Painting with oils - first experience

Yesterday, I gathered all my acrylic paints and brushes and put them in plastic tubs and put them away.  I cleaned off the table where I paint, put out new paper towels and settled down to try my hand at oil painting.  I wanted to re-create this acrylic painting that I did last week - but I want to use oils instead.

As I painted, I learned that oil paints handle much differently than acrylic paints.  There will be a learning curve to this endeavor.   As I struggled to get the right look, I realized that I probably should have started off with some small, fairly easy paintings.  First, it takes MUCH less oil paint to do the job.  However, the fact that it doesn't dry quickly means that it's easy to smear.   A major advantage is that when I didn't like the shape of the rocks in the foreground, I was able to put a little of the Gamsol on a paper towel and just wipe away the tops of the rocks and re-do them.

It is interesting to me that it was hard to get the basic shapes/proportions to look as good as in the painting above.  When I left it, I had only blocked in the rocks, water, and two far mountain lines.

And I don't like it.   I don't like the general shapes of the snow-capped mountains.  So today I didn't work on it.  I met up with my art teacher, Kay, who had ordered some supplies for me.  I showed her the photograph above and asked what she'd advise me. She said that if the paint was still wet (it was), I should use the shaping tool and scrap away the paint where the girls will be.  So I did that earlier.  Then I stopped.  I decided I needed to learn more about oil painting before I did anymore.

I started researching "oil painting" online and on Youtube.  I watched some videos, and I believe I need to start over and handle the painting differently.   I must think more about it, and decide how to proceed.