The biggest change to the painting resulting from yesterday’s work is that the valley floor has finally become an ocean, ending my vacillation about whether or not this should be land or sea. The water is a little light right now, but will work well with a second layer of green and blue mixed with some grey. I added some raw Sienna and some light grey to the surf line. and mixed some areas of lighter grey to the surface to suggest the movement of the swell.
I think detail can really make a huge difference to a painting, and I thoroughly enjoyed working on building some careful work into the piece yesterday. I carved the staff into a spiral which will be headed by silver and gold at either end. The knife got a celtic knot at the bottom, and I braided the strap, but forgot to take a picture. Because I reshaped the top of the knife handle I left it blank, but will add a knot-work feature on there later. Finally I added a tree to the right side of the landscape, based on a tree beside the ocean in Carmel.
