Working on creating the feeling of distance

Eagle crest Water 2This is a painting of our ski area in Juneau called Eagle Crest. It is a beautiful place to hike. I love the warm colors and the reflections in the water. I wanted the dark area in the distance to look more shaded from the sun than it does, I need to work on that. But this was a fun painting to do. (It is 8×10)

Quick Study?

TrailerCan you guess which of these took 15-20 minutes, and which one took almost a full day? Well, I wanted to do this to prove that a painting can be done quickly and effectively. In this I wanted to capture the essence of the scene; like the light vs. darks and the general layout, and perhaps notes of color. The larger one took most of a day. It really is not that much more detailed than the other. They both capture the scene. I  could work on the smaller one more, but this is all I needed it to tell me right now. I think this is a very valuable skill to learn well. I will be doing much more of this quickk study to see what I can do with it. I would not consider the larger one a complete painting, but I was at a point of overworking it and decided I had messed with it enough. I will try it again another day.