Patagonia Process Painting

I’ve been told that fans like to see a painting in process, and so I’m going to give it a whirl.

Jim and I recently traveled to Patagonia and ended our trip in this magnificent location in Torres del Paine in the National Glacier Park in Chile.  Here we watched a dramatic sunrise over the famous horns in this range, the basis of this 24″ x 30″ oil painting.

Let me know what you think!  Linda

1.  The blue skies of dry Colorado don’t always have much atmosphere, and so one of my goals for this painting was to find a mountain scene with dramatic atmosphere and lighting.  Working from a photo, I created a graphic rendition of my under-painting, implementing the structure and initial values, which are sketchy and a bit extreme. “Cuernos del Paine, Torres del Paine, Chile,” 24 x 30, Oil on Canvas

2. Working on the values and shapes, I fill in the painting with more realistic colors and a few more details and then start working with some glazes to give a variety of color to the clouds and swath of sunlight.

A few upcoming issues:  Although it is a prominent feature in the mountain range, the tangent lines in the crux of the painting need to be toned down.  My thoughts are that a straight shoreline will be boring and that the hill in the foreground needs some interesting shapes and darker values to bring it forward and make it different than the large green triangle behind it (that is still too light).

3. Other items need correction:  I discover that the shoreline needs to be straightened so that it appears more distant. The grasses in the foreground are too similar and too light.  The yellow cloud in the upper left needs to be toned down a lot. And the pentagon shape on the right mountain should be brighter.  I’m struggling with the large bush in the foreground that’s supposed to make that triangular shape more interesting somehow, with water peeking out on the right. But it’s not working! It creates a vertical line up through the entire painting to the top of the right peak.  And what is that big green leaf shape in the middle?  Urg!

4.  All in all I’m pleased with the direction of this painting and happy of all of the time I’ve spent thinking about this fabulous trip and this particular scene.  But it’s not done yet.  The sky needs more glazes, the mountains more details and the foreground grassy mounds need to be broken up so I can walk through them…

"Cuernos del Paine, Torres del Paine, Chile," 24 x 30, Oil on Canvas
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