Working in acrylic has it's downfalls - the clunky nature of the paint limits the amount of detail that you can instill in a painting. I decided to return to oil paints so that I could create a super realistic painting of a majestic peak in Italy's north - Ortler. I used this reference picture, as it had a beautiful palette and was rich in detail.
To start off the painting, I used the grid method with 108 squares on a 30x40cm panel.
108 doesn't sound like a lot, but on a panel of this size, it was insane. Next step was to block the painting with acrylic paints - as detail isn't necessary in this step and I wanted the first coat to dry quickly so I could start with the rest of the painting.
Using a mix of Titanium White, Pthalo Blue, Midnight Black and Burnt Umber I made a makeshift evening sky; with the moon slightly right of upper centre.
Now with the basic shape of the shadowed mountain region in place, I blocked in the highlights.
With this dried after about 5 minutes, now was time to break open the oil paints for the first time. Using absolutely tiny brushes, I was able to achieve incredible effects. Using Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow, Burnt Sienna and Alizarin Crimson, I had myself some nice and effective rock highlights.
Now it was time to perfect the shadow snow colour. I found Pthalo blue was too grey for this purpose, and used Ultramarine Blue instead - a much more vibrant colour.
After completely filling in the shadows with this snow colour, now it was time for the rocks. Using a very dark grey with a hint of blue, I used a size 0 round brush and individually painted every rock and crevice. Of the 14 hours it took to paint this, about 8 of them were spent painting these rocks in the shadow.
And finally, the finished painting:
And for comparison once more with the reference picture:
As always, I apologise for differences in lighting with the progress pictures. The final picture is in true colour.
Painted in acrylic - detail in oil - on triple primed 30x40cm panel.
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