Greenland Outbuildings-

Finishing Touches?

Here is the "finished" painting from light and shadow. I didn't think I had done that much to it since I originally posted it, but now I see I did more than I thought. I basically had the structure in and none of the details that pull it all together. So, a quick rundown. I sharpened the value contrasts by going darker on the roof of the central building and pulling out that roof line on the right and tying that dark into the roof of the buildings to the right of it. I also followed the cast shadow from the chimney on the roof to the horizon line to the left and connected it all together. I then added the light "snow" to the left edge of the roof line but left the darks to give the impression of holes. On the shadow side of the house I carved out just a few missing boards to give visual interest. On the front basically the same thing, except in the light. you can see that by going a few shades darker it carved out the trim board that had fallen from the roof line.
On the house to the left I added the flag pole and its cast shadow and a few other verticals, which give a repetition of verticals across the painting, especially with the addition of the grasses and the miner's candles. When putting the grasses in I was thinking about pattern and flow.
The last thing was to darken the snow in the lower left hand corner, which anchors the scene. 

I have been asked where these buildings are located. If you live in Colorado, this scene is off of 1-25 south, about half way between Denver and Colorado Springs. It is the Greenland exit and you go to the right when you exit heading to the Springs. There is a parking lot for hikers as there are buttes to the west. There is a working ranch as well as this "ghost" town of Greenland. Along with old abandoned houses, there is a corral that is of great visual interest. I meet a painter friend from the Springs here to plein air paint since it is halfway and there is plenty to paint.