Simplify the Watching...

To make it easier for you to see I will no longer showcase all four paintings at the same time unless it is necessary to make some future point. Instead I will only show step-by-step development of the upper left painting. Please be aware, however, that the changes made to the sample painting are also being made to the other three.

To your right, the painting as it exists now. I have darkened the trees slightly especially on the water reflection. Then with a 2" flat brush using only fresh clean water, I blended all the land and water mass by pulling down. This stroke created vertical lines which seem to reinforce the water's reflectivity. I am, using the same gray mixture of earlier, reinforcing some of the land mass darks that grayed out too much in the water wash.

I am going for a foggy morning looking over a lake at its distant bank. To your left the details are too prominent. Using a wet, with water only, two-inch flat brush I blended all the detail of your left into a soft blend. Then with the same brush clean, I stroked in the light area of the shoreline.

If this is going to work, it needs foreground which is what I am working for Step 6.