The Big Sky - Seventh and eighth days

By the seventh day I had pretty much finished the sky and decided to quickly paint in the Sussex landscape that I had chosen to use.

I always had in mind that the sky would be warm (no blues) and not too dark and then the landscape would be painted in dark, rich colours mainly reds and greens with a small figure picked out against the sky. But once I had roughed it in I really did'nt like it! Compositionally it was boring and due to a lot of the landscape being in the distance, I was'nt able to introduce the rich and textured colours that I intended. Over this morning's breakfast coffee which I find is the best time to evaluate the day's work ahead I started to consider giving the picture up as an heroic failure and use the lessons I had learnt on the next one. Fortunately I began to nail down what was'nt working and began to see how I could rescue the painting. The big sweep of the sky needed to be interrupted with a series of verticals on the horizon and began to see how something like cypress trees could be introduced. A Tuscan landscape seemed a nice way forward (although nowhere specific as the picture is about a state of mind not a particular landscape) and with the inroduction of a farmhouse with nice potential for rich reds and textures against the greens, I decided to block in the new landscape. I will move the small figure more to the left so it is nearer to a third of the width (Golden Section) and will break up the far left of the hill with an umbrella pine (not put in yet). There will be an open door in the farmhouse with a warm light inside, an implication that the figure has gone out to stand on the hill contemplating whatever us, the viewer thinks. I just hope I am able to get the foreground working the way that I always intended and keep the colours rich but not too dark.