Another Painting, and Progress Pics

I just finished tweaking this this morning.  Whenever I finish a painting, it sits on my easel and I walk around the house and stare at it.  And stare at it some more.  And I always find things that need tweaking.

Here are the progress pics:

I started with a BRIGHT red background.  Did I say bright?  It's a little loud!  Then, the sky and furthest hills.

Next the tree trunk and branches.  For some reason I love this stage!  I see a problem with one of those branches.  It's one of those things I tweaked this morning.

Then the foreground and the picnic table.  I painted the picnic table twice, because the first one was too small.  I know it's giant oak, but that doesn't mean the picnic table needs to be doll sized!  And, no, I do  not have a pic of it!

Then, it's time to add the feast!  That's a blue ball jar in the background.  Love it.

This painting is my practice for live art that I'll be doing for the women's retreat at Camp Elim in a couple of weeks.  (that's http://campelim.com/ if you're interested)  I know that artists frequently do a 'study' before doing the real painting.  I think it's generally meant to help them nail down the tone and colors.  From what I've seen, it's usually not as detailed as the final product.  But there will be a silent auction the weekend I'm painting, and I thought I could put the smaller painting in the auction, so I wanted it to be somewhat nice.

The only thing left to do is put a wire on the back, and it'll be ready to hang.  Oh, that, and figuring out what's in that lovely magenta pitcher!!

I call this "Invitation".