On regular bond paper I printed the jpg with the houses and pond. I mounted it on a scrap of foam core and then with my oils, I painted in the sunset from the other photo. I added a little out-building on the left to balance the large shape of the houses. It's the steelyard composition format where a small item toward the edge of a canvas can balance a much larger similar shape nearer to the center. Think see-saw.
Somewhere along the way I decided to make it a 14 x 24, so I could use a custom-made frame that I had bought years ago and was just sitting around collecting dust.
I decided the scene needed more foliage and so I added trees behind the house and reshaped others to give it a feeling that it had been in that location nearly forever. Aesthetically, the softer shapes of the trees offset the harsh straight lines of the buildings. Of course, all that meant that I had to change the reflections too.
I was happy with the way this was going, and so I taped Saran wrap to it and gridded it with a fine permanent marker. There are 24 columns and 14 rows to correspond to my canvas proportions.
