later....