Step-by-Step Landscape

[CarlyHardy]

A big thank you to Mike Callahan for his newest article for landscape painters. However, I think his techniques could be used for any subject! Follow along with his step-by-step demonstration!

Thanks Mike, for a well written and illustrated article!!

carly

You'll find the article at Step-by-Step Landscape

[llis]

Thank you Mike. Your article is a real treat!

[marshallgh]

thanks for the great article with lots of detail. the final product is just beautiful! you are my hero....a job...a family...and still finds the time to paint. don't know how you do it!! but thanks! how long did this painting take to complete??

[mikecallahan]

Thank you all for your kind words! I find them very encouraging!

Originally Posted by marshallgh

how long did this painting take to complete??

Marshall, to answer your question, I guess that depends on how you want to count it...it was on my easel for about three weeks, but actual hours were about 12-14. I usually am able to work on a piece for about an hour right when I get home from work 3 to 4 evenings a week and I average about another two hours on Saturday. I try pretty hard to stick to these times as a discipline, otherwise there are so many things demanding my time it is real easy to not get any painting done. When I'm approaching the final stages of a painting I start planning my next project and try to always have something on the easel. If you do that, it's amazing how much work you can actually produce.

[Zarathustra]

Hi Mike, just wanted to stop by and say nice work with your tutorial - thanks for taking the time and effort, the final painting looks great.

[mikecallahan]

Thanks, Zarathustra - great to hear from you!

[artbars]

The interesting story of painting! Remarkable result!!! Thanks

[Biki]

Thanks Mike - this has been most helpful for this newbie.

[artsygirl]

This too from another newbie,

I loved the demo. very interesting procedure with great results.
If it's ok I'd like to try it. Thanks for all the insights.

[mikecallahan]

Originally Posted by artsygirl

If it's ok I'd like to try it.

Of course it's ok! Give it a try! Let me know how it goes for you and feel free to e-mail me or post here if you have any questions along the way.

[xreader]

Thank you Mike...this is a very important contribution. I dabble in landscapes and find your article to be very enlightening. I will refer to it often.

[Paula Ford]

WOW, what a great article!!!

Thank you so much.

Paula

[ayeceaeph]

Absolutely wonderful and impressive article. Love the wash at the beginning followed by the cotton swabs...great!! Thank you for sharing

[it'sALLart]

As always, I'm fascinated by how we each get from "here" to
"there" in our work, even after seeing demo's for over 20 years, its still compelling. Thanks for showing us, again, your own techniques.

This one looked like it had a bit "lighter" touch than what I've seen you do in the past... was that a purposeful approach or just how things happened?

I wonder if you'd work in acrylic (instead of oils) if you didn't have that job breaking up your painting schedule and giving you those nice drying times!!

(just kidding!)

thanks again!

[mikecallahan]

Originally Posted by it'sALLart

This one looked like it had a bit "lighter" touch than what I've seen you do in the past... was that a purposeful approach or just how things happened?

Pretty much, just how it happened. I think the whole scene was a bit higher key due to the mid-day lighting, and I did want a bit more of my underpainting to show through, but in the end I can't say that it was all that intentional.

Originally Posted by it'sALLart

I wonder if you'd work in acrylic (instead of oils) if you didn't have that job breaking up your painting schedule and giving you those nice drying times!!

(just kidding!)

thanks again!

I probably wouldn't work in acrylic, not that I have anything against it, it's just that I would have to work with it a while to get things in synch with my own style and work habits. Here's what I do about drying times though (when I get enough time away from the day job to engage in some serious painting times), I work on two concurrently. I'm doing that at this very moment though I haven't updated the works in progress section of my website yet. Week after next, I'm going to try to complete three plein air pieces in five days, so I'll only have 24 hr. drying times anyway (I'm going to have to save most of the areas with heavy whites until the last day I think). I'm going to try to keep my progress posted on my site, so start checking on the 26th if you're interested. Wish me luck!

Thanks for your comments and questions, I always appreciate it!