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I finished a large painting in my aspen series and thought it would be nice to post some progression photos as the painting evolved.

My first step is to sketch out the general layout/relationships in an oil wash.

After premixing a few colors, usually a light and shadow for each, I paint from top left to right.

After two days of painting.

At this stage, I have the entire canvas covered and let is sit for a few days while I decide what to change, add, etc.

I added some dark tones behind the mid-ground aspens and added a fir tree to the foreground to break up the stark tree trunks of the three aspens on the left half of the composition.

For the final touches, I added more dark tones behind the mid-ground aspens and filled out the fir tree in the foreground and gave it less detail so it would not compete with the Aspen Guardians.