Forest Haze and Clarity

In this oil, the artist made an early effort to create a piece with a more "organic" feel. There is a lot more openness to the composition in way the trees are spaced and there is more depth compared to his other works like this.

Elliott loves these forest "slices" and the endless possibilities they provide him. This particular oil began with him putting in a variety of colors to work out later. There wasn't a color plan, only the start of a painting with a loose arrangement of trees.

After the second session in the studio and a couple of days of not seeing the oil, the artist was very surprised to find that the oil had come together very nicely. It was far beyond a start. The painting was very well-developed and was almost finished. It was as if someone had been painting on it in the night when he wasn't around... a studio rarity.

Elliott left the raw look, not going for polish. The far background needed more work. The light behind the trees was crisp in some places and hazy in others, giving him a choice of how to go forward. After some deliberation, the haze won out, creating more depth and a very nice counterpoint to the clarity of the foreground.