Garden of the Gods painting Finished

I am very happy with many parts of this painting. The mid-ground with the sage green hills and the red rocks came out very well. The contrast in values and colors are both working to make the red rocks stand out. I added a lot of flowers to the foreground than were in the photo. It is a very active painting full of motion

Garden of the Gods Painting

Here is the painting with the reference photo and my glasses for a size comparison. 

 Step 1: I begin to put big areas of underlying color in the foreground and midground.

 Step 2: The second layer of more detail is added to the garden bed of plants and the rock formations.

Step 3: Another layer of color and details to the spruce tree and midground trees and bushes.

Step 4: The mountain range is masked and the sky put in. The sky is three layers of color.

Step 5: The sky is toned down some, more clouds added. Hard edges in the sky were removed. The mountain range is begun with two layers of green.