Discover the step-by-step process Shanna Kunz uses to create an atmospheric landscape painting. From building a strong composition with grids to adding subtle textures with sandpaper, explore how she balances color, value, and detail to bring her art to life.
Step 1
Shanna Kunz likes to work over a grid to aid in the placement of big shapes and to check the symmetry of her composition.
Step 2
She then paints the composition in one color. Here it’s a bluish gray, “but it could be other colors,” Kunz says. “An active piece that moves the eye around a lot may call for purple or cerulean. Sometimes I’ll use a quieter or more subdued color, such as a burnt sienna.” The artist is establishing three basic shapes at this stage — light, medium, and dark. She prefers a close value range.
Step 3
Kunz says she usually puts the middle ground in next because it’s her favorite part of most paintings. “It’s dessert before dinner for me,” she says. “I love putting that last plane against the sky. So many times, the relationship of that soft edge between sky and middle ground defines the meaning of the painting.”
Step 4
The artist begins to add local color in the foreground. The warmth of the foreground contrasts with the cool middle and background. “I wanted the blues in there,” says Kunz. “I was coming home through the canyon in the Wasatch Front after the first snowfall of the year, and it was wet and socked in and so beautiful.”
Step 5
Kunz’s paintings often have a softness to them, partly because she hits them with sandpaper in the middle of the process. “I sand back to develop texture in the work that complements the mood of the painting,” she says. “If I use a lot of paint and a palette knife, it needs to be tempered. I’m not afraid to grab sandpaper and sand back all the way to where it was.”
Step 6
Kunz likes to move around the entire canvas and bring it all to completion at the same rate. She won’t hesitate to take a spatula to sections that aggressively distract from the overall effect. At this point she is still concentrating on big shapes, accurate but compressed values, and the most beautiful color appropriate for the piece.
Final Step
She saves details for the last stage, the last 5 percent of the painting. “Those last staccato notes get the viewer to look here, here, and here,” says Kunz. “If you add pops of value and detail as rhythm, they keep the eye engaged in the whole painting.”
Editor’s Note: Join us for the 6th Annual Plein Air Live online art conference, featuring Kathleen Hudson, Kevin Macpherson, Kami Mendlik, and many more! The event takes place November 12-14, 2025, with an Essential Techniques Day on November 11. Learn more at PleinAirLive.com.
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