My Newest Landscape Painting | Hallett Peak

In this painting of Hallett Peak I really wanted to showcase the depth of this incredible landscape so that the majesty of this peak could take center stage. In order to achieve this depth, I made sure to pay attention to a few technique aspects of every landscape.

The first is that objects that are far in the distance have less color saturation and a smaller range of value. The second this that large objects in the distance have more atmosphere between it and the viewer so its colors typically have more blue in them, particularly the shadows. These small adjustments allow this peak to fade into the distance of the painting creating a nice illusion. Another important aspect of this painting was all of the shadows. This photo was taken at sunset time so there are plenty of shadows in this scene. The two main shadows I wanted to pay attention to were the shadows case by Hallett Peak in the background but also the shadow cast by a peak that is actually behind the viewer and out of sight.

I was tempted to leave this shadow out of the painting but I realized that it nicely created the illusion of immersion in the painting so that the viewer really feels surrounded my mountains. Plus this shadow breaks up the composition of the foreground nicely and adds some movement. Overall I really enjoyed creating this piece and I’m excited to be turning it into a Terra Human painting soon!

As always this original painting is available to purchase in my online shop. Click here to view in the shop!

Taking Photos in Rocky Mountain National Park!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of driving up to Rocky Mountain National Park to take some photo references for future paintings. This was my first experience at the park and I was absolutely stunned by the natural beauty that surrounded me and my sister-in-law.

Even though we visited in the winter season, all of the views seemed to be saturated with color from the trees, snow, rock or sky.

We chose to hike our way up to Dream Lake which is frozen during this time of the year, we were able to walk on the ice and see how some of the water was almost frozen in motion among the rocks. We stayed in this area through sunset and its interesting to see the photo comparisons before and after sunset. Below you can see the color and light changes that happened in the environment after the sun had gone down.

I love seeing these rock formations covered in show because it seems to add definition to theme and a sense of dimensionality.

Overall this was a great experience in nature and a wonderful opportunity to capture some inspirational images for more paintings!

"Seeking Balance" A New Terra Human Painting

Hi friends, my newest Terra Human piece has been finished! And I thought this would be a good opportunity to share some progress photos and talk about my process when creating this challenging painting!

When I initially laid out my shapes I accidentally over-estimated some things like the length of the figure and the height of the mountains. So I then needed to reshape these components while also starting to figure out my colors. The unfortunate part of my figure was that my reference photo was obviously not in this sunset environment so I had to adjust the colors and shadows of her skin to make it appear that she is actually being lit by this sunset.

A huge component of this piece was the figure’s face. Her head was tilted back and to the side so this created some very challenging perspective with her features. After several tries I was able to capture her features and move onto the lace in the dress. The intricate threads in this dress were challenging but worth the struggle. I used a very small brush with long bristles so that I could create long smooth strokes. After all of the controlled details it was nice to then add in some abstraction and expressive strokes to create some movement. Once I felt close to being done I took a break from the piece and ended up coming back to it to enhance some of the colors in the sky and trees.

View fullsize

After many hours of work this is our final result! This original painting is available to purchase in my online store for $850. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!

View fullsize