Progression of a Landscape Painting

I am excited to share the landscape I spoke of in Tuesday's post that I had been working on a for a good friend of mine. It was a special photo of his that I was so struck by when I saw it that I wanted to paint it for him. I hadn't done a landscape in quite awhile but this has renewed my love for the process of landscape painting! It is where I began before discovering mixed media.

The above photo shows the first layer of color that I put down pretty quickly. I did an initial sketch so I would know where to add the lights and darks. I used a combo of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for a neutral grayish tone along with some acrylic glaze medium to keep the paint moving. I tried to mimic some of the texture of the landscape as I laid down the color. And then I used a rag to wipe out the tiny bit of sky at the top, the path and the sidewall area on the left. You can probably still see some of my sketch with the tree limbs and a person on the path.

Then I began adding another layer of color this time with lots of green, yellows, and orange. I am now also going from dark to light to establish perspective. I must admit I had difficulty with the curved wall on the right side! I tried to work with shades of light and dark to bump it up.

Here is the finished painting! I really like what the yellow does for the gray of the path. It is a nice contrast and the yellow just pops! The person I didn't like initially and almost took it out at the end! But it is a crucial piece to the initial photo that I needed to leave it in.

I saw him Tuesday nite for dinner and surprised him with the painting. He loved it! And it made my heart so happy that I was able to recreate this scene for him in a painting that will hang on a wall in his home!