From Brush Canyon

With the addition of the foreground elements into the painting, the next step was to relate the colors and values so they would reflect my impression and intentions for the painting.

Before moving forward, I worked on lightening the shadows in the distance.  In the middle ground there was a need to darken a lot of the shadow areas without over painting them.  Refocusing on the foreground to make sure it was consistent with everything else was the last thing I did before working on the details.

Up until this point in the painting I was working with only one large brush.  I used a three inch brush to do the wash and to put the basic shapes into the painting.  I also used this brush to blend and lighten the overall background in the painting.