My Drawings - Banff National Park Morants Curve by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Morant's Curve and the Canadian Pacific Railway. For me, this has become an iconic and favorite overlook while spending time in Banff National Park. I recall first coming to this spot many a decade ago on a trip with a friend and her family back in the late 90s, While I didn't know much of the area back then, that has most definitely changed since then with about four visits! I never tired of seeing the Canadian Rockies and the national parks all around that area...I doubt I ever will! So that's the general story of this image and my love of the Banff area in Alberta. The image I posted is here on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/14723335@N05/23891815504/in/album-7...). For the painting portion of this image, this was another chance to practice (and even refine) some techniques on painting trees. When I first started on this, knew I wanted something different so that a nearby forest of trees didn't look like a blob but getting that has seemed easier said that done. It was then that I looked at a few other favorite painters and tried the technique I used here by not trying to paint out a tree but an outline of some and then using some broad and fine brush strokes to paint out different hues and shades. The look when standing back from the painting seemed to give a much better look and feel to actual trees. The other areas of the painting was stuff I'd been practicing on with a shimmering look across flowing waters and minimizing hues and shades used with clouds to make them more realistic. But the real fun part of the painting was doing something a friend and painter told me once in how you can paint anything...even if it wasn't there :-) So on that day, there wasn't a train from the Canadian Pacific Railway coming by, but it didn't stop me from imagining one and painting it. I used another image from a more recent trip to paint that portion. Not wanting to get bogged down in too many details with the box cars of a train, I focused more on a block-like and shapes with sharper edges. I could use slight variations of hues and shades to create an illusion details. In the middle foreground of the painting, you'll find that stick figure image of me "hiking" with my Cubbies hat, loving my time exploring the Canadian Rockies once again. Yes, I know...I was behind a camera and tripod that day, but I'd much rather be hiking in those mountains :-)