Landscape Painting: Mt. Daly, Part 2

 Stage 2: Painting the sky. I started the sky by blocking it in with a somewhat thin layer of light gray-blue. While the paint was still fresh and wet, I painted the white clouds into it, softening the edges as I went. I enjoyed the subtle hints of pinks and lavender.

There was a fluffy, light cloud cover in the sky that morning, somewhat unusual for a Colorado summer morning. More often than not, its a solid blue sky. The random pattern of the openings in the clouds intrigued me with little bits of blue peeking through.

Stage 3: Painting the trees into the sky. To get the effect I wanted, painting wet paint onto wet paint, I realized that I had to paint at least the tops of the trees that overlapped and framed the edges of the sky.

Stage 4: Blocking in Mt. Daly. As we came upon this wilderness scene, with Mt. Daly looming in the distance, I was impressed with the light and how it was enhancing the colors of this peak. As I blocked in the colors I couldn't help thinking of it as a patchwork quilt.

Stage 5: Painting Mt. Daly. I loved what the clouds and sunlight were doing as random patterns of shadow and light moved across the mountain's form. The biggest challenge was giving enough visual information to make it interesting and believable but at the same time keeping it simple enough so that it didn't look tight and too detailed.