Sunset on the Ottertail River – Original Acrylic Painting
Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas
Unframed – sides painted
Image Size: 12″ x 24″x 1.5″
$1225.00 – available at a later date
Capture the fleeting, breathtaking magic of a perfect twilight with Sunset on the Ottertail River, an original acrylic painting by Ellen Jean Diederich.
Behind the piece: Paul and I stopped to take photos of a beautiful sunset. Usually, it’s the light on the clouds to make it truly beautiful. In high school, my first watercolor to win an award was a sunset where I got sick of painting in all the scrub brush and turned my brush sideways with a dry brush to scraggle them in. Sunset on the Ottertail River, my first sunset in acrylic, was challenging but I stuck with it. Acrylic dries quickly and this subject required swooping smooth brushstrokes, and layers of transparent glazes. The landscape required considerable care and subtle value changes.
The real trick to the sunset is the silhouette. Mostly it is very dark with little variation in value, but the shape is significant. The shapes need to be descriptive and interesting. The long horizontal format of the painting enhanced the foreground.
This piece is also available as print on demand on Fine Art America: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/sunset-on-the-ottertail-river-ellen-jean-diederich.html?newartwork=true
Won 2nd place in Acrylic at the Pekin Art Show in June 2026!
