Starting small yesterday, just a little tweaking on the Nicola Lake midground before I finish the foreground trees. I feel like some cows might wander in and need a little fencing to keep them in the picture. Pieces of Highway 5A and the Monck Park access should be showing up too. A hint of Quilchena Hotel on the far side of the lake, some subtle texturing of the fields.. etc. I like the duller colour of the irrigated field. Next I can detail the trees when the midground is dry.

Progress, but hard-won today.  So much work for so little difference: paint on, wipe off, repeat. I seem to be learning the Karate Kid way this week. I am hoping these will look more like the image in my mind when I wake up tomorrow.  As usual, they look better in the photos than in real life.

Actually, I am just impatient to move on to the beautiful sunflower that is next on my list to do for the show in April. I can get that started tomorrow while I let these two dry enough to work on again. The mountain cliff needs some hard-edged dark shadows and the green ridge behind it needs some trees and snow banks. The lake painting just needs the foreground trees tuned up. Easy-peasy, right?

I can't decide if I have actually finished this or if I am just painting something darker, lighter, darker, lighter. ... 
It does not look "right" or "finished" to me yet. 

Sometimes when I get to this point, I let it sit for a month or two. Then I look at it and it has self-corrected and a keeper  - or it is a burn-it and move on.

Concerns:
- that too-bright-green ridge in the middle ground is also too high and competes with the cliff;
- foreground needs some red tones;
- avalanch rockfall on the right mid-ground should be removed to simplify image.

There - problems solved!   Tomorrow.

 (I kept painting on the "Kwoiek Peak" but it is not matching my mental image of how I want the picture to look. What is happening?
- No value sketch first and "my mental notes are not worth the paper they are not written on."
-  forgetting to look at the photo reference often as I work
- losing the strong lights and darks by over-blending

Moving on (when it is dry enough):
- thin bluish-white veil over the background mountains and sky to push them back.
- shadow glaze over most of the cliff
- detail the foreground vegetation and highlights.

All this and it is still early afternoon!  Time to "step away from the picture" and go for a walk.

Colours: Ultramarine Blue Light, Prussian Blue, Transparent Red Oxide, Atrament Black, Titanium White.

A few days' break to catch up with life, and now back in the studio! Yesterday:
- I corrected the butterflies in the meadow, and will do the last details when it dries.
- I painted a thin veil over the distant hills in the Nicola Lake painting and brightened the mid-ground. Today I will touch up the foreground trees and maybe some animals will wander into sight.
- I sketched a vertical mountain scene on a 12x36" canvas that was prepped with oil primer. It is a photo I took years ago (pre-digital) while hiking in the Nahatlach Valley across the Fraser River.
I am looking forward to even more creative work today :)

Lighting problem fixed - maybe. Eight bulbs in the long ceiling fixture now have alternating bluish and yellowish LED bulbs. The result is a more neutral colour of light.

Today I continued to paint down the Nicola Lake canvas middle to bottom today. My paint colours are titanium white, mars black, sap green, naples yellow light, naples yellow dark, nickle quinachrodone gold, ultramarine blue light. The medium is Liquin Original. I am satisfied with it for now, but looking forward to adding details - maybe cows and definitely deer.
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I still have the Butterfly Meadow (formerly Monarch Migration) to detail and the Nicola Valley from Millcreek Overpass grisaille to glaze. A 12x12" canvas is ready for a sunflower. Then I can tackle the 24x36" canvas that has a wonderful big frame - as soon as I think of an image for it. So many choices!