Painting en plein air up the hill and west of the City Park in Marceline, MO

LOCATION:: Looking east over the city park lake, I was hoping to paint a sunrise over the water. I was at first disappointed because the cloud cover was thick, and the sun was completely obscured. Fortunately, however, a small opening in the cloud cover occurred briefly in the east, creating a small slit for the sun to peak through. The sun seized the opportunity and created a luminous pink/orange streak through the grayish, purple sky.
INSPIRATION:: My goal for this painting was to capture the drama and beauty of this subtle sunrise. In the remainder of the composition, I desired to depict a typical summer landscape. I purposefuly chose not to paint the view of the landscape looking toward the lake. Instead, I painted the landscape that I saw looking south from my vantage point. That motif provided more depth and interest, and better captured the feel of the summer landsape.