Different people use different ways of constructing "intuitive" landscapes or pictorial quilts. I started out by using some sort of foundation to design on. When I first started, I used a piece of muslin cut a little bigger than the size I wanted, and I used that as my "canvas." And that is one way. However, it adds an extra layer to quilt through.
Another way is to use the sky fabric (if it has one) or "background" fabric as the whole piece to build on. The problem with that is that I don't want to waste my great fabrics (like hand-dyed or hand-painted) by hiding them behind other things in the bottom half of the picture! As a result, I started planning out where my sky stopped and earth began and cutting fabrics accordingly. I overlapped them and stitched. The seam got hidden by trees and other things. The cottage piece above is an example, except in this case, it looks like the middle ground fabric actually got added on to the front of the background row of trees.
Another way I have tried is using a piece of batting to construct on. This works pretty well and it "holds" the pieces to it. It needs to be about 3" bigger on each side than your anticipated size; this gives some room for error or to get a little bigger if you need to.
In the end, they all work! All pictorial and landscape artists have their own technique that works for them, usually gained from trial and error.
For me, the secret has been to do a little more planning, a little more sketching and designing up-front. Obviously, that is what the award-winning experts do. Once you have your design worked out, how best to construct it may be the easier part.
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