Splitting Wood, 24x24

Last October we had this tree taken down....
.....and there it sat until the sun began to return the last couple of months.  At ten in the morning for only 45 minutes the sun would hit at just the right angle through the trees to light up the stump and the wood I had been splitting.

So, once I had decided to paint it, each day there was any sun I would haul out the easel and gear early enough that I was ready to paint when the sunlight poured through the trees.  One session to draw and block it in roughly, one to adjust the color shapes,  one to add some detail, and then....Oops!  The yard guys we hired for a clean up decided, while I was away, to help me and began splitting it up and make little piles.  Everything changed.  Nice guys.  Wrong timing.

Fortunately it was within a session of being finished and there was enough information already down to make it work.  So one more short session in the studio and this is what I have.

In the Pacific Northwest winter 'sun' the values can get really dark so I raised the overall values and pushed up even more on the darks, relying on temperature shifts to make the form happen.  I enjoyed doing this one as I had a lot of leeway in choosing color possibilities.

Thanks for looking.  Back soon.