Painting LARGE and BOLD in oils- continued

     In the past few days I’ve blocked in the shapes of the foreground hills and then the city buildings. Working from photos is challenging because you don’t see near the amount of dimension and colour as in real life. As an artist the photo is only a launching pad of creativity for me. There was a time when I had to paint everything I saw along with all the details. It’s taken some time to free myself from photorealism. Impressionism allows the viewer to fill in details and become more immersed in your story. 
    While blocking in the two foreground hills, I made sure to add the most important recognizable details. I can come back and alters values later. Glazing transparent hues will push back areas like the distant fields. This can’t be done till the first layers is dry.
    I hunkered down with some good music and painted in the city section. This painting is large enough where viewers would say ‘ Hey, there’s the Staduim!’ I had to actually be pretty detailed but tried to keep some painterly brush strokes while rendering it. By the end of the day after all that detail I felt compelled to grab a large brush and block in the large tree shape in the foreground!  Phew that felt good!
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