Colorado Sky

This is for Studio Atelier June 2012 challenge. It's oil on 11x14 canvas panel.

This is an atmospheric layers challenge. (ref) The reference photo was this big Colorado sky with layers of mountains. I chose a smaller view than the original photo, and also moved the house which was chopped off on the right of the reference photo to be the focal point of my painting. I also lightened up the foreground a few grades in value as I thought the photograph was too dark in the foreground. The point of this painting was trying to capture layers of the landscape, include the foreground rolling hills and background far away mountains, as well as the lighting from sunset.