Painting tip of the day: Tread lightly and watch for something extraordinary to happen

Commission work-in-progress detail:

Even though I’m a little under the weather today, I couldn’t wait to get some more work done on this garden painting. So this morning I threw on a comfy sweatshirt, jeans and some thick wool socks, made myself some hot tea and dove right in.

Into the painting that is, not the tea.

First I added some deeper glazes to the underpainting, including mars black mixed with my transparent glazing medium in most of the foreground... 

... Then, after giving the acrylic underpainting a few minutes to dry, I started with the oil layer, beginning with the cottage and trees in the background:

At this stage, as I add more “realistic” colors, I’m still referring to my composition photo but also going with the flow and frequently stepping back to get the big picture and assess which underpainting colors I want to keep and which I want to tone down or change completely.

And trying real hard not to fall too much in love with that luscious red of the tree branches.

I’m treading lightly here, ...

... watching for something extraordinary to happen!