Texture

This painting is a piece that represents the formal element of texture.  Since it is an impasto painting, meaning it is made using thick oil paint, the brush lines left behind give the painting an actual texture.  Certain brush lines are physically raised up which gives the piece a bumpy feeling when physically touched.  The artist of this piece used this texture to show that the elements of the piece have texture in real life.  The raised brush strokes are placed in a specific manner to give an extra dimension to the trees, clouds, and hillside which gives the viewer a sense that this could actually be a full 3 dimensional work and not a 2 dimensional one.