Following a very helpful conversation with one of my loyal followers, i began to see that I needed to stop “fretting” over my difficulties with getting the cabin just right and work around some of the challenges. So — following my follower’s suggestion, i painted in some trees, bushes, and flowers. then i decided to make the path that was running by the front of the cabin less prominent. (As an aside, that path was the idea of my now-departed-for-Arizona-for-the-winter last teacher. In real life, the path is actually much further away from the cabin.). Anyhow, to de-emphasize the path, i muted some of the color a little and added several rocks.

I also extended some of the tree branches on the right side of the painting so that they could cover some of the roof. Again, this is to make the cabin more a part of the picture, and not the whole picture.

Next, and last for this posting, i decided that it was foolish to think I could really do justice to the log cabin look of the cabin. So i painted over those lines. So far just one layer; but I’ll add another, and see how it looks.

to improve some of the look of the flowers, etc., i need to wait till some of this paint dries. In the meantime, I’ll see if i can make the bench look a little more realistic in its new surroundings.

thanks to anyone who has suggestions to help me see the forest and not just one tree, so to speak!

It’s been several weeks since my last update on this painting — mainly because i was either away or with having house guests for most of that time. So now back at it, and hoping the end will soon be in sight.

I’ve put most of my effort this week into trying to get the “stoop
in front of the door to look as it should and again and still trying to get the cabin perspective to “work”. I painted over the “logs” i had painted on the cabin sides because i could see (belatedly) that they were not going in proper directions. Once that paint dried, i drew in lines i think will be closer to reality but I’ve not yet painted them on. (Frankly, the prospect is a little scary – the whole painting is only 8” x 12”, and those lines are only fractions of an inch apart from each other. ). I adjusted the angle of the roof in back and adjusted the “floor” of the cabin in front. As to that “stoop”, I’m surprised the painting doesn’t collapse of its own weight — there are probably at least 6 layers of paint, and still it’s not quite right.

So — also added a few rocks, and tried to put place them so the arrangement wouldn’t look too “regular”. Worked on the path, but more to do there. (The rocks, also, lack form and detail — will get to that this week, hopefully). I repainted the roof, adjusting the brightness and contrast. Then started on having some of the tree branches make their way over to the roof.