"Fair Weather Friends" - From Scratch

I started a new painting about 2 1/2 weeks ago, "Fair Weather Friends" and I wanted to show how this painting (which is still in progress) got it's start in life.  The above is a section I just finished yesterday and so far, it is coming along, making good progress each day that I work on it.

The first step in the process of a new painting is one I cannot show you a photo of, because it happens in my brain.  It is the initial concept which can take anywhere from hours to days to germinate in my head.  Once that happens and I have a clear idea of what I would like to do and what size I would like to do it in, I create a sketch.  Above, I've selected a canvas, a large 20" x 20" that my new design will be created on.  First I get the basics of a happy blue sky completed before I can move on to anything else.

I have spent more time with the sky, tweaking the colors, making them bolder in areas and even though I've spent quite a while working on it, I'm not finished just yet, it will be adjusted again as the painting moves toward being finished.  At this point, what could it be?

The beginnings of a birdhouse..........

A birdhouse with Climatis  growing all around it......

Purple Climatis are now beginning to emerge and the makings of some fair weather (feathered) friends hanging out together.  A painting this size, with this much content and detail will take several weeks to complete.  Layers of color need to be built, shading and highlighting as I go and I can see already, this piece will need some additions that were not in the original sketch.  If you listen to the painting, it will always tell you .  As each painting grows and changes, it will let you know what direction to take it in, the artist just has to "listen".