When you're drawing or painting the landscape, the vast amount of details can overwhelm a person. Working small forces you to simplify, and can help you make discoveries about values and composition.
This little painting was done on a postcard 3.5" x 6".
I took a reference photo with my cell phone towards sunset one evening on a walk. The buttery light of sunset peeking through the rain clouds caught my eye.
I began with a pencil sketch, and added waterproof ink with my Lamy fountain pen.
After erasing the pencil marks, this is the pen and ink sketch.
I began painting the sky, using a white wax crayon as a resist where the sun poked through the clouds. Azo yellow mixed with yellow ochre created the buttery yellow sky light. Ultramarine blue with a touch of burnt umber created a lovely cloud color and worked well in the distant hills.
A light wash of yellow ochre for the field grasses and yellow ochre & burnt sienna for the weeds echoed the warm yellow around the sun.
The dark green of the background spruces & pines were mixed with burnt sienna & phthalo blue.
I could have simplified this scene further, but I'm happy with the end result.
I lightened the scene and pumped up the value contrasts a bit compared to the photo, and if I were to paint it again, I might lighten the value of the distant hills a bit to see what effect that had.
After painting the scene in miniature, you can always take what you've learned and create a larger painting using this small work as a guide.
Even if you only create the smaller studies, you learn how to simplify the scene with every little painting.
