Sunset on a Lake

Hey, I am an amateur acrylic painter and I always feel happy when I paint. Besides painting some places I have been, I paint some places I want to go but I can not afford.
One thing I love from painting that I can paint from imagination. I can use a camera to take a photo of an object I can see with my eyes, but I cannot take a picture of what in my mind. Surely, somethings from my mind are from the day life or my dream.

This picture is painted on canvas capturing a unnamed lake in sunset. As an amateur, I often watch professional videos to improve my skills. As a result, I am inspired by Micheal James Smith's instruction video for this painting.
I always feel good looking at clouds and painting it. The colors of sunset make it sad but romantic. I do not paint many people in my painting, I often tell my friends that I would love to paint loneliness. Even though you are in crowd, you sometimes feel lonely and so do I.

To paint this picture, I block stage first with more attention to the sky. I use a lots of orange which makes more feeling of withering and reflection of water. The stages should be various in shades to be deep.

More details of the far objects are added later. The purple clouds are thin and they create the deep of the painting. Vary all the sky with blue and different tones of purple. Actually, painting the sky is one of my favorite part and I often take a deep breath after this part.

To impress the glory of sunset, reflection on the lake needs more attention which have same color tones with the sky. In my opinion, this detail is important to harmonize the sky with the lake. Adding grass at the end with highlight and lowlight finish the painting. I add little water to acrylic to thin it. It is easier to paint the thin lines of grass with thin acrylic. Moreover, I learn my way to brush down rather than brush up. In my opinion, it is better!

I hope that you enjoy my painting and I love to listen more supportive critics to improve my skills. I have seen many great works from you all and I love to learn more. Practice makes better!