Harvest Moon Progress

Here is the initial block in of another photo I took in Maine.  I had also done a small drawing and field study of a similar landscape in the area, the deciduous trees with pines behind and large grassy field.  This photo was the same evening as "That Time of Day" just down the road from the coastal image.  This is hardly more than a drawing at this stage, but I have keyed it to the darkest value of the mid-value range.  I wanted this to be a higher key painting but still feel the strong sunlight.  Sorry for the phone pics - they are not so great!

My first idea was to bring the shadows from the side of the road back up into the light, but this was coming across as monotonous and boring.  After one look from Marco and "again with the rows??", I decided that the original idea had to go.  After about four more fixes, the final lead in is below....

The field cuts were limited to two that brought one in from left to right and then back again.  A final lifting of the horizon line to clearly give it more depth seemed to finalize the composition and then the work was done keeping the value masses solid and temperature shifts within those masses to give dimension.  I did much more palette knife with this painting than the others as a means to create more texture.  As I sit with it for awhile, that may or may not be tempered a bit.  Here is a better photo of the piece in it's final (?) state :)  I plead the right to change my mind at any time!