Military Road, Dublin Mountains

Here is the result of all that colour mixing and all those sketches:

It's not a very big painting (about 20x50cm). But I like the panoramic format. And I'm rather pleased with how it all worked out. It really reminds me of that day (or that half hour really) up in the Dublin Mountains, with the clouds just about to roll in from behind the mountains (the peak is Kippure - I chose not to paint the mast!)

I chose a rough paper with a strong canvas grain to it (Hahnemühle Cornwall, 450gsm), which you can see better in this detail photo:

That strongly-textured paper enabled me to lift the paint to create the cloud effect. In the foreground, I decided to add a few texture elements (scraping the paint to create the grasses, and spattering to give the impression of small stones on the path). I must look for that paper in different formats - I have to say I am very fond of it now.