Another colour layer on the sky.

Finished the colour layer on the sky.

6.30 am and my eyes are starting to blur. I'm only about a quarter of the way across the colour layer on the sky, but need to sleep; going to try and get a couple of hours and then carry on.

(Click the image for a larger picture)

Where you'll fall in love so hard that you'll wish you were dead...

8.30 pm. My days are all out of sync. I'm going to work through the night and start a fresh colour layer on the sky of this one. I'm apprehensive; started this one a couple of years ago and haven't touched it for over six months. I don't know where to start.

5am. A late finish to a long day.

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Detail.

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Detail

Finished the first colour layer in the branches. It was hard going today; I've worked for nearly 20 hours and I'm shattered.

I hadn't touched this one since the end of February. Started putting some colour into the branches today, a shorter day 'cause of other commitments, about eight hours.



Detail.

Put another layer on the sky of this one today.

Finished the underpainting on this one over yesterday and today. Around 18 hours (kept messing it up and having to clean it off and do it again).

I know I said I wanted to finish the smaller painting over the weekend, but I'm not happy with the area of colour glaze that I put down, so I'm going to let it dry and work over it. Started the second layer of underpainting on this instead. 12 hours.

13 hours into the second colour layer on this. I'm hoping to get it close to finished over the weekend.

The buds in this one were sitting very flat after the first colour layer, so I spent a couple of hours bringing them out.

Finished the first layer of underpainting and sky on this one; another 16 hours work or so.

Started another new one today.

Finished the first colour layer on this; another 15 hours. More priming and sanding and sorting through images for new work.

Started the first colour layer on this one yesterday, didn't get very far, spent today working on the branches. About 18 - 20 hours into this colour layer.

After spending a couple of days putting colour onto them, the two magnolias at the bottom left weren't sitting right with me. I didn't feel they were adding anything to the composition, so I took them out. It meant cleaning the paint back carefully with turpentine and sanding out any brush strokes with a fine grit sandpaper, so as not to leave traces of them in the surface; then painting the sky over the area that they were in. It's rare that I'll make such a major change this far into the painting, but I think it was worth the hassle. There's another couple of colour glazes to go yet and there should be no trace that they were ever there by the time I've finished.

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About 10 hours painting today. Priming and sanding and taking pictures in between.

16 hours today; not so many yesterday.