I painted this scene during the Virginia Highlands Plein Air Art Festival in Abingdon, Virginia in October 2023. I was situated along the banks of the South Holston River across from the Alvarado Station on October 5, 2023 during the morning session.

My inspiration was the way the morning light was spilling across and behind the left stand of trees illuminating the distant mountains and creating that golden glow on the trees on the right. It made for lovely reflections in the cascading river!

I started with an imprimatura of burnt sienna and made a couple of passes of color to create the atmospheric depth using Liquin Impasto to speed up the drying process. Painting was completed in under 4 hours.