Step 2...

So this painting is the super-quick preparation sketch for the large tree-painting I'm working on. Forgive the photography - I can not seem to figure out how to take a proper photo. The flash goes off when I don't want it to and drowns out the detail, which happened here. Anyhow - I decided to frame the quick-painting to see how it would look and it came out nicely, I think! The 6' x 4' will be the same view but in proper proportion, with the entire tree and more scenery showing, more detail, texture, etc.

This is the famous 'Witch Tree' located in Minnesota and the painting I was commissioned to do oh-so-long ago... Thank you for your patience. I'm working on it. It took a long time to find the proper photo to work from... I tried different versions and they were such a struggle. I couldn't live with the outcome(s). This one seems to be working well so far. Of course the finished version will be much more exciting than this preliminary exercise. I'm really excited to see it.