
At this point, the basic parts of the leaves and berries are done. There are still plenty of veins and subtle shadows to add, but here is where you start to really see the painting come together. I have continued to build the leaves using multiple layers, then shadowed them with the darker green that I mixed with Payne's Gray. In the last post you still saw the masking where the berries would have the highlights. I paint the berries on then remove the masking. I chose to soften the highlights with a blending brush, but I could have left the edges of the highlight crisp to keep a sharper look with more light contrast. It is around this time in a painting when Mike comes home and says, "Did you paint today?" But I think it's worth the time and trouble and I can see the progress :). You can still see the snow and finch masked out and after finishing the details on the holly I will get started on those.