Crook's Hollow Again

This week at Crook's Hollow was much the same as last week.  It was -6 C and there was a biting wind coming down the valley.  I painted without gloves for about an hour but the sun disappeared and I had to break out the hand warmers.

My first painting took about an hour and a half.  The class was at the same area as the last two weeks and I set up in almost the same location as the first time here.  I wanted to try the waterfall again without the stone wall as a distraction and I wanted the reflections on the smooth water above the falls to be the point of interest.  I like this one better than the first one.

We had about forty five minutes left in the class so I walked to where the rest of the students were and painted some birches that were catching the sun beautifully. This was painted in about half an hour using only a palette knife.  I paint much looser and much more intently with the knife and think that it will help my brush paintings if I paint this way more often.  With the knife I can put a lot of paint down fast and with only half an hour I had to put the paint down and move on so there was no fussing.  I also, for some unknown reason, find it easier to focus on the composition and make adjustments when painting this way.

I like this one a lot.