Midway through landscape painting, I often felt lost and confused. This feeling of confusion was heightened by the fact I rarely lost my way with portraits. If I could find my way with portraits, why could I not find my way with landscapes since both use value and color changes to create lines and shapes? The mystery continued for several years until I took Matt Smith's online course offered by Tucson Art Academy Online.

I do not intend to reteach what Matt Smith so eloquently taught in his online course except to say that in Module 2 Matt discussed and demonstrated establishing a horizon line, perspective lines and proportional shapes. In general terms, I learned how to:

-Set a course

-Plot a path

-Determine the direction I am going

-Find my way

-Generate clarity about what I wanted to paint before I painted it

-Find my limits and boundaries

-Create guidelines for myself

Below are practice drawings from landscape photos taken with my phone while driving from Albuquerque to Phoenix. It is from these drawings I realized how horizon, perspective and proportion lines give landscapes as distinctive and unique an appearance as the eyes, nose and mouth give a portrait! I no longer feel lost. I have direction.