Early Morning Reflections

I'm just getting back into the studio after the surviving the crazy holiday season.  Each year my painting time seems to get severely interrupted during most of December.  Since this is my first posting to my new blog, I thought I'd start off with where I left off with my last painting of 2010, Early Morning Reflections.  This is a 20" x 30" painting, a bit larger than I usually work, but I thought it was about time for a large piece.  I had a particular color combination in mind with the splash of red of the tree up against the gray-blue and orange, and also wanted to stray from the typcial bright blues for the sky and water.  I used a reference photo, but changed so much of the colors and composition that it doesn't look much like the original scene at all.  I tend to have more successful painitngs when I ditch the photo early on!  Hoping to do more of that in 2011!!