Side Garden (my DPW Challenge - 3rd painting)

"Side Garden"  (pastel, 12x9 inches)   click here to bid

Here is my 3rd painting from my Daily Paintworks Challenge. For this one I reverted back to my favorite surface - terra cotta pastel primer on gatorboard. I like how it gives a warm undertone throughout the painting.
I'm not too fond of painting buildings (straight lines are hard! lol) but this one's more a supporting cast for the garden itself.

Below are some shots I got along the way while painting this one...

Here's my board with the cropped reference photo

 I start with the darks and work up to some mediums.

 Here I've put in a few spots of my brightest lightest colors, to help me see where the midtones will need to be.

 So I can start on the midtones of the porch. It's a white porch, but in shadow, so the whites here are cool and warm grays, not as light as my lightest light.

 I continue to work on the mid values throughout the painting...

 ...and then into the lighter values.

 After that previous shot I was in the zone for a while... until it was almost finished!

Then, a few finishing touches...  I blurred out the back tree with a cool medium green to help it recede. I smoothed the columns a bit with a light blue, and added more lights to the cornices for definition. Finished the urns, and a few more flowers in the bushes and basket, and it's done!

Thanks for 'watching'! Share this with others if you like it!