There were several problems from the view of a painting: I have a lot of trouble with using pink in significant quantities. There was a problem of depth. There was a bit of a gap in the center. I hadn't done any kind of realistic landscape since the old guache paintings of years ago. But, of course I decided to move ahead anyway. I did some image research on the web to see how successful painters dealt with apple orchards. I learned that Van Gogh put in the structure of the trees first and then added the flowers. Also, there were very few pink flowering apple trees that I could find and most of the paintings used white. Ok, so the research was helpful but not definitive. I went on to do a preliminary sketch:
Based on the sketch, I realized that I wanted to emphasize the shading so as to highlight the sunny day. Also, I could see that the trees needed to be varied in size to increase the interest. There was also the issue of how much sky, much grass, and the size and location of the trees to worry about. The sketch certainly didn't solve any of these issues. I also decided that I needed to do two quick test paintings to check out the color issues and see if somehow miraculously, I have gotten better at making pink colors work. Two small 12"x12" paintings were done which certainly didn't increase my confidence level: 
The first, a total failure was no help. However, the second pointed a way to minimize the pink while providing the illusion of pinkness, and also gave me some thoughts about ways to handle the shadowing and grass. Next step was to actually stretch the canvas and get underway. Here is the stretched and primed canvas with a pencil sketch of the picture on it: 
Time to get going, with all doubts intact! 
Sky went in easily. I decided not to decide about clouds until the end, to make sure they didn't detract from the focus on the trees. Some big issues arose instantly, after the decision was made on the basic color of the shadows. Color of the tree trunks needed to move from black/grey to something less reflective of the shadows, such as purple (which wouldn't work with pink flowers, now would it???). I added cyan blue and blue purple to the tree trunks to break up the black colors. 
Stepping back, I wonder now whether the trees aren't too far in the background. If I move the trees, I have to move the shadows as well which could make things messier. I wonder whether the painting will be too green. I decided to go with light blues in the apple tree flowers, rather than pinks, and to use the pink (more to purple) as highlights rather than the main color in the trees. This then would reduce the major colors in the painting to green, with some blue and then a little pink. Feeling a little better about the color. In fact, major relief is here!! Of course, all this might change. In the next session, I decided to step away from worrying about the trees for now and to work on filling in the rest of the canvas. I was trying to get a sense of rolling terrain, to vary the greens as much as possible and to just fill in canvas. 
I did a test run of a possible flower color on one of the trees (yuck). I also did a test of the white flowered trees. I figured out that it would help to have a background color, say light green for the white flowers because they really are light green in the photo, then impose the white on top. First crack at that, not too bad. I also see that the trunks are very dark, as are the shadows. In the next session, I did more of the foreground, and added some grey/purple areas to reflect the grays and purples in the trees (which were going to be light blue, but never mind). Weird, but I think that will work. I erased the test flowers on the left and started in on the sky. Still avoiding the tree flower problem. Thinking also about the diagonal green line through the shadow which is smack dab in the enter of the picture. I'm thinking of keeping it, but changing the shape. Also fooling around again with the tree trunk colors. Not decided yet on that. 
I did a bunch of work on the sky (not happy not happy not happy) and the foreground. I'm thinking that it needs a bluer sky and some clouds to enhance the fantasy. There should be more contrast in the foreground to reflect the brown grasses (light pink in my world), in the last go round, about a month from now!! Finished the background trees (hah!!) because they needed to be settled before the foreground flowers could be done (well not really, I could add them in after, but it would be much harder). Went off to the art store to get some different reds for the trees. Did a test run of the new colors and started to break into the tree tops with blues and background colors. That way, they won't look like solid masses. Still fiddling with the trunk colors. The more I do, the more I'm beginning to prefer the black for that. This means remixing that color. Maybe, the two trees on the left are too close in size? Tomorrow... 
How you know you might be going in the right direction (this is funny): I have to post the photos for the blog on flickr first. When I do that, the photos show up on my photo page and all my contacts see them. After I've put them into the blog, I bury them at the end of the photo library, which has over a 1,000 photos. This way, no one will see the pictures of incomplete paintings. Well, when I went into flickr this morning I saw that the most recent iteration of the painting had been "favorited" by one of my contacts. This means they imported it onto their own site and are storing it there. This is good-- someone likes the painting. This is bad-- it's not the finished product. Oh well. I've been putting off filling in the flowers. Not just because it's complicated (it is), but because of uncertainty about the color. I'm wading in to get the basic colors established: the smaller trees are lighter than the larger ones on the right. This is good. I would have varied these colors to give some dynamism to the color even if that hadn't been the case. Filling in includes incorporating colors of the background trees, the sky, and then the background trees with also sky colors inside. I'm hoping this will not create needless business, but actually capture how you can see through trees to the background and sky. I'm trying to get away from the solid masses of flowers which don't exist in nature really, anyway, to something more open.
Looking at the colors of the flowers, I'm wondering if there's too much pink here. also, I noticed that one of the branches on a front tree was actually a tree trunk from a tree behind. Easy to fix, and now the background is making some sense. I also added another tree trunk to the left, to give the idea of an orchard more depth. Still dabbling away at all those flowers. The photo must have been taken at the very peak of flowering because I can't see any on the ground. Things are going slower because I want to individualize the blossoms. No masses of color here, just dab dab dab. Makes the canvas jump around on top of all that flowing ground color. Or something like that. Big questions on breaking up the pink colors a little more. I might try to introduce some grayer versions of the pinks to vary things or not... Also, I'm wondering about how yellow the background greens are. Yellow, pink, yellow, pink. Might need to barge in and change that a little. Did some work on lightening and texturing the dark shadows under the trees. Next step is to finish dabbing in the flowers, fixing the sky and clouds, and then let the painting dry for a few days. After that, I'll bring it upstairs for a first critique. Issues always seem to be highlighted in the dining room. I don't know why. 
Ok, so I think that extra trunk, even though there is one there in the photo, is very distracting. Have to try to push it back and maybe even take it out. But, today is rest day. That paint has to dry more. Also looking at the shadows which need to be smaller, perhaps. The tree on the far right needs attention. Still deciding whether the tree in the far back needs to be taller, or whether the horizon should come all the way down as far as it does. Vee shall see vat vee shall see.... I've done a bunch of editing, although, overall, the painting probably doesn't look that much different. Pushed back one of the background trees, edited one on the far right and finished, for now, the flowers. I can see that the trees on the left are a little light, so after the dining room evaluation, I'll think about toning them up. Did some more on the sky and clouds. I think it still needs to be a darker. 
I had my friend Nancy come look at the painting. First off, and I should have known this, these are crabapples so that would explain all the white flowered apple trees I found on google images. Here I thought it was an artistic choice! Silly me. Now I see that there probably are some apple trees, and these are the ones in the painting that are white. Ok. Good to have that clear.
Nancy made several suggestions that I decided not to follow up on, but the session did help me clarify what I did want to do next. I scraped most of the paint off the lighter colored trees as it was building up too much. When I did that, I could see larger clumps which points the way to getting out of the dab dab dab business and allowing some smoother clumping to take place. Of course, I have no idea what the color of the clumps should be, only that this is too light.
Mental note: do not, repeat, do not allow the trees to look like pink broccoli.
I added more color to the foreground to cut into all that green green green and to mark the beginning of the orchard "space." I also darkened the sky, which I think really helped quite a lot. On to the dining room for the dining room critique.
Looking at the painting from far away (in the kitchen), a few things come to mind. I'm wondering if I shouldn't get rid of the clouds at the top of the painting and just keep the ones at the horizon. Or, perhaps, modify the upper clouds so they don't stand out quite so much. Also, the second tree from the left is leaning. Since as far as I know I hand't intended to have any of the trees lean like that, I'm considering straightening it. But, I do like the dancing quality that it has so not sure. Should I make all the trees dance? heh heh heh.
I'm going to let it dry for a week or so, then wade back in. At least, that's the plan. I've been known to go at a painting while in the dining room critique!
Ok, so back to work! I attacked the painting while in the dining room, then took it downstairs for some more work.
I left for the week feeling that the painting was going in the right direction still.
When I came back, I marched down to the basement and attacked!! The main purpose of these changes were to defeat the broccoli look to the flowers and also to break up the green areas. I also wanted to darken the sky further and blot out more of the clouds. With Nola's able input, I changed the color of the tree trunks which I think really helps a lot and also worked on the splashes of light between the trees. Still have to figure out the color for the tree on the far right.
So this version isn't going in the right direction. I see that the pink colors in the two left trees just don't look good and there is a general heaviness about the trees that I don't like. After a few days of freaking out, I decided to white out one of the trees and also to white out the branches in all but the white tree. I think this will provide a better way to break up the color across the painting and give something interesting to look at beside the flowers. Now I need to let this dry and give time for the paint to rest (oh sure...)
After several days of agonizing about the color, I started searching back through the art files, looking for some inspiration and a way to push the painting forward. For a brief while, I thought of changing the color scheme into pink/orange/salmon colors to contrast with the sky as a way of punching up the painting. With this in mind, I pulled out an older painting which had some of the same blues and greens and began to mix and then place some of the new colors on it. The old painting is much improved, actually and I'm glad I did that. However, returning to the landscape, I didn't think a radical change should be done before trying one more time to fix the purple/red/pink idea.
So, although I vowed to leave the darn thing alone, I waded back in this morning and made several changes. First, I changed a lot of the back ground trees using aqua and viridian green which I think go well with the purple ideas. I also did a viridian wash over the two small trees (which didn't look too good at first), and then covered with some light purple. This also didn't look good. However, as I wiped out some of the purple, the pinks and viridian wash took over and looked pretty good. We'll see if these colors hold. I also straightened the white tree significantly as it was listing to the left and not in a nice way. I lightened all the trunks using viridian, which I think was needed.
Next step, I decided to unite the middle section of the painting with the foreground by extending the middle path. As it comes forward, it also needed to widen to fix the perspective. I thought this improved the composition issues. Now that the path comes farther forward, it gives me the opportunity to put more into the foreground without distracting from the main subject (which would be the trees). Stu thought this would help. He also suggested lightening and brightening the sky. I'll think about that tomorrow. The thought of wading back into the sky.... again?????But working on the path will help to shape it a little better too.
So there's a lot more to do, but I feel like the painting has come out of nightmare land where it was just yesterday and has more potential at this point. I have felt all along like there was something good there, but that I had to really work to get it going. I hope all this optimism lasts at least until tomorrow night....
After several days of ambivalence I moved in on the painting yesterday morning and today and I think that it is actually very close to completion. I have been trying to differentiate the four center trees, to add background colors that look nice with the purples, and unite the foreground and middle ground into some kind of a cohesive whole. As I look at the painting, fewer and fewer things come to mind that I should do. Sometimes, that's the only way I know that I've finished a painting.
I like where it got to today, but now the paint must rest to see if any underlying colors barge back in and have to be dealt with. I estimate the waiting should be at least a week. Then we will just have to figure out if that's that!
Ok, so that was premature enthusiasm for finishitude. Went back to work on the foreground, which was too solid, and on one of the trees. I see now that the tree trunks aren't bright enough and if I brighten them up a little, it will uplift the whole painting. So that can't be done until the gray colors dry or they'll just muck up everything. I do think that this is very close, now, and with that change the painting will really be finished (hah!!) I want to make those changes and then allow a long break to bring objectivity back.
I did more work on the second tree which has been so problematic all along. As I look back through the photos, I see that I have changed the color from reddish, to purple, to reddish, to purple! Now it will stay purple! I did some work to break up the solid masses of flowers. I also painted the tree trunks a grey green color and now will take a break from the painting and review when I get back.
Actually, I can't wait to come back and look at this painting after a pause. I know I'll see things I don't see today, but at least as of today, I'm very happy with how it turned out.
Not so fast, tiger!! After a two week hiatus, I look again and that purple tree and that white tree bother me sooo much that I waded back in (yes, yet again) and I redid both of them. The painting is now closer to the original picture and I am going to stop right here. Time to let it dry and let time go by so it can set the final colors become apparent. With all that paint on it, it will take a while to dry.
The painting is home at Bob and Nola's house. Sitting in their warm family room and also viewing the painting in it's appointed spot, I was struck by how well it fit in their home, both in terms of the subject, and the colors. I know I was thinking about their family while I made the painting, but it's interesting to see how the painting somehow ended up fitting in well. Here is my favorite photo of the painting:
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