Karen Lynn Link Fine Art

This painting began with several sketches of cottonwoods around Standley Lake. I was exploring the horizon line and simplifying the landscape, focusing primarily on two stands of trees on either side of the composition. Something about one of the sketches appealed to me, and I wanted to see if I could translate that feeling into a painting.

But the painting had other ideas. The tree on the right gradually became a singular cottonwood. The trees on the left became small bushes. The lake disappeared completely. The gently sloping hills across from Standley Lake grew larger and more prominent, until they began to feel almost like mountains. The viewpoint changed too. Instead of looking across the lake, I was looking up toward the hillside. I wanted to create more depth, so I worked with multiple, receding hillsides. 

Somewhere along the way, that depth began to feel like a journey. That wasn't something I had planned. I just suddenly felt it. I imagined that if I could get to that first hillside, I would be able to look into an imaginary valley below and see the whole journey from there. I wanted to keep that feeling, so I tried not to do anything that might ruin it.

The light comes from the upper left, casting the tree's shadow toward the lower right. The grasses beside the shadow help pull the eye through the foreground and toward a small line of light along the top of the farthest hillside.

That little line is actually a happy accident. I sometimes run a mixture of white with the tiniest bit of cadmium red medium along the horizon line. When I painted the rest of the sky, I didn't completely cover those areas. This became a broken line of light that leads along the distant hillside, around the outside of the tree, and back into the landscape.

The colors were important too. Purples move through the hillsides, shadows, and tree, set against the yellow-gold foreground. The bright blue-teal of the sky feels very much like Colorado to me. The painting gradually took on a different character from the other landscapes I've painted around Standley Lake. It even began to feel a little Southwestern, although my husband would probably remind me that it's “too green.” 🙂

By the time I finished, the painting had become something much better than what I had originally intended. I think that's one of the things I love about painting. You can begin with an idea, but if you pay attention, the painting can reveal something you couldn't have planned.

For me, this one feels like a beginning. Or maybe a place to rest on a hot day. I can imagine sitting in the shade of that cottonwood for a while, looking out across the hills and wondering what comes next.

There is hope in that feeling, but also possibility, curiosity, and anticipation. The sense that you've come close to completing one part of something, and from here, there's more ahead.

From Here

Acrylic on paper

6 5/8” x 6 7/8”

2026

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