I just finished this privately commissioned painting. It is a companion piece for Julie's "A Rose For Peter", which appeared in this blog a few months ago. It was so much fun to do our own versions of the same character. We are so lucky to do art as our job!
Drawing the human figure from life is probably the Number One most important exercise (besides cardio fitness, of course!) for illustrators. Even if you're painting regularly, drawing from life challenges your brain to solve problems that will come in handy with finished work later on. We went to a sketch group earlier this week to practice our skills. 
This was a still life set-up that I painted from life one silly afternoon. I don't usually work on canvas (we normally use illustration board), so the surface was pretty different. It's always good to try new and different things!
Now I like it! Pushing through the trees all the way to the sky brought back depth that had been taken away by darkening the forest so much. Also, as was brought up in previous comments, the strong verticle lines of the trees is a great compositional tool to be used with care. I'm happy with the color change from the first version (too much green). It's more lively and unexpected. Anyway, I'm going to try to put this painting away and leave it alone, although I admit I've become a bit addicted to changing it now. It's like eating potato chips (which I never eat) where you just keep seeing one more tempting little bit and, before you know it, you're 50 pounds heavier.
