Landscape Painting: Part 4, "Mt. Daly"Completed

Finishing a painting always reminds me of the sensations I had after completing a final test while in college. Happy and extremely relieved. I could hardly stand the pressure. I tried to think back to my high school days and can't remember my feelings at all about the tests back then (I must have really hated them). Ironically, now as a professional artist, I love the challenges of a painting deadline. In fact, I welcome them. Which is probably why I like doing commissioned paintings. There is usually a deadline involved and the pressure gets my adrenaline going which in turn gives me the energy and inspiration I need to see the creative project to completion.

This landscape painting was one of those challenges which I thoroughly enjoyed. The deadline gave me the excuse to paint night and day and ignore all my other day to day responsibilities.( I will admit that I still have to put some miscellaneous Christmas stuff away. Its all hidden in my laundry room.) A couple of times I painted in my pajamas for most of the day...it was very comfortable and guilt free.  But in the end, the painting was completed in time and was just barely dry enough to put it in the frame I had ordered. Two days later it was ceremoniously presented to a very deserving recipient.

Stage 8: Painting the foreground. I started by blocking in the grassy area with an under painting of a neutral green, leaving hints in the areas where the trees and rocks would go.

And then with a darker green, I blocked in the trees, rocks and then the stream.

 Stage 9: Applying the second layer of paint.Working wet on wet paint, I came in with a putty knife to apply the thicker paint that would give depth, color and texture.

Here is a closer look at Stage 9. From there, with a variety of brushes, I worked the colors into the canvas.

Mt. Daly
24 x 30", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c)2014