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Sometimes it's hard to say "it's done".

I keep thinking this painting is finished and set it aside to look at and enjoy it.................. but then I say...


(LEFT... when it was first "finished")


"Well... it needs a little change here. (Make the green grass have less chroma... grey it out a bit...) The next day... another change...(Darken and better solidify the upper left leafy areas.)

(LEFT... "finished" version two.)

Then again.... Well... perhaps it needs a bit more here (Add some intense color in the light areas... leaves in the sunlight...foreground sunlit patch.) And the last time... maybe the mid-ground trunks need to have edges which are more "lost"... and maybe the foreground trunks need to be more defined.

As I worked I also tried to keep in mind a recent post I read by Keith Bond called "The Triple Impact", discussing the importance of the "view" of a painting from a distance, from a "normal" distance and then close up. (GREAT article... well worth reading.)

Well... I'm not even sure if most people can see the little changes I've made, but I'm hoping the end product (the one on the upper right) is now "done". What do YOU think?

This is a scene that caught my eye on my regular walk down and back up the street to go to Gelson's. Alongside the street is El Caballero Golf Course and this time as I was walking, I saw the sunlight as it caught some of the Sycamore's leaves and lit them up... contrasting with the hazy look of all the background trees. It was a soft/hard ....greyed out yet colorful scene that I just had to try to capture and share. I hope I did.

Now, silly as it seems, I'm also struggling with a title. I started with "Through The Trees" then changed to "Filtered Sunlight". Not sure which is best or if there is an even better one lurking out there. Any ideas???