Ave. F - Bogalusa | painting process

Here's another painting process. Just a note: I failed to correct the white balance of these photos - they are, in reality, less yellow-brown in color - the photo of the finished piece is pretty close to correct. Not the most dynamic of subject matters, and this is one case where I like the photo still a little better than the finished painting. Still there are aspects of it I love - I'll point them out later. Here's the initial sketch:

...and I think that's one of the main reasons I like the photo better than the painting - notice that I cropped the photo severely to better match my canvas. I thought this would emphasize the center of interest better (the red building and its leaning metal pole), but in reality it lessened its impact. (Hindsight is 20/20)

And then it's just a matter of paint-by-numbers. Filling it all in with paint.

et cetera...

et cetera...

And adding in the darkest darks and lightest lights.

And starting to fiddle with things - adding the trees.

And then it's just more detail work, until the final piece:

Ave. F - Bogalusa - 11x14" - $75

The details I love about it are the telephone pole in the background - I left the initial china marker sketch and just painted around it. That gave it a nice effect, I think. Also the building just below the telephone pole - I like the way it turned out . . . almost a watercolor look to it. I also enjoy the sidewalk/curb running along the bottom - the waviness of the hand-drawn lines give it a certain charm i think. The colors are not quite as contrasty as in this photo, by the way, and be sure to click the photo for a closer look - otherwise those details cannot be appreciated.

I'm pretty sure I will be returning to this photo in the future - a wider-aspect canvas and a more muted color palette would work wonders, I'm sure. Any thoughts?