A collection of stories, thoughts and good vibes from my back porch

A friend of mine asked me to do a painting of a location I have never been. She let me know a few specifics, and I agreed on a size. I usually like to either paint on location or from a sketch (or even a photo) I did on location. Painting from a photo of a place I have never seen is a challenge, because I don't know the feel of the place. Nevertheless, I took on the commission and did it over the weekend. Here are my steps.

My first thing is to tone the canvas with a neutral color. I usually do a very light wash of Ultramarine blue mixed with either Burnt Umber or Alizarin Crimson, again, very lightly covering the entire canvas with one color. I then lay out the sketch in a darker mix, and I block out some of the lighter areas with mineral spirits or water, depending on how I want it to go. Lately, since I use water-miscible oils, I have been reserving the mineral spirits to clean the palette only. 

Step 1:

I did this Friday evening - at this point, the paint is thin enough so that tomorrow it will be dry enough to start the next step. 

Step 2

Saturday afternoon - I usually lay in the sky and ground blocking in the darker colors first. It now needs a little drying time before tomorrow's session.

Step 3 - Sunday morning

I then lay in the darker tones of the main objects, and anything in front, I may work with a knife. In this case, since I wanted to highlight the red bud trees in the front, I used a knife to cut in the branches against the darker background. 

Final steps - Monday (ok, it was a long weekend)

I then lay in the branches, highlights, and final touches (like the red bud blooms), using a palette knife for texture and shadows, and finish it out. Here is the final outcome: