Look Right, Look Left

January 2026

This painting is entitled “Look Right, Look Left (Hwy 550 in CO)”. I finished the final colors the last week of December in 2025.

“What comes first, the abstract layers or the solid color”, people ask me. The answer is…the colorful layers are applied first. Lots and lots of layers. The thinly applied colors overlap to make new colors. The textures build up on the canvas. This process can last weeks or months, depending on the size of the canvas. Small paper pieces move along quicker.

Below the photo on the right is the painting before, what I refer to as the silhouettes, are added. I create the outlines with pencil then slowly paint in the solid color. The pencil outlines isolated parts of the built up layers that captures a mountain form, has lots of movement, and sometimes actually reminds me of a place I’ve seen. In this case, the lower mountain in the painting reminded me of a photo I took when I was on Highway 550 between Durango and Ouray in Colorado. An image of that spot is below the paintings.

On the same stretch of highway, here are more mountains one passes. I was looking to the right and looking to the left. Which is where the title of this piece comes from! You can even see in one image the road going through the valley with mountains over 10-13,000 ft high on either side.

I love looking at these images for inspiration. I get new ideas for shapes, dark/light areas, peaks, and silhouettes. Enjoy the views!