Painting Demonstration - Composing the Painting

Much later, in my studio, I studied the photos and began a small layout sketch. The subject still excited me but the composition could stand much improvement. The stream that had originally appealed to me needed to be shifted a few hundred metres and re-routed through my painting. I invented a winding, loose metal road, installed an old wooden bridge over the stream and then brought the road right across the foreground.

The stream and road provided good eye paths, but I still felt that an extra focal point, other than the mountain was needed. Tucked over to the right above the road was an ideal place for a Victorian settler’s cottage. I drew one in then turned my attention to the foreground foliage. Instead of the sea of prickly gorse bushes which featured in the photos, I decided on some pasture, a number of native trees and ferns and lots of rank grass.

By this stage I had come a long way from my original photos, but an exciting "walk-in-and-explore" picture story was all set to happen.