Not long ago I posted an unusual painting of snowy mountains around Donner Lake. It was unusual for the subject matter but also because I did it on an unusual paper support as a test. Because the result of the test was interesting, I put it online but didn't mention anything about the painting process.
Here is the layout of that painting, showing my underdrawing in a warm tone.. I drew the distant mountain masses and then the evergreens in the foreground, leaving the middle for the surface of the lake. Sometimes I tone my entire surface, but here I wanted bright snow. If you look on the left, though, you can see a very light yellow tone laid onto sun-reflecting surfaces. I painted the distant sky first, then the main mountain colors.
After a number of steps you can see how the distant sky and mountains were muted and warmed as were the sun-facing slopes of the mountains. The media board support I used is fairly rigid, much more so than light paper, but also quite absorbent. That meant using oil paint more like a water-based medium and it dried quite matte. Here I've toned the downslope evergreens a redder color, where the sun struck them.
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