Mount Townsend

Several weeks ago I had about 4000 things to accomplish, so instead I went to the mountains. I hiked Mount Townsend, at least until my fear of heights kicked in (almost at the summit, alas.) It was a beautiful day, a beautiful hike, and it kicked my butt. (20% grade–yowza!)

This is an image from that hike. I took more time with this one than I usually do, and really contemplated each step and what it brought to the work.

In step one I am, as always, looking mostly at value and composition, laying in fields of color.

In the second step you can see the layering in the sky and mountain. At this point I am very enamored with the thick line at the horizon; it emphasizes the horizon in an interesting way.

The third layer shows what that layering looks like drawn down over the entire painting. This stage is technically pretty good. However, I feel I have lost something in this. It lost some interest, part of its spark.

The fourth step shows me working to regain that interest. You can see I re-worked the sky, lightening it towards the horizon plus adding several glazed layers of various colors to add depth. I also added more color to the mountain and the water.

Stage five. Alas, I had to kill my beautiful horizon line, subdue it. It was too bold and was hindering the sense of endless sky and water I was trying to achieve. I also added more rosy-peach color back in, as somewhere along the way I had lost that color of wildflowers.

I am still not satisfied with the foreground, but need to live with it for awhile. Let me know if you can tell me what I need to do to reconcile it!

Happy painting and hiking!
Dawn