Oil Painting Step-by-step Nov. 2014

Last month I drove south from La Veta to a scenic area about halfway to Cuchara to take pictures of the brilliant yellow aspens. One of my pictures was almost perfect to recreate unaltered into an oil painting. Usually I have to use between 4-8 pictures to compose a painting. In this case I used one for the basis of the composition and a 2nd picture to better define the details of the West Spanish Peak. Here are the photos I used:

I began the painting by toning it with raw umber, then using a cotton rag with some mineral spirits to wipe away the lightest elements in the composition. I added contrasting areas with diluted raw umber paint on a brush. I looked at the photos for guidance.

Then I began adding the local colors.

I worked on the details of the West Spanish Peak.

Then began to focus on the closer evergreen trees, the aspen trees, the colorful shrubs in the distance and the distant evergreen trees.

I continued to work on refining the values, colors, and details. I also focused on the foreground grasses.

I did more work on the cloud and the distant shrubs, plus I  refined the values and colors on the Peak, to complete the oil painting, "View from Dakota Wall Ranch" 12"x16". On display at the Spanish Peaks Arts Council in the Gift of Art Show, Nov. 9, 2014 - Jan.3, 2015.