The Making of a Painting

Purple/violet under-painting. I find that colours, especially sky and foliage, become more vibrant if painted on top of this colour!
Initial sketching out of tree shapes in pencil

Mapping in the sky, revealing the tree shapes

Adding foliage in the background

Beginning to add colour to the trees. Scraping the brown colour with a fine palette knife reveals the violet under-paint and gives a bark like effect.

Closer tree foliage added. Middle ground colour and detail added.

Background colour of middle ground foliage added. Details a ferns and other plants starting to be added on left foreground

Adding more ferns in the foreground, working from left to right (helps to avoid smudging of paint with my hand)
Adding bluebell stems in the foreground

Fine detail added to foliage bin the background and middle ground. More ferns added!

At last, bluebells appearing! Background coverings first, then beginning the middle ground.
Bluebells are painted to give a rough impression of the colours and shapes. Bluebell colour mixed using Magenta and Ultramarine