SIERRA MOUNTAIN PAINTING LESSON

Landscape Oil Painting Demo

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Part 2 of 3

17. I begin to paint the lit side of the mountains using the same general approach, I block-in using essentially only two values...

block in, oil painting

18. I like to keep my palette very simple...at this stage of the painting you can see I only have my three basic primary colors, yellow, magenta and blue, one secondary, red (used mostly to mix the brown) and a very dark color I call "blackenough". Through combinations of these and Titanium white I'm able to mix the few warm and cool earthtones that I use on the mountains.

oil painting palette

19. And so, essentially I procede in this manner across the mountains alternating between knife and brush...

painting session, Sierra mountains, buttes, art tutorial

20. The difference in progress shown between this photo and the one above is about one painting session's progress...I have a long way to go!

mountain details, oil paintingl lesson

21. The detail in mountains like this can be overwhelming to the painter, but to keep myself from being overwhelmed, I work in sections paying attention to the values and colors in each area as they relate to each other and the whole...

oil painting lesson

22. Here's an "up close" shot showing the degree of brush and knife work that make up the mountains...

palette knife textures, mountain, rocks

23. And here it is standing back a bit...

rugged buttes, oil painting demo

24. I'm nearly done with the rugged buttes and will soon be moving on to the mid-ground part of the painting...

mountain snow, shadow, rocks, sierra

25. To finish off the mountains, I have to paint in a bit of the remaining snow that usually stays on them year round...I begin with the snow in the shadow areas - though shaded, still quite light value-wise...

mountain snow, painting tutorial

26. And the light part, though quite bright isn't really close to pure white (even though it looks so in this photo) I usually paint both clouds and snow with a fair degree of yellow mixed in...

painting snow in mountains, oil painting demonstration

27. Ah, that snow is just the thing to really give some depth to these rugged peaks...

painting mountains, brush and knife, oil painting

28. Here's a shot of the main part of the buttes in their near finished state...

mountain and trees, sun, sky, painting, landscape

29. The tree covered mountainside in the middle ground is barely beginning to receive light as the Sun moves east to west across the sky. Being still in shadow quite a bit, I underpaint a fairly dark area before painting any of the trees that cover it. Mind you, this is still quite a bit lighter than black though it's hard to tell that in the photo without anything to compare it to...

painting trees en masse, how to paint forests, mountain landscape

30. This photo shows the actual value of that dark area a bit better than the one above...

free art lesson, oil painting, trees

31. With my thin underpainting in place, I can now begin to paint the trees that cover it...

how to paint trees, low detail, mountain

32. And so it looked when I was about half-way done with the trees...

knife and brush, tree painting

33. The trees too, I paint alternatively employing knife and brush...this a great technique for anything that has a lot of texture...

oil painting, painting trees with knife

34. Here it is, about 6 a.m. as I leave my studio once again to get ready for the day job...

sierra mountains, art lesson

35. Coffee is a great ally for these early morning painting sessions...those of you on my email newsletter probably remember this shot that I sent out when the painting was still in progress. I'm roughly a little past half done at this stage...

coffee and art, mike callahan

36. A shot showing the tree covered area mostly done...

simplify tree painting, oil painting
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Click to View PART THREE of the Sierra Splendor painting lesson
Tutorial is copyright of Mike Callahan


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