Shawnee Valley demonstration, Step 11

Painting the foreground



First I redid the transition area in the lower right hand corner so that your eye would not go off the painting to the right. I added some more rocks in a variety of sizes plus two fence posts for scale.

Then I moved leftward and developed the shapes of the rocks and boulders in the shadow areas and then moved on up the hillside to the areas in light. I added some bushes and may even add more.

I am still drawing and auditioning shapes, as to where they look good and add to the overall picture. I will make sure that these bushes and rocks are all interesting, not funny looking. Rocks and clouds can take on shapes that can remind you of most anything. One of the rocks started to look like an old Chevy. Many times they'll look like dead animals or potatoes!

At this stage, I have covered the underpainting with a reasonable representation of what the finished painting will look like. From now on it is tweaking, refining, adding dark accents and highlights. There probably is no part of the painting that is entirely finished.