A Little Something Different: Impressionist Landscape with Poppies

9 x 12 Oil on Stretched Canvas

This is one of my very first paintings (from around September of this year).  I did not yet have any technique.  So when I tried to start the painting in realism I could not make it work.  The only thing I could get to work was a very impasto and impressionist version of the photograph I was using. Never the less, I really like the way this painting turned out (although I got a little carried away with the yellow highlights on the right-side tree. 

I started with the distant mountain valley in the upper left-hand corner and basically painted my way forward.  I tried really hard to bring my contrast up as I moved toward the front of the painting to get a sense of distance.  After the mountain valley I paintied the Mountain range in the distance.  Next I painted the tree to the left (which is my favorite part of the painting), and moved toward the field and vinyard in the middle.  From there I painted the tree to the right and finished with the poppies and grass closest to the bottom.  

Although this painting is competely different from all my other paintings (and my only landscape so far), I really enjoyed painting it.  I hope you enjoy it as well.