Coming Foreward

This segment focuses on the middle ground of the painting, where the colors are more intense, warmer and the contrast of values is greater.

Unlike the photo reference, I want this area to be both flat and hilly with some small trees and shrubs. My brush strokes follow the form to show that.

It is important to consider the elements of form and movement. Visual movement in a painting can be created with line, edges, change of value and perspective. First, I want to move the viewer to the center of interest and then to the rest of the composition while preventing the viewer from leaving the painting. The path I am creating starts from the bottom and leads the viewer to the buildings. The darker tree values in the background attract the viewer to that area and then, as mentioned in a previous step, to the right side of the painting by use of value change.

​I left some unpainted (white spaces) on the right which I will build on to create movement to come back to where I started. 

After the middle ground was painted, I was able to paint the structures with more form and detail. The roofs that are in shadow were painted with a cooler color. The roofs in the light were painted with a warmer color. Light sides of the structures were painted with the warmest red on my palette, which is Cadmium Red Scarlet, and the shadow sides were painted with a cooler and grayer color, and the cast shadows were painted with a cooler and grayer color of the ground.