City of the Sky People

The third in a series of sky-based paintings, in this one I intended to paint a more naturalistic sky and landscape but with much more of a Fantasy content so I came up with this: an imaginary city set in a cold and desolate landscape against a big sky, this time painted in more naturalistic colours than the previous one. The river meanders are influenced by Cuckmere Haven, an iconic landscape half an hour away from where I live in East Sussex UK. I think I've channeled  a battleship's conning tower for the city!
The lighting developed as I went along with the decision to have the distance in sunlight only happening near the end of the painting. It's quite a busy painting but composed with the Rule of Thirds used in the placement of the different elements. The composition is a series of checks and balances of light and dark areas against each other, trying to get as much movement as I can into the painting particularly helped by the sweeping river meanders.
I try to make my landscapes as dramatic/dynamic as I can unless I want an atmosphere of stillness. One of the reasons that I am doing sky-based paintings is that I feel I need to improve in this area and am already thinking about ideas for the next one, cloud-based again as I enjoy doing them.
I hope to take this to IX in Reading PA later this year.
30" x 20" oil on linen.
There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in earlier posts on this blog.

City of the Sky People - stage 11

This is just what I have managed to do this morning before being away from the studio back on Thursday. Progress has been slow due to more of my time being spent on moving my elderly parents to a flat near where I live. 
I like the effect of sunlight on the more distant landscape where I haven't worked on much yet and have decided to keep it like that and make most of the foreground in shadow to provide contrast and a better sense of distance. I had originally seen it as a more sombre cold landscape but I like that sunlight in the distance which I think gives the painting a more optimistic feel than originally intended! Still not happy with the water...

City of the Sky People - stage 10

As I am in the middle of trying to move my elderly parents near to where I live this is taking time away from painting so there is limited progress from the last stage. I am still painting the meander landscape and must admit to struggling with the reflections in the river. I have at least reestablished the focus of the painting being the city against the sky by knocking back the contrast between the river meanders and the land, the meanders were very strong shapes that were dominating the picture.

City of the Sky People - stage 9

I didn't get as much work done this time as I hoped but have made a start on the meanders as they are dominating the picture at the moment and are proving somewhat distracting. I am painting them in with less contrast against the land so that they recede a bit and not overpower the painting. Once I have the meanders and distant landscape sorted out I can finish the right side of the painting although I will leave the meander on that side until the end as it it has to reflect whatever I work out for the approaching ridge.

City of the Sky People - stage 8

Probably finished the city barring a few later tweaks and have now put in some colour underpainting on the river meander landscape. I misted over the top of the city to make it look like it was virtually in the clouds and blurred the edges of the left side of the city to make it recede. I have chosen a few areas where the sun has broken through the clouds on the foreground landscape.

City of the Sky People - stage 7

Not really a stage, just the result of an hour's work this morning before being away from the studio back on Saturday/Sunday. Just worked a bit more on the city including a start on the very top which will get knocked back a bit and slightly mistier on my return.

City of the Sky People - stage 6

Working on the city itself now. While I was away from the studio I decided to have one area of the city illuminated by the sun through a gap in the clouds and chose the area near the approach. There might just be some sunlight on the top too, I will decide overnight for tomorrow morning's painting session.

City of the Sky People - stage 5

Worked on finishing the sky this morning (subtle changes) including adding definition and tones to the thunder cloud anvil at left. I then blocked in some architecture and land definition to the city and the approaching ridge. I will be away from the studio today, back on Tuesday which will give me time to think about the way I'm going to paint the city and the colours that I am going to use when I get back.

City of the Sky People - stage 4

Sorted out the sky today including a bit of a redesign of the clouds and the basic shape of the city. I will have a final tweak of the sky tomorrow morning before I am away for a couple of days.

City of the Sky People - stage 3

In the couple of hours I had this morning before being away from the studio back Friday, I have roughly painted in the colour underpainting for the sky and distant cliffs. I want a cold somewhat desolate sky and landscape so I'm using cool blue mixes with Zinc White, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Violet and Ultramarine Blue.

City of the Sky People - stages 1 & 2

Stage 1

As mentioned in my previous post I intended to paint a more naturalistic sky and landscape but with much more of a Fantasy content so I came up with this: an imaginary city set in a cold and desolate landscape against a big sky, this time painted in more cold, naturalistic colours.
The river meanders are influenced by Cuckmere Haven, an iconic landscape half an hour away from where I live in East Sussex UK. I think I'm channeling a battleship's conning tower for the city!
The first stage was "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin, Lukas Number 5 medium and turpentine. The Lukas Medium was used to speed the drying time so that the morning session for stage 1 was dry enough for the application of a tonal underpainting in the afternoon. This used the same paint mix but with more turpentine so that it could be applied with a rag.

Stage 2