Having left the painting alone for a day or two it became apparent that there was a hell of a lot of work required! The main thisng was the foliage canopy at the top of the trees which looked entirely unconvincing. I felt the trees were "runing out" at the top, and needed to finish, leaving the sky beyond. They were also far too thick with leaves generally and there needed to be a much more airy feeling to the trees.

Had this been a pure watercolour painting these alterations would have been quite impossible, but with oil pastel it was easy, especially as I had given the painting a couple of coats of fixative which had sealed the pastel. This gave me a brand new surface to work upon. Sennelier oil pastels are very rich in pigment so are quite opaque, making it very simple to work over the painting.

Here is the painting now:

al-davis: Painting

al-davis: Painting: The painting has had more work upon it and is now, I think finished. I will leave it for a few days and come back to it to see if it needs a...

al-davis: work in progress...

al-davis: work in progress...: Work in progress! Looking through a pile of paintings I have done over the years I rediscovered this one: Still on the full-imperial ...

Painting

The painting has had more work upon it and is now, I think finished. I will leave it for a few days and come back to it to see if it needs any revisions.

work in progress...

Work in progress!

Looking through a pile of paintings I have done over the years I rediscovered this one:

Still on the full-imperial stretcher this watercolour sketch of the local woods encouraged me to get the easel out again and have a go with the oil-pastels I have been accumulating. I went back to the woods and had another look, then began work.

A day or two later this was the point I had reached:

I felt it was starting to come together, but there was still a great deal to be done. The background was more defined but at this point it felt very flat and confused.

More work:

Now there was a path in the foreground and some plants to lead the eye into the centre. The sky was given a warmer horizon and the church spire moved from the centre of the painting. I now began to address the trees again. They were without form and needed refining. I started to realign some of the branches and twigs in the top right and address the leaves. They needed to "clump" more to give the illusion of space.

This is the position I have now reached:

There is still a long way to go, but the trees are at last beginning to have some form and interplay.