Lughnasadh Painting: Day 2, The Design

I HAVE my idea, now I need to pick the elements I think will tell a good story and also be fun to paint. Right off the bat, I know I am doing blueberries. Great color and shape, and because of their size I will put them in the foreground so I can enlarge them. The color will bounce off nicely with the complimentary oranges and golds of the wheat, which will be my main theme. (I'm thinking blueberry bread of some sort at this point for the recipe card.)

SCOURING my reference files, both hard copy and online, I find images that represent what I'm seeing.
I WANT a woman picking the berries, not sure where she is looking yet. Maybe at the raven. A WHEAT field can go in the back. I like this one with the sea behind.THE RAVEN is too small. Since he represents Lugh, the sun god, and has made all this possible, I am going to have him interact with the woman, who is happy for his generosity. I find a face (my daughter Renny) that has the look I want. The raven now continues the circle of the blueberries and I like this.A CELEBRATION needs to be happening – the harvest is almost finished. RENNY needs some Irish clothes and maybe a headdress. It would be hot in the sun in August, picking berries.MANY, MANY changes took place as I went along. I just gave you the basic process. I'm pretty happy with this design. The beauty of Photoshop, which is the program I use, is that I can enlarge or reduce, flop, and change position of each item at will. I tried the woman facing the other direction, I tried the dancers bigger and in other areas. I kept coming back to this. I will make a black and white copy of this now and transfer it to my 36"x48" canvas that has been painted bright orange.

SEE YOU tomorrow!