lastAtomic Habits by James Clear (2018) is my new go-to book for getting things done. Today I clicked through a list organized according to his suggestions and I accomplished so much without stress. Amazing to me! Exercise, cleaning, and even painting! 
I painted differently today, not sure why. I had a thin rough-in of the Nicola Lake view instead of the grisaille I ususally do. Today I just started painting from the top and continued down - sky, hills, lake, shoreline, trees. It seems to be working, but I can't say I love this technique. I am missing the magic of layering transparents. However, I will continue with it and see what happens. 
Before and after today's painting. The sky is actually a beautiful pale blue gradation. I will try taking a daylight photo in the morning to get rid of the yellow colour shift from the studio lights. It's time to find a solution to that issue.

Maybe the problem is the photographer. With daylight, I have the blue but lost the yellow ochre.  
​Solved, or at least one problem identified - I was trying to make the whole image correct even though I had only repainted the top half. So the last photo of the top half is close to reality. 

One more step, with Nancy's supervision - detailing the grasses and pond, then adding the flowers to tempt the butterflies.
When this layer dries, I have the joy of making the butterflies the stars of this meadow.

The Yellow Daisy is finished, varnished and wired. Same with the Moonshot #1, #2 amd #3, but #4 needs a little fix. The Moonshots #5 and #6 have been destroyed by the artist as unsalvageable because of varnish problems.
I might try a few more Moonshots as they are fun to do, and I have learned my lesson about varnish - use the right kind!

Stages of Painting with Oil (from my consult with Yvonne Reddick this morning)

1. Pencil sketch on support surface (canvas or board) prepared with GAC 100 and gesso.
2. Draw in India ink over pencil sketch so it can be seen through the oil glaze.
3. Erase graphite with kneadable gum eraser.
4. Glaze with transparent oil at 40/60 medium/paint.
5. Paint wet-into-wet grisaille, starting with white then grey shades. Do not over-blend!!!
6. Let that dry for about a week.
7. Add colour with transparent glazes on the grisaille (not a glaze over everything, but might glaze over sections, e.g. forest area, sky area.)
8. Add highlights in colours and opaques. Do not over-blend!!!
9. Let that dry!
10. Details and correction and punch up brights/darks. Do not over-blend!!!
11. Sign it. Let the painting dry!
12. After a few weeks, brush on retouch varnish (2 parts Liquin + 1 part Gamsol.)

I probably knew all this from taking Yvonne's workshops, but apparently not in an organized way. This list is really helpful. I can check what point each painting has reached and plan for overlapping work times for several paintings at once. That will keep me from returning to a painting to soon and running into still-wet paint. It might even stop me from over-blending!

OK, so I took a few days off - Sparkling Hill Resort was wonderful and so relaxing...zzzzzz.
Yesterday I worked on the two Daisy paintings with my artist friend Nancy looking over my shoulder.