A landscape in process

A finished painting requires a process.... This one is still in its process, but here you can see some of the steps and how it's unfolding

A thumbnail sketch begins my process. Here I am looking at shapes and values and trying to make some compositional decisions. 

Then a larger and more complex value study. I'm refining shapes here and trying to see all the subtleties of lights and darks.

Finally I'm ready to do a monochromatic oil sketch on canvas focusing on values as well as shapes. I want to get placements right and definitely need to simplify things!  This will become my underpainting. 

And now I'm ready to begin laying in color.  At this stage, I've just begun that process and will continue after layers dry.

From concept to finished painting, there's much to organize and consider. This painting has quite a bit left to do! Updates coming soon!