Painting a Lone Willow Tree on Tobins Track, New Zealand - Art and Painting Process

Hello Steemers

I have been out plein air painting (painting outdoors) and yesterday I went to along Tobins Track near Arrowtown, New Zealand and painted a willow tree with fields and mountains in the background.

This is my finished painting. I'll show you my process of how I created it.

Willow Tree Along Tobins Track, New Zealand, 22cm x 30cm, oil on canvas, painted outdoors 'en plein air'.

This is the scene I painted, I loved the willow tree in the evening light and the track would add rhythm to the painting.

I set up my pochade box easel and began painting.

I'm painting on loose canvas which I have stuck on to a board with masking tape. I sketch out the composition with burnt umber.

I want to get my tones established so the painting will have depth. I start by painting the shadows of the foliage of the tree as this is the darkest value in my painting and from here I can gauge the rest of the tonality of the painting.

Next I work on the second darkest tone in the painting which is the shadows of the mountains and I mix this with burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and titanium white. This has to be tonally lighter than shadow of the tree otherwise it'll jump forward in the painting and the illusion of distance will be lost.

Now that my darks are established I work on the sky which I mix using ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and titanium white. I paint the light on the distant mountains with yellow oxide, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and titanium white. I used the same colours for the fields in the mid ground but increase the amount of yellow oxide I am using, I also mix in a little cobalt teal. 

I paint the grass in the foreground by mixing varying amounts of yellow oxide, cadmium yellow deep, ultramarine blue, phthalo green, burnt sienna and titanium white. I have to keep in mind that the grass is tonally lighter than the foliage of the willow tree.

Next I paint the lighted areas of the foliage on the willow tree using varying amounts of cadmium yellow deep, ultramarine blue, phthalo green, burnt sienna and titanium white. I add more golden yellow grass to the foreground.

By this point I had to get my painting finished quickly as the light was disappearing behind the mountains.

My finished painting, I add my lightest tones at the end and I refine the painting overall.

I hope you enjoyed my blog post, check out my website for more of my art: samuelearp.com

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