I have Developed a Style

I have been working intermittently on this painting since the 5th of July 2017.  I estimate that I have spent around 30 hours building up the picture and have taken photos along the way to reflect upon my process.  This painting is 120cm x 90cm oil on canvas.

Step 1

I use burnt sienna diluted with turps to sketch the basic shapes of the hills and to lock in the composition.

Step 2

I like the blue in the sky to be clean so I paint it in first trying to create depth and to be representative of the beautiful skies in the North East of Victoria.

Step 3 

I then block in the hills trying to find highlights and shadows which show the folds in the earth.

Step 4 

Once the hills are painted I then block in the middle ground and start to put in the shadows in the foreground.  This also gives me an indication of whether the hills in the background are light enough.

Step 5

I then add the detail to the trees in the middle ground trying to capture the dark and light and the light that can be seen through the trunks of the trees.

Step 6

More detail is added to the middle ground to bring the trees forward of the background. and to put detail into the shadows.

Step 7 

I add the base colour underneath the foreground and start the brush strokes in a vertical direction to start to illustrate the closeness of the grasses.

Step 8

More detail is added to the foreground to try to try and give the observer a platform to view the scene from. 

Step 9

To finish the painting, I will use a very small brush and include detail in the foreground trees, detail in the grass, and tidy up the seed heads.  I will also paint in the branches in on the foreground trees and make the fallen log glow along the top.  The final thing will be star pickets and broken wire.

The final piece.