Along Yellowstone Lake

At the Edge of the Lake, 5 1/2x8 pastel, copyright 2012

This painting is from the same spot as the last one, but looking along the shore of Yellowstone Lake instead of across it.  I'm still finding reflections in water a bit tricky.  The images of the closer trees and the clouds turned out, but it's the distant images that I'm struggling with.  Maybe I'm being too self critical, but they just don't quite read right.  Part of the problem perhaps is that the distant tree line is too regular.  Making tree lines regular and symmetrical, especially distant ones, can be hard to avoid.  It seems the eye (and the hand) tends to create patterns where none exist.  More yellow in the foreground shoreline would help too.

This is certainly a learn as you go process in which I am finding both where I am doing well and where improvements need to be made.  This is the last small piece completed to this date, so I need to sit down and do more.  Although I know I need to work on my reflections more, the idea of trying a few geysers sounds like a lot of fun.  Maybe they will help me to loosen up my painting a bit and not fuss so much over the details.  We shall see.