A small studio painting step by step

This painting will be based on a photo I took at a recent outing in Wall Doxey State Park in Mississippi. I took the photo in the early morning and I was hoping to capture some of that early morning feel in the painting. Below is the photo:

The first thing to do is to draw a value sketch and some experimental park benches.

First I take about 10 minutes and draw the main shapes and then I soak my paper in the bathtub for about 10 to 15 minutes . Below you see the wet paper and the drawing.

The paper is a quarter sheet of 150 lb Arches cold press. In the image below I have begun to float in the sky colors.

I want my sky to be darker than in the photo because I want the sunrise to be more vivid. Below I begin the distant tree line using a mixture of prussian blue and yellow ochre.

 

I continue refining the shape of the distant trees. I am striving for a variety of shapes and colors.

It is time for the overlapping planes of the foreground. I use dark reds for the leaf encrusted areas and ultramarine blue for the path.

I have been using the midsized flat brush you see in the image below. Now for the tree trunks and branches, I switch to a small round brush.

For some leaf texture, I use some small sponge pieces that I have cut with scissors.

For the cedar trees I switch back to my flat brush and apply it with quick strokes.

Below, i have switched to my thin rigger brush and work on the thin twigs and branches.

The completed painting is shown below. In the final stage, I added the park bench as a focal point The idea is to lead the viewers eye in to the painting down the path and then give him a place to sit. I also added more texture to the ground by flicking my paint laden brush over the foreground area.