The Process:
Freedom | 2025
This oil painting captures a rural landscape. A wide canvas was chosen to accentuate the breadth of the valley while maintaining the depth of the mountains as a backdrop.
In this work, the aim was to capture the grandeur of the towering mountains, contrasting their power with the playful greens in the valley below.
Detailed sketch of composition. This is followed by a stain of burnt sienna all over the canvas before beginning painting.
Block in the darks of the furthest and middle-ground mountains. Initial layers on hills to establish planes. Lay in dark and mid-tones in foreground to build darkest values.
Block in foreground greens and sands. Begin building mountain depth and hill mid-tones.
Add sky and clouds. Continue building foreground shapes + adding details.
Enhance color richness of foreground greens. Soften clouds. Add foreground detail of brush. Add final highlights. The painting is complete!