"A hillside an Italy."Part of a series of paintings, this one done with a Wacom tablet in Corel Painter. In this one I enjoyed laying down the groundwork for a colorful piece with the orange and yellow sky. I then added a sense of atmosphere and perspective with the muted colors for the mountains. I highlighted some architectural points but I did not spend the attention to every window or door, I just wanted to give an impression of the scene. The family with the dog in the foreground came last and I feel it really brings the viewer into the piece.
I am still working on brush control so that the brushstrokes are visible but not intrusive to the image. I find I use the same brush size and technique throughout the whole piece, giving it a sketched look. This looks great in the background and the middle ground, but for close up details I need to spend my time rendering the forms. The brushstrokes in the background can be fuzzy, affected by the atmosphere like the mountain range fading into the back. I am very happy with how I have been developing that atmospheric effect, but I need to balance that with the rendering and detail in the foreground.