“The painter knew that color was not something you controlled but something you set free. He believed that color knew its way home.” Thomas Lloyd Qualls

I really like the idea that colour knows where it wants to go and the best thing the painter can do is relax and get out of the way. To not try so hard. To not worry so much about getting it right or wrong.

Looking back at the journey this little study has taken me on, I realise that I actually painted about three different paintings, each one over the top of the other. I’m quite happy with the final version with its blue and purple mountains and dramatic shadows, but I really could have stopped sooner and I would have been happy with those paintings too.

Late last year, I started several larger versions of this landscape but I stopped working on them because I couldn’t quite manage to get the colours I wanted. Putting the paintings to one side and taking time out to do this one has helped me to relax and stop worrying about them. And now I’m finally ready to put them back on the easel, move a bit of paint around and see what happens.