Painted - then repainted - the central rock in order to ‘soften’ it and give it a sandstone look rather than one of granite. Had a really good session of painting—next painting in the right hand rock , which after some experiment, gave me the key as to how best to paint the larger rocks - a fairly daunting prospect. So far so good, though. I first dabbed in some dark ‘blobs’  then lighter ones, and finally some with a tinge of pink in them.That provided the base for the fine detail, which comprises thousands of tiny dots—both dark and white.

The result has proved very satisfactory and I am now beginning to feel very excited about this picture.Yesterday, I began to tackle the dominant rock on the left of the picture, this time reversing the colouring. I laid down a pinkish ground, then covered it with white blobs, and am now adding blobs which are a mix of burnt sienna, white, ultramarine  and a hint of Perylene Red. This is designed to enhance the sandstone effect and give the rock some shape. Again, this, when finished, will provide the base for the fine detail which hopefully will replicate a truly realistic look. As always, the high horizon results automatically in lots of close detail towards the bottom of the painting - and that in turn gives much greater depth.

 The 'earth' and stones in the centre of the painting will mostly be covered up with poppy leaves - and the poppies themselves, when painted, will bring the entire picture to life. I hope!!!