This is a subject that I’ve returned to many times. This current iteration was begun in late June, and is painted over another work that I was dissatisfied with. I rarely do that, preferring to work on a fresh canvas, but I did not have one at the ready, and also wanted to obliterate the painting that had earned my disdain.

This represents three or four sessions, starting with a lay-in that captures the big light effect, I’ve developed the image further over the coming days, with an eye toward building up sufficient impasto to obviate any future pentimenti from the older painting.

The painting has undergone changes as the days have changed over the course of the summer, with the grasses getting dryer and the trees growing thinner and beginning to shade into fall colors. The final state, still in progress, resulted from an early morning visit in late May.

The smaller painting that accompanies this post is an earlier, slightly different study of the same hills, trees and fields.