Tall Trees 6×9 and Haystack 6×9

I was able to pursue my new approach to painting during my last two plein air outings.  This new approach of scouting sites and making preliminary sketches was helpful.  As I predicted it gave me direction and helped me relax, kind of.  As I was painting the first of these two paintings (the tall trees) I was consistently distracted be the dramatic scene of cumulonimbus clouds unfolding directly behind me, every time I turned around they were stretching higher into the sky.  This scene of clouds was what I was immediately drawn to, but I stayed the course and stuck with my original plan.  Who knows, had I abandoned the original mission and instead followed my emotions maybe the painting would have been that much better.  It seems obvious to me know that painting is an act of balancing the forces of emotion and intellect.

Here are both the sketches and the paintings.

On a side note, my family and I are moving to St. Paul, MN at the end of this month.  I imagine the painting to slow down as the moving process begins.

Thanks for viewing!