A recent sunrise witnessed from a neighborhood near the top of Shades Mountain provided the inspiration for the distant view and the atmospheric conditions in this scene. The foreground and middle ground however, are entirely from my imagination. Because longleaf pine is like a signature to the history of wildland fire in the landscape, and because I spotted a few growing nearby on the southeast facing slopes of Shades Mountain, I felt comfortable in portraying this location as a montane longleaf environment before European contact. The associated hickories and other hardwoods are in fall color as we look out toward Double Oak Mountain.
Studio painting – December.
