Work In Progress, Withlacoochee Flight, Update 4

Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight Update 4
The sky is complete (for now) and I’ve started on the distant trees.
I finished up the layer of cloud blue, moving from right to left. After that I went back over the area of the sky where there is a transition to a lighter value. The transition wasn’t uniform enough, so I touched it up with blue slate to make it a bit more gradual.
The clouds next received some attention. Using the cloud blue I added more structure and volume to them, putting in shadows here and there. I’m going to leave them for now, and maybe do more work on them later. I’ll decide how much more detail is necessary by looking at them in relation to other objects around them when the painting is more completed.
The distant trees are important because they contrast with the birds. I have to be careful how much detail I put into them because they could begin to compete with the birds. I want them to show off the birds by serving as a darker backdrop. The way I approached the trees was to block in the shapes, without any real detail, getting the values and colors as close to the color and value sketches as I can. After blocking the trees in I can start back over them, putting in detail slowly, until I’m satisfied. The distant trees were blocked in with chrome oxide green (FC), chromium green opaque (FC), yellow ochre (FC) and Tuscan red (FC). The Tuscan red, combined with the chrome oxide green, gives really dark values for the deepest shades. I changed the palette a bit from what I had decided on originally, adding the yellow ochre and deleting the chartreuse and white (so far). The warmth of the sun on the trees comes through more in the color sketch than in the photo, so I felt the yellow ochre worked better than the chartreuse, which is a cooler color.
Now that the distant trees are blocked in, I will go back over the area and begin adding some detail.