Catalina Mountains, Romero Trail Final

Here's the finished painting. Romero Trail 18x30.

 A few images below, of details. I pushed the abstract qualities and the brushwork.

Artist Statement

I love the struggle of painting. Painting for me is about orchestrating and balancing the elements of beauty found in nature. The elements of color, shape, light, texture and mood are my inspiration. My paintings are personal and emotional interpretations of the land, sky, and atmosphere.   

I love oil paint. The buttery way it can flow off a bristle brush, and how thick paint can be freshly stroked over and into thinner paint. I strive to create exciting and pleasing abstract brush work. Look closely at my paintings and you can see broken impressionistic passages of color and shape. Back away and you'll see the abstract brush strokes become realistic forms of trees, rock, and sky. One particular element that I love to explore with paint is atmospheric depth. As you step back, notice the separation from the foreground to the background, created by value and color. Can you imagine walking through the landscape?

I've made my living as a professional artist for over 30 years. My commercial work has included illustrating book, comic, and gaming covers. I also designed, painted and modeled digital environments for award winning video games. Regardless of schedules and deadlines, I carved out time to paint small landscape studies. Now I am my own client and have the opportunity to indulge my own creativity. I love to paint.  

Catalina Mountains, Romero Trail #2

 Enough with the planning and the preliminary work, onto the final painting. Working from the earlier drawing I did on tracing paper I draw the final and lay in thin tones of value using burnt sienna. This is the under-painting. I plan to allow some of this under painting to show through the final paint adding some nuance of depth.

 

Working from the background to the foreground I paint the sky first, then the furthest mountain ridge. I refer to my color study trusting that the values and hues will come together as the painting progresses.  There are paintings where this doesn't work out so well; that I don't like the value and hue decisions in the background once the foreground is painted.  I will then adjust them by painting over, or sometimes sanding the paint off and starting over with fresh paint.

 

One of the elements I endeavor to work into a painting is quality abstract shapes and brushwork, while representing realism.

Here's a couple of detail images. Notice the abstract shapes, the brushwork the broken color and maybe some of the under painting showing thru.

Once the darker values of the mid-ground are in, the painting starts to come together. Those darker values push the mountains into the background creating atmospheric depth; another element that I enjoy putting into my paintings.

Another detail image, this time the rocks in the mid_ground. By enlarging the image the brushstrokes are more clearly visible.

The values of the new ridge create more depth. Notice the hues are warmer, they have less blue. Also it was time to under-paint the foreground shapes.

As I start painting the foreground, I can more clearly judge the value and color decisions I've made in the background and mid ground. I don't plan to sand any areas and repaint, but I may do some minor adjusting.

Next up, the final painting.