Big Snowy Range

I've taken a break from Mr. Laurence's works to do a large painting of the Big Snowy Range in Wyoming. Having never painted imposing granitic mountains before, this has been a challenge. The composition is easy. It is the painting technique that has been, shall I say, experimental.

I generally paint top to bottom and dark to light. Here I have painted in fits and starts. First I tried to paint the cliff faces with a broad brush and later added small details. Later after studying some Albert Bierstadt paintings I overwhelmed the painting with detail. Then, I scraped it all off and went straight for the palette knife.

The palette knife is ideal for this kind of large work. It can be used to lay-in the ridges and shadows and all the various joint sets (cracks). A great deal of imagination is helpful. After that I went back to the brush. Here is what I have done so far.