My First Commissioned Piece...

I gave a friend of mine some paintings for her wedding. She really liked them and so did her mother-in-law so my friend asked me to sell her a painting for her mother-in-law's birthday this month.
I finished the painting at the end of October and mailed it off. I haven't heard back from about the painting, but I'm hoping she'll like it. Here's the whole thing, from start to finish.

About half-way through I asked the lad what he thought would make it better. It looked off to me but I couldn't figure out how to improve it. I was considering starting from scratch. This is around photo #4. He suggested adding leaves to the trees. It wasn't terribly practical considering how far away the trees were in the painting, but he did have a point. In photo#5, I had added quite a bit more detail and some 'naked trees' to the treeline. It helped a lot and I fell in love with the painting then.

Unfortunately, smarty-pants here didn't think about the painting's size before she started. She just went ahead and stretched half a sheet. Anyway, I had to crop quite a lot of the painting. But of well.
I also included my planning page from my book. I've never really planned a painting like this before so that was a new experience. I also never got paid for a painting before so...

Hot Air Balloon in Fall