While I was working on the backpacks in the commissioned oil painting of Lost Canyon, wondering if I’d be able to move the stream and trail, the answer came back as a definite “no”. They wanted the trail to remain across the bottom of the canvas.

When someone hires me to paint something specific, that someone is my boss.

I kept working my way down the scenery toward the backpacks, figuring out what to put in those large areas where I didn’t have any photos to guide me, figuring out how to make the stream flow in a believable manner, adding rocks, shrubs, trees, and textures.

The color isn’t accurate here because it was photographed in low light at the end of a painting day. But I wanted you to see how this is coming along, particularly the backpacks! This is my favorite way of painting – drawing with my paintbrush.

What remains to be painted: the hiking poles, the lower grasses, and of course wildflowers in the grasses.