In 1989 I visited Lake Louise, and the reason I took this photo was due to the vivid poppies against the teal blue lake. I would like to paint the poppies and the lake, but I need to do a value study and a color study.

I took a photo of my photo and turned it into grayscale, discovering that the red poppies and the sunlit grass are the same value.

After doing 5 different value studies, I decided to use the lower one of the two, where the number of values is simplified down to three.

I’ve decided to remove the tree at the right — too much clutter, and to remove the snow-covered rocky mountain in the background, making it just (overcast) sky. This is so the flowers will be highlighted.

Below I’ve put together a grouping of colors. The mountains are fairly close to the poppies so I want them dark. I need to adjust the sky color, though, and perhaps make it more of a gray purple.