This is a study after the Tonalist painter John Francis Murphy. I had hoped to get more intensity in the sunlight. I could (and might) go back again for one more round to enhance the contrast. This is also the first time I used Lead-Tin Yellow, which is a really lovely pale, creamy yellow color, kind of like whipped eggs.
When painting something like this, do you paint the light background first or the trees and fill in the background?
For paintings like this, I usually put down some sort of mid-value brownish color, some type of umber or sienna, as a base and then I paint in a rough sketch, including tree trunks and branches (no foliage yet) with a darker color just to get the main compositional features in place. I like to let the painted sketch set up for a day or so before I go on to the next step.
Then I go in and do the light sky assuming that I will have to paint through the sketched trees to get a contiguous sky. I'll then go in a re-establish the tree trunks and branches at each stage.
Nice colors Dracula. Entire painting is a whole piece. I can say I like this or that. I like everything. I have just recently read about tonalism, I think you are doing great progress through your studies to learn realism. I think all these techniques you showed recently are next level and i like to see brush work. There is such balance between impressions and realistic colors. Well done.
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Beautiful painting, I really like the natural colours, the quiteness and the vague foreground!