Tree and Hillside (Oil Bar Painting as of February 19, 2015)

This is my oil bar painting as it looked after yesterday's painting session. I am working from photos that I took in late October at Appleton Farms in Ipswich, MA. (My reference photos are posted here on January 2nd and 3rd.) Yesterday I used iPhoto to transform one of my reference photos to black and white. (I posted it here last night.) That black and white photo really helped me to see lights and darks in the leaves, and made me a lot more confident about what I am doing. I mixed burnt orange with green and used it to add more shadows to the leaves, using my black and white photo as a guide. I also used more dark blue shadow on the tree trunk so the leaves would stand out better. I also put some dark green on the trees in the distance.