Progression of an Oil Painting

(This article was featured in one of my Fine Art Newsletters)
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I've been painting quite a bit since the last newsletter, so I thought it would be interesting to share the creation process of another one with you.

Below is a photo I took on a recent hike in Cambridge. I liked a number of things in this scene which I thought would make for a good painting.. some strong horizontal and vertical lines, a depth of perspective and muted colours that were a contrast to the saturated moss colour of the foreground rocks.

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My first step was to draw the composition in pencil. This step helps me to simplify and get to know the scene using a few grey tones. If something looks wrong at this step, it's easy to change. I have the drawing pinned up as I paint for reference, along with the original photo.

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Beginning with the farthest elements in the landscape, I paint the background shapes and then work my way forward. I also paint the darkest areas at this point to lock the position of the trees and rocks in the scene so that I have something to reference as I go. Squinting my eyes, I try to see the foliage as just shapes and not individual leaves.

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The next images show how the rocks in the foreground were rendered. I increased the saturation of the greens and kept an eye out for warm and cool variations of the green tones.

Final adjustments to the painting are now made to contrast, edges and the brightest highlights are added.

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So without talking about colour mixing or materials, etc. that's the basic steps I took to paint this new landscape.

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I hope you liked seeing how this one evolved. If there's any questions you have about my process, or if you'd like to hear about other art related topics or questions please reach out. If you'd like to receive more content like this, consider subscribing to my newsletter.
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- John :)