Work in progress

10/19.

I tried to simplify the colors more, using fewer to mix with - I find it very hard to switch to a more tonal palette suddenly, especially in the middle of a piece, but I feel I made some progress (at least psychologically) once I threw in more neutrals that incorporated the cadmiums. And it probably will have little immediate effect, but I took burnt umber off my palette completely; transp. red oxide and ultramarine can do the job of any dark brown and be a good base for some unifying greys - I've wanted to use more of the great greys I'd discovered before and I really don't know why I haven't been. Apart from reversing the value relationships in a few places and taking a better look at the pine cone, I haven't changed much, and as anyone can see this is still moving very slowly. But on what other blog can one watch a painting of tinder get dragged out this many days while reading Old English nature poetry?