Late Afternoon Sun

This was a painting done en plein air near Lake Louise, Alberta. I was teaching a workshop and this was my demo painting. It was done in a little over an hour as the light was changing rapidly with the sun going down - which happens even quicker in the mountains. The focus of this piece for me was the big swings in color temperature between cool shadows and warm sunlit areas. It's a part of painting we all pursue but I feel it's an achilles heel for me and something I need constant study with. Especially from life where I see all the colors so much more accurately than the photo can show. So I try things like this late afternoon scene to keep me in the hot seat. I also wanted to get better at the sense of distance in the mountain peak, so atmospheric perspective was also a big focus.