6-Step Landscape Painting Demo: Painting Back to Front

Watch and learn as Sara Linda Poly shows how her landscape painting, “Mountains and Long Shadows,” came to be.

By Sara Linda Poly

Step 1
On a toned, very dry canvas, I sketch with warm color, showing simple shapes and showcasing the point of interest or focal point — the road.

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Step 2
Next, I paint in the darks using local color and make sure to join them in a pattern.

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Step 3
I like to paint from back to front, so I put in the sky first and sculpt out the large tree shapes.

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Step 4
Moving toward the foreground I start adjusting the colors and adding more paint.

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Step 5
Now I move into the immediate foreground to get the right color and value, leaving the lightest lights until last. I start adding more paint, mostly with a knife.

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Final Step
Using only a knife, I add more paint and texture, especially in the fore-ground. Then I make the final adjustments.

Sara Linda Poly, originally from the Philadelphia area, studied at university in PA, VA, MD., and with local and national artists. Sara’s past experience includes illustration and design and work as assistant gallery director at the Art League Gallery, in Alexandria, VA., where she is now an instructor. Known for her sweeping skies and dramatic light in the landscape, she has been the winner of numerous awards and a participant in many regional and national shows. Connect with the Artist: saralindapolystudio.com

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Blog post prepared for the web by Cherie Dawn Haas, Editor of Plein Air Today