Oh well, that'll be tomorrow. For now, more progress shots of the neverending landscape painting!
For starters, I finally got around to blocking in the trees and dark accents on the hillside. I was having a hard time judging the composition without those trees there.
Next I work some different colors and values into the trees, paint the grass and bushes on the foreground hillside, and add in the rocks that are out in the lake.
At this point, things aren't quite right. The light on the mountain just isn't "popping" like I'd like it to, and there is no center of interest as a result. Sometimes at this stage, I like to detach myself from the "what" that I'm painting, and just work on the forms and composition - the best way to do this is to turn the painting upside down. I actually can't remember the last time I did this with a landscape, but I used to do it all the time when I was painting portraits. It helps me to stop thinking about what I think things should look like. So here it is upside down.
Looking at it upside down, it's clear that there isn't enough contrast on the middle part of the mountain, and that there isn't quite enough detail on the shaded part of the mountain. Also, the rocks on the hillside below the mountain are too fragmented - they need to be simplified. So, keeping it upside down, I go to work on refining these areas, trying to give the mountains a bit more punch.
Turning it right side up again, I'm happier with the contrast on the mountain and the way things read.
Then again, I'm not loving those rocks out in the middle of the lake. I decide to see what things look like without them, and then I stop for the day.
I'm almost done, but I really don't like the rocks along the top of the foreground hillside - they seem to keep the eye down in the lower part of the painting, and I want the eye to travel up to the mountains. Looks like I might have to do some editing tomorrow.
I wasn't a fan of the rocks in the lake either.
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