study: Sky as Janus

study: Sky as Janus

I got a really nice handmade, leather bound sketchbook from my mom for the holidays. Wanted this to be a kind of raising of the bar, a sketchbook which would inspire me, and into which I would scribble serious stuff, not inane doodles.
So, of course, the first entry into said book needed to have a certain significance.

"You don't know how paralysing that is, that stare of a blank canvas, which says to the painter: you can't do a thing. ... Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of 'you can't' once and for all." -Van Gogh to Theo, October 1884

I've had this cool digital photo of Sky for a couple of years now. Originally, it was part of an Evergreen Photo-Land Interns' show, but I've always wanted it to be the basis for a painting.
I figured this image, at this time of year, was an appropriate starting image for the sketchbook, and was one that was interesting enough to keep me engaged in the rendering process.