Artists can choose a painting style to express specific feelings about a subject. The reference photo was taken in New Zealand. I painted it in two contrasting styles to convey different emotional reactions to the scene.

No blending is used in Version 1; it contains flat, hard-edged shapes of color. The outlines of these shapes are created only from straight lines. As a result, Version 1 emphasizes the forbidding quality of the mountains; they bristle with energy, being composed of color shapes resembling lightning bolts or shards of glass.

Version 2 captures a different mood. Most of the lines are curved. Delicate blending is used to round off the forms, as if one has taken sandpaper to the mountains to smooth over any jagged edges, giving the painting a peaceful, welcoming quality.

Combining elements of both versions would yield a painting expressing both emotional responses.