Painting Outdoors in the Rees Valley, New Zealand - Art and Photography

Hey Steemers

More chronicles from my outdoor painting adventures in the South Island of New Zealand. This time I went to the Rees Valley near Glenorchy which is a very mountainous valley full of high peaks, glaciers, beach tree forests and mountain streams.

There were so many amazing views to paint here and this is one of the paintings I created that day.

Rees Valley, New Zealand, 20mm x 30mm, oil on canvas panel, painted outdoors 'en plein air'.

The Rees Valley is so beautiful, such rich vibrant colours, it's a plein air painters dream.

I have been out with a group of outdoor painters, here we were figuring out whether we could drive across the river!

I found a spot to paint, I love the stream with the mountains in the distance. This is Mt Clarke which has a permanent glacier on it.

I set up my pochade box easel and sketched out a composition to paint.

When painting outdoors it's always a good idea to paint the sky and the shadows in first. That way you can establish the tonality of the painting and it doesn't matter if the light changes.

Green is a tricky colour to work with, it doesn't travel well over long distances so this has to be translated in a painting. I desaturate my distant greens so it recedes in the painting and looks further away.

I really liked the willow tree that is on the side of the river bank however in its actual position it wouldn't have worked well in the painting, so using artistic licence I moved it to the left side of the canvas. This also helps with the composition to lead the eye towards the mountain.

The painting is coming together. I changed the composition a little and I am using an 'S' composition, the river leads the eye towards the mountain in an 'S' shape.

I save my lightest tones until last, which includes the snow on the mountains.

My finished painting on my pochade box easel.

This painting is for sale for $275 USD and I accept several cryptocurrencies as payment including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Dash. Please email me if you are interested in this painting: [email protected]

Check out my website for more of my art: samuelearp.com

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