The Making of a Painting

The following photographs illustrate the process I undertook to create my ‘Bluebells in Duncliffe Wood’ oil painting. I work from top to bottom and left to right to avoid smudging paint. Enjoy!

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 
Bluebells added to the middle/foreground. Shapes are becoming more bluebell like!
Bluebells added to the immediate foreground. Bluebell shaped!
Final detailed bluebells added. Impression of wild garlic added
Sigh of relief!