Painting Lake Wakatipu in Middle Earth - Art and Painting Process

Hello Steemers

The weather here in Queenstown, New Zealand has been lovely these past few days with glorious sunshine and high temperatures and yesterday I decided to go painting outdoors on the lake front of the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu. I made a little video of me painting which I uploaded to DTube:

https://steemit.com/dtube/@samuel-earp-art/zd8rt1hq

I painted this view of Lake Wakatipu looking towards Deer Park Heights and the Remarkables Mountains in the background. Deer Park Heights is a filming location for the Lord of the Rings movies.

I'll show you my painting process of how I created this art work.

Lake Wakatipu, Frankton Arm, New Zealand, 20cm x 30cm, oil on canvas panel, painted outdoors en plein air.

This is the view I painted, I love the willow and Lombardy poplar trees juxtaposed against the mountains.

And so I set up my trusty pochade box easel and started painting, my pochade box mounts on a camera tripod.

I am painting on a 20cm x 30cm canvas panel which I prepared myself in the studio by gluing canvas onto plywood which I originally salvaged from the offcuts bin in my local hardware store. I sketch out the scene with burnt umber using a round brush.

Using a No.6 flat bristle brush I start by painting the sky and then the Remarkables mountains in the distance. The mountains in New Zealand can appear very violet-blue on hot summer days so I wanted to capture that in my painting.

Next I block-in the shadows of the trees in the mid ground and then the willow and Lombardy poplar trees in the foreground, darkening the tone as I approach the foreground of the painting.

Next I paint the water and then start adding the areas in light on the mountains and the trees in the midground.

At this point in the painting I add the foliage that is in light on the willow and poplar trees and I paint the lake shore in the foreground.

I rework some of the areas of the painting and then add some final details and with that the painting is finished.

My finished painting on my pochade box easel.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and found it interesting and helpful.

Check out my website for more painting demos and my art: samuelearp.com

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