Stalenhag inspired painting #2

This is my second finished painting following Stalenhags process. Overall I feel like this one captures the feeling of his work better than my previous piece. I think this is to do with the fact that the brush strokes are a lot more natural and the colour pallet used is more simpler with various tones of each colour that change slightly but not too drastically to keep with the overcast lighting that is also used in the painting. The way this image is set out with the character looking away from the camera is also something you see a lot in stalenhags paintings, and if they are facing the camera then their face is normally still hidden by a mask or isn't detailed enough to see clearly.

This was the original Photo taken before painting into it. I was lucky enough this time to have an overcast day which helped get the lighting right away for me. I also I knew I could possibly need a character in my piece so I asked someone to come along and stand in some of the shots and to look in certain directions that I was planning to add objects and buildings to.

I looked at these three images of Stalenhags as inspiration on reference for my painting. I was mainly looking at these because of the similar horizon lines and tree lines that matched my photograph. Also all three of the includes a character faced away from the camera.

I started by removing a lot of the fence and plants that were splitting the image up by cutting the foreground off from the rest of the image. Getting rid of the fence opened up the image and gave me room to mess around a bit more. I subtly changed the tones of the colours without drastic change to go with the overcast lighting and added some structures into the background along with some smaller houses to show scale.

I added a subtle glow to the sky from the fluorescent red lights and then added more detail into the grass and tree areas. After doing this the image still felt a bit bare so after looking at the three images above again I decided to use the one on the left and try and re create the flooded field look and have the lights reflect in the water. I also used the reflective light to help guide the viewers eyes towards the tower.

To finish the painting I adjusted the lighting and contrast as I felt it was overall a little too dark.