One great approach is to think of the painting in terms of three segments and then tackle each with a view to creating contrast between foreground, mid-ground and background.
Different artists may split up the picture space differently and it’s your call as to how you divide things up. In the above example, my main objective was to split the very similar greens into different zones to prevent them from all merging together into one big lump of greenish-ness.
The key then is to tackle each with a view to creating contrast between the segments. Using atmospheric perspective to set a degree of chromatic intensity for each zone will create a natural perspective. Different brushwork, values and colours could also be used to split up the scene. This will help define focus too.
Example
In this nice example by Sheila Bell, we see the principle clearly, chroma and colour the foreground, some definition with less colour for the island and the far shore misty and greyed out. The sky too, greys out towards the horizon.
Exercise
- Take a plein-air study or photo reference and split it into three distance zones, then develop it as a colour drawing or painting, making choices to emphasize the differences between zones. Pay a little attention to ensuring that the three areas do not look like “cardboard cut-outs” of course – however not much!