Mountains and Lake (Edited for Painting Reference)

This image shows part of the process of creating a reference photo for the painting I am working on.  I found a photo from last year's trip to Colorado. (The original is posted here, August 18.) To get it ready to use as a painting reference, I opened the original jpeg in Painter and used cut and past to extend the grassy area in the foreground and hide the car mirror and the guard rail. I cropped the image to eliminate an awkward line here and there.  I didn't worry about making smooth transitions so you can easily see some of the cut-and-paste in the foreground. To be continued. . .