It’s all finished! The lightning bolt was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I had myself more worked up about it than I needed to. Granted, it’s not perfect by any stretch, and I could use some practice on doing them, but really, I think I could become quite good at them and might add them to future paintings. :D

Finished painting.

Well, the water is mostly done at this point and I’m now working on the rocks in the foreground. Once they’re done, then I’ll go back and fix the water that’s around them. The joys of something like this is it’s a lot of back and forth. It’s mostly due to the way that I paint, I think. Some people can work all the background around the foreground objects and then just put the foreground in. I’ve never been able to visualize quite that far to make sure I’ve got it exactly how I want it. I think part of that is I’m not sure how I want it till I get there. My paintings tend to grow and change a bit as I do them.

Work on both the water and some of the foreground rocks.

I did decide to darken the water overall, and then work in the lighter areas over top. The hardest part of this for me has been to not be too exacting. I used the technique I used for the wood on the guitars – not bracing my arm and letting my natural shake make their own waves. :) Worked out rather well I think. I still need to work on the mist/splash on the one rock, but I’ll do more of that soon.

Getting some work on the water done.

I’ve gotten quite a bit done since my last update. This is a hard piece to photograph, so I’ve been a bit remiss in doing so.

The clouds are pretty much finished at this point. I know I’ll go back in to tweek them some when everything is done, but I’m very happy with how they’ve turned out. I’ve added a little bit of dark to the water and I’m thinking of making it all dark and just bringing in the lights. I’ll decide that as I work with it. Have given some of the rocks more depth, but will wait on most of it until I have the water mostly finished.

A little bit of work all over the piece.

I decided to quit procrastinating on the clouds and do a little work on them. I’m actually pleased with how they’re coming! Still have quite a ways to go on them, as well as the twister, but it’s a good start.

A little cloud work.

I’ve gotten some good rock work, and in my general ‘zeal’ for it looking good, I made it too light! Easy fix, just need to tone it down some. But this also means I’m much further along than I thought I was. Tonight I start work on the other set of rocks, and then hoping to get started on the water some tomorrow. Still putting off the clouds for now.

Getting some good work done on the rocks.

I’ve gotten some more work on the rocks done (including sketching the foreground rocks, although they don’t show up well in the photo), the water color base in, as well as a little more definition on the clouds.

A little work on everything.

I’ve gotten some more work done on the clouds, giving them a little more depth. I’m pleased at how they’re coming along, but I’m having a little bit of a problem ‘visualizing’ them finished. I’m thinking, since they’re not really behind anything, that I’ll move down and start working on the rocks some and let the clouds settle in my head some.

A little more work to the clouds.

I’ve gotten back to this after some ‘artist block’ and other projects I got involved in. Started in on the rocks today, and, while it’s just the base color for it, I’m pleased at how it looks. And it just flowed! (well, while I let to color dry. I was good about not overworking it and messing up this time. :)) Need to go to bed or I’d still be working on it.

Adding the rock base.

Got a little more work done on the sky on this, and also started to get some of the dark of the clouds and tornado in there, mostly to give me some reference to work with. I’m slowly getting used to the way the paint goes on, and I figure I’ll get used to it in no time!

More on the sky as well as the darks in the clouds.