Yellow House - Reference Photograph and Introduction

At the base of McClure Pass in western Colorado, not far from Redstone, I came upon this little yellow house caught in strong sunlight. What attracted me was the contrast between the brightly lit house and the dark hillside immediately behind it. Beyond that dark hill, the landscape rises into the lighter, rugged alpine mountains of McClure Pass, giving the scene an almost Swiss quality.

The composition is fairly simple: a small amount of foreground leads us to the yellow house, the dark hillside helps bring the house forward, and then the mountains carry the eye nearly to the top of the painting. I made only minor changes to the original scene, particularly in the foreground, so what you see in the reference photograph is very close to what we will paint.