Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Yehiam painting progression

I am working on a 16" X 20" acrylic painting of Yehiam from my photos and earlier study.  I posted my smaller study in the last post.  This painting is on gessoed hardboard, not canvas.  I like working on this surface with acrylic paints. I think the landscape would look even better worked in oils, but I don't seem to have the patience to let them dry.  It's easier working in layers with acrylic paints.  I had a hard time making the rocks look old. I decided to use a sponge with some darker colors on top of the undercolor.  I also watched a video on painting stone/rock and came away with the understanding that I didn't need to paint each stone, give a suggestion of them.  I think that helps.  The photo was taken in spring and everything was very green.  The Mediterranean Sea can be seen in the background. The fortress is up high on the hills in Israel.

My first try at the undercolors and basic shapes.  I felt that the background trees were too dark, had too much blue.

Adding more detail and starting to fill in the dark spaces.  Again, I felt that there was too much blue and wound up using some black later on in the crevices and openings in the walls.

I'm happy with my progress so far and may switch off to something totally different for a while, then come back to this to finish it up.

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