Aspen painting - first phase

 

I've taken photos of my latest painting in progress and would like to share this with you so you can see the methods I use when I paint.  First, I used many reference photos to study aspens and then I drew my invented scene on the canvas using pencil.  Next, above, is the first layer of painting where I put down the big shapes. I painted the background behind the trees first since this will be darker than the trees themselves.  My first layer of paint is the darks of the painting and I will come back later and make some of them lighter.