Red Covered Bridge

I have been working on a new painting. It has progressed through several stages. I thought that sharing these stages with you would be a good thing and that I might be able to get some advice and comment.

Of course with every painting there is something to learn and for me there is something to be learned at every stage of a painting.

I generally use a reference photo, work out my composition, sketch it out and finally draw it onto the canvas I have planned to use.

I decide on what colour mixes I am going to use, test them out with various swatches and even small sample studies.  I make my mixes from my standard palette. I love the process of painting and all the preparatory steps required.

This project is for a covered bridge.

This is my sketch

This is my first painting attempt. There are lots of things about this painting that I did not like so decided to do another one.

For the second painting attempt, I drew the covered bridge with greater accuracy onto the canvas and flipped the whole composition so that I could bring light in from the right side of the painting. I also wanted to make this more of a summer painting and change the colour of the bridge to red. So here I have a couple of stages that this painting went through as it progressed.

This painting is just about complete. I did sign it but I am waiting for it to completely dry as I am considering sharpening the highlights, and adding more definition to the background trees. Not sure what going to happen here yet. I am also thinking about applying a glaze to either parts of the painting or the whole painting.

If anyone has any thoughts on any of my considerations I would love to hear from you.