Background Work

I went and grabbed this painting from the school this afternoon. I got a good portion of the background blocked in. I was originally planning on getting another pass on the face done too, but didn't really feel like I had the capacity to juggle both the portrait and the environment. The background felt like a big, easy thing to do next. I find that the more things I can get right in the painting, the more easily I can see what else needs fixing. Bringing the background more into focus means I can see what I'm still not sure how to handle, and what I want to work on fixing next. Next up is gonna be more work on the portrait/figure. Hopefully that'll help me understand how to finish the top of the painting - that fallen tree and the woods in the far distance - and the right side, where you see the bright green of the water of Kitchi-iti-kipi. I'm still not sure how to handle that transition between the spring and the woods. I think I'll have to go back and look at pictures from our trip there to see how it transitions. In the meantime, I'm adding some fun detail shots from the painting that I'm really digging right now. Hopefully some of them survive through to the completed painting.

-ZR