I got it finished ahead of schedule, varnished and wrapped! I delivered it today, and she loved it, so I apparently did a good job. :) I’m quite pleased with it, but I still had a hard time taking a good, accurate picture of it. This is close, though. The color is a lot more red/orange and a lot warmer, but… photos never do things justice. I’ll learn how to take good pictures of my paintings eventually.

The finished painting.

I’m pleased with how the light has really come in! My goal for the evening is to darken up the lower part of the cloud formation, maybe add a little more light, then finish up the ground. I’m pleased with how quickly this has gone! If only I could move this well on all my paintings.

More light and finalizing forms.

Starting to get more form to the clouds, getting some of the light and shadows in. It’s not been easy, but I can see it really starting to take shape, and I’m excited.

More shadow and light.

I’ve gotten a little more color in now, and starting to get more of the cloud formations set. The hardest thing will be putting the ‘light’ in to make sure it looks like it’s got the sun on it.

Getting a little more color and form in.

The woman who commissioned the crosscut saw is one of my coworkers, and while I was showing her the pictures on the Daily Coyote blog, she saw this photo and fell in love. She’d originally commissioned me to painting, but I never planned on actually charging her. heh I just didn’t tell her that. She canceled the commission due to personal reasons, but since I wasn’t taking payment from her anyway, I went ahead and started it. The plan is to give it to her for her birthday, which is the 30th of this month.

I’ve already gotten a good start on it. This is also the first canvas I’ve stretched since ‘91, when I was in high school. Apparently, I didn’t forget how to do it.

The start of Horizon Fire.