'Lancashires Pendle Hill' A Commission Oil Painting on Canvas 3

Pendle Big End Commission Paint on Canvas 3 50x50cm
Penultimate stage

This is a snap shot of the penultimate stage of a commission to paint Big End of Pendle.

I've taken a look after a couple of days letting the oil paint dry and decided to rework some parts of the painting so that I can bring out the contrasts made by cloud shadows. I particularly liked the sharpness of the dark cloud on the tip of Big End and to draw this out I've made the cumulus clouds a little more hazy. Next, I've always liked the beech copse which has remained unchanged for millenia. I  had a hard job trying to separate it, make it more defined and allow it to add more depth to the overall paintings structure by leading the eye over the ridge. As ever I need to do this by simplifying the trees and brush marks.

I've abandoned the idea of sheep in the foreground, the main geological  narrative here is the towering gritstone or millstone bulk of Pendle above a sea of limestone. The main Pendle narrative is the mystical shadows and the ancient events that took place here from neolithic times that still has people walking up the hill every halloween.