How I create my paintings

My Process.... My process is to go on location and take photos and sketches.  These I take back to my studio and begin the work of simplifying and eliminating.  How can I still be true to the location but remove all extraneous elements? Sometimes I rework several sketches in order to come up with the final design. I find working in charcoal for my sketches allows me to remove and add elements and keep the smooth flow of the lines. Next, I generally do a smaller colour study painting and work out any other compositional problems.  Finally Step 5. is the final painting.  Here I decided to reverse the image as I felt it would flow better from bottom left to upper right.   Below is the process with the actual images.