The photo underlying this painting I took myself while I was traveling through the Alps in Europe. It shows the dam near the top of the Saint Bernard Pass. I edited this slightly to cover up the evidence of modern day: the paved road, a building, and an antenna tower are gone, and the dam now resembles what could be a wall or a bridge, part of one medieval fortress or another.
The color blotches of this picture had a habit of disappearing into each other until I added the sketch lines that picked out the rocks, snow, and ice. The ice is still done pretty lazily, and if I were to paint this again, I would probably outline each sheet instead of scribbling madly over them.