original photo

and painting at the "more thinking" stage.
The photo of the painting is taken with a flash, which tends to flatten out the colour a little. The work "in the real" has more depth and more strength in the foreground.

I think I will paint this one again, rather than alter what I have here. I love a dramatic, washy sky, but this work took on a life of its own with a focus on the house and the valley. More thinking to do... wash over boldly, or paint again with a different focus? The latter, I think. Still deciding.

Once I have the work in progress I put away my reference photos and concentrate on the painting as a whole. It was somewhere in that latter stage that I lost sight of the power of the sky, and didn't go back to strengthen the colours there. I believe that the sky controls the mood of the whole work, which is why this is more tranquil, less moody than it might have been if I had painted it when I first took the reference photo. I think that the mood of this was influenced by the first painting of the church, which I am still contemplating, rather than the reference photo.