Hello Steemers
After a cold spell of weather there was snow on the mountains so yesterday I gathered up my painting gear to paint a mountain view, outdoors 'en plein air'.
I went to an area in the Wakatipu Basin, just outside of Queenstown, New Zealand where I live.
Here is my finished painting and I'll show you how I created this artwork.
Poplar Trees and the Remarkables Mountains, 20cm x 30cm, oil on canvas panel, painted outdoors.
This was the view I painted, it is getting towards the end of summer in New Zealand but the trees are still green and I thought they would look good in a painted when juxtaposed against snow capped mountains.
I liked this view of the poplar trees with the track leading towards it and the fields and mountains in the background, so I set up my pochade box easel and started painting.
I sketch out my composition using burnt umber. I am using oil paint for this painting. The trees will be the main focal point and the track will add rhythm to the painting.
The first this I want to do is establish the tonality of my painting, I noticed the the shadows in the trees have the darkest tones, so I paint these first. By painting the darkest tones first I can gauge the rest of the tonality of the painting and create atmospheric depth.
Next I establish my dark tones in the mid ground, these are lighter than the foreground shadows and the mountains are even lighter still. Once my tonal range is established I then paint the sky.
I paint the greens in the distant fields being mindful to desaturate and use colour that is of a lower chroma, this makes it recede in the painting so it doesn't jump forward to the viewer.
I paint the foliage that is in light on the trees, I'm using a much more saturated green by mixing a combination of ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow deep, yellow oxide, phthalo green, burnt sienna and titanium white.
At this point in the painting I am adding more colour and texture to the trees and grass in the foreground. Plein air painting by its nature is loose and gestural but you can still create some realistic paintings. I add the path that leads towards the trees and I paint the foliage of the trees in the mid ground.
Here I paint the snow on the mountains, I use titanium white but I also add a little burnt umber to the mix so the snow is not so bright, then it recedes in the painting.
I finish the painting by refining the sky, adding some more details like clumps of straw coloured grass in the foreground and the suggestion of branches in the trees.
My finished painting on my pochade box easel.
I hope you enjoyed my blog post, check out my website for more of my art: samuelearp.com
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