“Five O’Clock Shadow” — Commission

Five O’Clock Shadow
11×14″ (acrylic on 1 1/2″ canvas), R Luymes (c) 2015

This painting was created around several key elements: the mountains, the trees, a lake, a cabin, and a red canoe. With these main features, I was given the go-ahead to create a painting for a friend’s sister who was giving this to her boyfriend for his birthday. I sketched out a few ideas and this was the composition that we both liked best.

I loved the vertical (or portrait) orientation for this canvas because it allowed me to create more depth in the painting. I often find people are less inclined to choose landscape paintings that are vertical because they are most familiar with the traditional horizontal orientation. But vertical landscapes have their place even if they are a little more unconventional!

Since this painting is based off of numerous photos, there wasn’t a distinct source of light. I wanted to develop a composition of light and shadow to unify the piece. I thought a dramatic shadow cast by the mountains would add a nice graphic element to the painting and allow a full range of values to come into play. As you may have noticed, the shadow also gave me an idea for the title. Since this painting is a gift for a guy, I thought the title might be fitting : )