Tag Archives: Alpine Hamlet

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My Original Artwork ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″)

I’ve finally completed My Original Artwork ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) acrylic on canvas painting.  I modeled the mountain backdrop after Austria’s Sonnenspitze mountain, and created an imaginary, idyllic Alpine Hamlet for the foreground.  I really do enjoy painting wintertime scenes, especially fir trees covered in snow ~ and this painting was fun and challenging for me to do!

With each new painting I try to branch out and explore new scenes and techniques, trying things I haven’t attempted before ~ and I’m having fun doing it ~ enjoy! 🙂

My Original Artwork ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″)

(Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

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My Original Artwork-in-Progress (Update 5) ~ Alpine Hamlet

This is the fifth update of my Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) acrylic on canvas painting.  I’ve now finished the intermediate forest between the Sonnenspitze mountain and the Alpine Hamlet in the foreground, which I’ll work on next.  I enjoy painting wintertime scenes, especially fir trees covered in snow ~ and this painting’s kept me busy so far! 🙂

As the scene unfolds in front of me, I find it reveals details I’d never considered in my imagination at the beginning of the process.  My first idea, was the intermediate forest would be solid trees between the Sonnenspitze and the hamlet.  As it turned out, there’s a frozen stream down in the valley, and the trees share an open space that I hope gives a sense of depth between the hamlet and the Alpine Peaks ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″)

(Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11" x 14") ~ (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) ~ (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

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My Original Artwork-in-Progress (Update 4) ~ Alpine Hamlet

This is the fourth update of my Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) acrylic on canvas painting.  I’ve now finished the forest of fir trees at the base of the Alpine mountain ‘Ehrwalder Sonnenspitze’ in Tyrol, Austria, in my painting.  The next step is to add an intermediate forest between the Sonnenspitze mountain and the Alpine Hamlet I’ll later detail in the foreground.  I like to work from the top of a canvas to the bottom, as it’s cleaner and avoids messing up what’s already been finished.

After the intermediate forest, I’ll turn my attention to the Alpine Hamlet scene in the foreground.  It’s always an adventure for me to create a painting, as it exists only in my imagination at the start, and is slowly revealed to me the same as it’s revealed to you ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″)

(Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

Alpine Hamlet (11" x 14") ~ (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) ~ (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

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My Original Artwork-in-Progress (Update 3) ~ Alpine Hamlet

This is my latest update on my Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) acrylic on canvas painting.  Painting is always about layering for me, and I’ve finished my first few rounds of snow and rock on my interpretation of the Alpine mountain ‘Ehrwalder Sonnenspitze’ found in Tyrol, Austria.  The next step is to add a forest of fir trees climbing the lower slopes of the Sonnenspitze, followed by more layering of snow over everything ~ and then I hope it looks like an idyllic Alpine backdrop! 🙂

Once I finish the Sonnenspitze mountain landscape, I’ll turn my attention to the Alpine Hamlet scene in the foreground.  I’ll probably add in a few additional details as the painting develops ~ like a central Christmas tree, wreaths and whatever else comes to mind in the process ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″)

(Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

Alpine Hamlet (11" x 14") ~ (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) ~ (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

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My Original Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet

This is my latest update on my Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) acrylic on canvas painting.  I like serializing the progress of my paintings, as they slowly come to life over time, and these updates capture each stage along the way.  At this point I’ve completed painting the sky, and wanted a sense and a feeling of an impending change in the Alpine weather.  These are the first real clouds I’ve ever painted, so it was a learning experience for me ~ which is why I like the challenge of trying to paint something new and different in each and every painting.

Another thing that struck me in the process of trying to get the right mix and proportion in my clouds, was that when only the sky is painted, that’s all anyone looks at.  Once the painting’s completed, the sky is probably the last thing noticed, after the buildings and the mountains.  So I’ll let my clouds float by for the moment, and at the end of the painting if I still think they need some more attention I’ll return to them, but for now they’re finished ~ enjoy! ☼ 🙂

Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″)

(Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

Alpine Hamlet (11" x 14") ~ (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, all Rights Reserved)

Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) ~ (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, all Rights Reserved)

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My Original Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet

I’m not a natural artist, as even my doodles look more like scribbles than doodles, so I enjoy sharing the process of how I go about painting with acrylics on canvas.  Perhaps I can encourage others through sharing my creative process to pursue their interests, too, even though they also struggle from a lack of ‘natural’ talent.

We’d all like to be gifted in the areas of our interests and passions, but that’s not normally how life works.  For me, I work with my strengths and try to minimize my weak areas as far as art goes.  My process is essentially one of procedural graphics, that I follow step-by-step throughout the entire process of painting a picture.

Once I have a concept in mind for a new painting, I search Google Images for concept photos to inspire the direction I’ll approach the subject from.  Once I find a photo to use, I print and scale it in a grid pattern to the same scale as the canvas I’m working on, and then free-hand the image onto my canvas ~ in this case the mountain backdrop.  Then I acquire other photos I need like buildings, often cutting them out to trace the basic dimensions and perspectives onto the canvas.  After that I free-hand in whatever additional details I’d like to include.

Mine is an architectural interest, without the training or skill, as I enjoy drawing buildings using a mechanical pencil, ruler and plotter. While I understand perspective, I struggle to interpret it correctly, which is why I often need to use an image for an example to get it right.  Once I have the basic details sketched out on the canvas I can ad lib the rest, especially while painting, as I feel no need to follow the guidelines I’ve sketched out and just let the painting discover itself and play out naturally at that point.

Here’s the finished rough sketch of my current Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″), so let the painting begin! ☼ 🙂

My Original Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″)

(Copyright 2016,  Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

My Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11" x 14") (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)

My Artwork-in-Progress ~ Alpine Hamlet (11″ x 14″) (Copyright 2016, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)