Thank you, Native & AngelBlue!!

I re-did the roof again, I think the 5th time, hihi. I wasn't happy with it still, then finally found the photo of the scene -the temple part that is. That helped tremendously as I finally saw what it was I had to paint and where I went wrong.

The roof is now good, finally!!! Finished the top right corner, began with the tree. That isn't finished. Also did the temple building to the right of the tree. Have to do a bit of work there still.
But finally getting somewhere!

And the carvings are now in those niches on the side of the temple wall :)

Struggling with the colour for the tree. Some photos show it pale brownish, sometimes it looks greenish. I'll work it out.

Well that's the beauty of art. You can go over it, paint in, paint out .
But it's just coming to life even though it's a forgotten or abandoned place.
The moss and the greenery is really good .
As for the tree , you will know what colour is right as you get going a bit more .
( Would royal blue be wrong ? LOL...)

Hahaha, I'd love to do that. Ultramarine, gorgeous colour!!

The issue with the tree is the same as the painter had that I initially followed (tutorial) until I found the right photo of the temple: it's acrylics. He did it with oils, does the base with acrylics and finishes with oils over it. I don't do that.
Getting the highlights and shadows to blend beautifully is much easier with oils than acrylics. And when the surface is somewhat larger I always manage, but now I have to be careful not to go over the openings in between the trunk/roots.
Meaning I have to use small size brushes which doesn't help with blending.
For some reason I lost too much of these open spaces in between the roots as it is. I think I will correct that as it will also help make the shape of the tree look better. To me it looks somewhat odd now.

Feels contra-intuitive: the roots have to be massive, yet I have to make them thinner.

Today may be a day of no painting. Painted yesterday, then also did the Christmas tree in the evening. My neck, back etc. are NOT happy!

An update now that I have reworked the tree. Now the building it's hugging is showing much better in between the roots.
It needs to be finished off, more roots, and the perspective of the building to the right is off which really annoys me. But I'll get it right, plus when the roots are painted in they will help cover it up as well :)

But at least I'm rid of that odd upside down bell-shaped tree.


EDIT: an update after a bit of work this afternoon :) The roots are now in proper place and right size. Will do a bit more work on shading & highlights and finishing lines of the wall in between.
I also changed the perspective of that part of the temple.




Adding the last update of today as it makes so much difference!!
The shading around the tree on the wall, and of course the steps. But the shading gives it more depth and 3D.
Really happy with that!

Oh...and just when we dont know what's coming next we see whats coming next !!!!
I wasn't expecting the building to wrap around the tree or vice versa !!!
And the steps !
Amazing to see the journey of this painting.

It is a discovery for me too, hihi.
The last couple of paintings, the ones with the cottages and the ship, were a helluva lot of work and required patience. With this one I've had to redo more than -as far as I can remember- ever before. I think I've done that roof of the temple in the middle at least 5 times, and Buddha's ears even more, hihi.
It feels like 2 steps forward, 1 back. Making progress nonetheless :)
I'm okay with it, on the other hand still not entirely happy with everything, for instance Buddha's face. I'll decide if I will do minor things on it later on, or not. I will, however, not mess with the ear anymore. I'm happy with that.

How the Bleep did I miss this ?
It's so blue ! So lovely .

Your paintings are so beautiful


Namaste

AngelBlue, yes that one is one of my faves!! It's hanging up as THE eye-catcher of the room, hihi.

Native, thank you so much!