Part 2: Making bright clean colors

I like showing the final image first so you can get excited about the colors. This image is composed of complementary colors: purples and golds/ blues and oranges with some added green because I can't seem to restrict myself.

The mountains are created with first putting down purple (which was too bright) but then modifying that color with complementary mauve - a grayed down reddish/purplish color. It serves as a way to calm down the purple and push it back. This is a case when using muddy colors can add clarity to the image by separating the point of interest from the background.

This is the final step. 

This is the reference photo which is the inspiration but not the exact image. Use reference photos to capture the basic idea but don't be enslaved to it. As you can see the color is way off and I focused on the top 1/2 of the image for my inspiration.

Step #1: Sketch in the basic shapes - don't be too detailed, just the shapes, please.

Step 2: Block in the shapes with darker colors and wash in with rubbing alcohol to establish the base color.

Step #3: adding more layers. The quicker you can get to the final layer the clearer our colors will remain.