Looking Into Idaho

This scene was on the border between Wyoming and Idaho. When I saw it, I happened to be traveling between Afton and Alpine, Wyoming along the Salt River (depicted in this painting) which runs south out of the Snake River and then veers northeast and ends at Wagner Lake. It was late afternoon and there was a lot of atmosphere in the air which gave everything a beautiful simplicity.

I stopped my car and painted an oil sketch on location which was later used in the studio to create this painting. The hills in the distance are across the border in Idaho. A few days after I did the on-location sketch, my family and I took a horseback ride into those hills. It was an event we will never forget.

Click here to see the plein air sketch that inspired this painting.