Painting Progression-Moonlight Travelers-Step 6

Now the painting is really starting to come together.  I paint detail into the trees, starting with the most distant ones first, keeping them light and more blue in the distance.  The snow on the branches is light blue, rather than white.  The trees in the middle ground have more local color and more definition to bring them further forward.  The snow on those branches is lighter in color, too.  In the foreground, I have painted the snow in dramatic shades of blue and lavender with subtle highlights of creamy yellow.  I have done this to create an atmosphere of light reflecting from the building along with ghostly moonlight and shadow.  There is virtually no white used in the snow.  This will make the moon seem much brighter, since it is the lightest object in the picture, other than the horses in the foreground.  I want to keep some attention on them, so they are almost as bright as the moon itself.  I have started to overpaint the far horse, keeping the tones subdued relative to the near horse to create a sense of depth in the painting.  More color and detail has also been added to the building to finish it off as the feature element dominating the picture.

Painting Progression-Moonlight Travelers-Step 5

I have already given the team of horses much attention, painting over the initial acrylic underpainting with alkyd paints.  The sleigh has started to take shape as well.  I continue to overpaint the Victorian mansion with alkyd paints, giving it a warm glow in contrast to the cool blue moonlight sky.  There is much intricate detail in this grand building and much care must be taken to do it justice.  The snow is embellished with both warm and cool colors to reflect the night sky and the warm building lights.  

Other details begin to fall into place, and the picture is beginning to take on the feeling of depth and atmosphere that I want to achieve.  The horses and sleigh seem to be trotting briskly along the roadway, leaving the building behind as they come forward toward the viewer.  The shadows beneath the horses and sleigh testify to the brightness of the moonlight and anchor these figures to the surface that they are moving over.

Painting Progression-Moonlight Travelers-Step 4

Now I switch from acrylic paint to oil or alkyd or a combination of both.  Oil and alkyd paints are completely intermixable and can be used in any ratio if you want to mix them together.  It is quite acceptable to paint oil based paints over top of acrylic but never the other way around, since acrylic paints are water based.  Here I have painted in the night sky and the moon, giving it a bit of a glow.  By adding a few stars in the sky, I have created a nice backdrop for the majestic victorian building, which is the centerpiece of the painting.

Painting Progression-Moonlight Travelers-Step 3

My underpainting is executed in acrylic paint, just blocking in basic colors and defining shapes and areas and how they relate to each other.  It is much faster to work in acrylic rather than oils or alkyd when working out the initial color scheme.  This is a great way to establish a simple map of the painting and to foresee any problems that may arise later on.  I don't worry about exact colors or any real detail, just a general impression of how things should look. 

Painting Progression-Moonlight Travelers-Step 2

After fixing my pencil drawing on the canvas, I use a transparent mixture of acrylic color and mat medium to tone the surface.   I use a combination of burnt sienna and cadmium red to give the canvas a warm, rich ground to paint on.   Now I no longer have to try to compensate for the bright white of the canvas when I apply paint to my drawing.