Began work on this painting on February 3rd and was making good progress when disaster struck. I had laid down some Friskfilm to protect the sky from accidental blobs of paint or ink spots -- and when I tried to remove it, it turned out to be far more adhesive than usual -- and ripped off various parts of the sky, which had taken me a day and a half to paint (see below). It meant that the entire sky would have to be repainted. The problem was that the white patches were actually holes in the paint surface - and it is almost impossible to 'fill' them so that they are level with the original paint surface. 

I decided the only thing I could do was to sandpaper the board down to the third coat of gesso and repaint the sky - and with luck, I would be able to match the various shades of blue to the left of the picture. It didn't quite work out as I expected. What a calamity! (see below) Ouch!

What now? Could the painting now be saved - that was the question. I determined I would sand the board right down except for the trees that I had already painted. Then I re-gessoed the board with three coats. This left a vertical ridge where the gesso met the original part of the painting, but I figured that if I could paint a tree trunk along it, the ridge would all but disappear. That was the hope, anyway.

Repainting the sky was a nightmare - I just could not get the same blues (it is always incredibly difficult to match blues) but eventually I managed to get close enough. I then resumed painting and since then have made good progress, gradually pushing the trees 'eastwards' whilst at the same time covering the ridge. Now, you can't see it even if you look for it and know where to look. So perseverence paid off. The painting is saved! (see below)