Aquabord triptych of Northern Woods 

Fall scenes, such as this one near Flagstaff, Arizona,  are my favorite to paint. There is nothing more beautiful to me than the incredible shades of gold and rust found in the fall foliage of aspen and birch trees. When the sun strikes these tress highlighted against their green backdrop of tall evergreens the sight is quite magnificent.  

When planning this painting, I decided it needed to be quite large in order to convey the vastness of this woods that paralleled Potato Lake in the foreground.  I chose to create a triptych using three 15" x 22" Aquabord panels.  The challenge for me was to create a continuous flow of trees, water, and shadows as the painting moved from one panel to another.   

I started the series by beginning with the center panel, establishing the color palette and value scale that would continue onto the adjacent panels.  The right-hand panel had its own unique challenge in that I needed to create the strong shadows that extended from the trees and followed the contour of the slightly uphill land.  In the left-hand panel I was faced with having to convey the density of the woods bathed in intense sunlight at the tree tops contrasted with the intense shadows at the trunks.

The final stage was to create the foreground of water and golden grasses so that it looked like a natural and uninterrupted expanse. This was done by placing all three panels next to one another (on the floor where I had enough space) and stroking my fully loaded brush in a continuous motion across all three panels.    

Although it was a long painting process, I truly enjoyed working on a piece of this size with all its varied challenges.  I'm already planning my next triptych!