Painting Progression-Seasons Greetings-Step 4

Now I begin to paint over the initial blocked-in areas of color.  The sky is refined and painted more heavily, blending the tones together.  The background trees are worked up a bit more, adding some detail and texture.  The old fedora on Frosty's head is painted in and the sprig of holly is added, too.  His features, carrot nose and colorful scarf get more hue, texture and detail added to them, and the picture begins to take on more life and a feeling of depth.  More color and contours are added to the woollen mittens and an initial layer is added to the tree decorations.  Each step taken is another building block in the structure of the painting.  The work is evolving as a whole, rather than one part at a time.  In this way, I always know how all the elements in the picture relate to one another.  My goal is to avoid painting myself into a "corner" along the way.