This is a composition I am working on. Most of this was done digitally, though this is a plan for an oil painting. As is clear from the image, I am working on an irregularly shaped canvas. I am experimenting with several things stylistically, and this is quite an unusual composition for me. I have never presented the natural world as being so forceful and violent, but the the painting is intended as a depiction of courage and so I want the environment to be as formidable as the woman. All of my paintings are centered around the "heroic human figure," but I don't think I have ever come this far before in depicting the strength of a character.
Edgar Alwin Payne, Canyon de Chelly , specific date unknown, ca. before 1947 Nature falls into the happy rhythm of human steps in this beautifully romanticized oil painting by Edgar Alwin Payne. The cliffs provide the wanderers a pleasant shade, while the clouds shine benevolently in the sky. The shadows in the background are like children peeking around corners to see what the grown-ups are doing. The way the light rakes across the rock face, it makes the cliffs appear to be follow the wayfarers around the curve of the valley. The way the rocks sink back into themselves counters this forward rhythm and creates the impression that they are reluctantly curious about the horsemen. The clouds overhead seem less connected to the wanderers but are playful with each other. Continuing the horizontal rhythm of the rock walls, the clouds have a peculiar shape that draws one in to wonder what Payne was trying to communicate. Though the clouds s...

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