Setting Off on a Quest

A few nights ago I got a sudden urge to paint. Usually I do my painting in the mornings while my husband is at work and the house is quiet. Sometimes I enjoy listening to soothing music or nature sounds, but even so, there’s a sense of peacefulness surrounding me as I stand at my easel.

But once in a while, the urge strikes at odd times. So it was that even though my husband was home with some action movie blaring from the television, I found myself gathering my paints and brushes and settling in for an evening of painting.

It’s not much. Another simple mountain scene, this one done on an 8 x 10 canvas panel. What’s special about this one — to me — is that I finally painted mountains that I like.

They’re not great mountains, I’ll admit. While painting them, though, I began to get a better understanding of how the use of light and shadow creates the illusion of rocks and ridges, peaks and valleys.

And now, this morning, a lovely image of the Matterhorn showed up in my Webshots newsfeed. My fascination with mountains began as a child when I saw the film, Third Man on the Mountain with James McArthur. It was a tale of a quest to climb the Matterhorn, and it thrilled me from beginning to end. Needless to say, seeing the Webshots image brought back that same excitement.

So now, I’m on a quest of my own. Could I possibly paint the Matterhorn? Could I capture the shape of this powerful mountain and put it on a canvas? I’m just crazy enough to give it a try.

Wish me luck!