Showing posts with label Mount Kilimanjaro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mount Kilimanjaro. Show all posts

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Last minute changes

Beneath the White Mountain
Original Oil
11.5" x 28"

This is one of those paintings I thought was done when an idea burst into my head. I had painted all the trees, the cattle, the Masai, the sky and the clouds. When I stood back, the slight change of colors I had painted in the sky suggested something back there. That is when it hit me. What if I painted Kilimanjaro in the background?  I had been in the vicinity of the mountain when I saw the cattle but I didn't see the mountain until the next day.

Here comes the tricky part. I was happy with what I had already painted. Do I risk painting in the mountain, something which was not part of the plan? Will it make a difference to the painting? The photos I took of the mountain had that faint (and maybe mystical) feel. Could I pull off a subtle mountain for the highest peak on the continent?
I decided to go for it and am glad I did. For me it gives the painting the extra flavor it needed.