Betrothed in Frederick, step 2

Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches (122 x 91 cm)

This is the first time that I have worked on a painting from a step ladder. A big problem is that when I step back to get a better look at the canvas, I sometimes forget I am on a ladder (ouch!).
Some painters say one should never start a painting without a vision of what the completed work will look like. This is really good advice, but I have seldom followed it. Well, with this painting I have a vision. The vision is that blue colors in the sky and the blue colors of the shadows of the gown will trickle down, intermingling with the warm earthy reds of the underpainting as they progress down the canvas, less and less so the further down they go, until the invasion of blues is completely diminished and the reds hold their ground unviolated at the very bottom. The idea is to create a warm vs. cool vibration. To make that happen I will have to discipline myself to apply the cool colors only in patches, allowing some of the underpainting to remain visible.