THE Painting

So we went out west this summer to work on THE painting. The big 8 foot by 4 foot thing that I started before Nora was born. It was supposed to be a school project, and then it was a school project on steroids. And I'm still working on it, three kids later. I've been reluctant to post about it, because it's kind of embarrassing. I actually submitted this thing to the Church a couple of summers ago, keeping with their deadline, thinking that it was "done enough." What a mistake. After seeing it again, I'm mortified that I actually let anyone see it in that state. It had SO far to go. It still has so far to go. I hate that so many people saw it then, as if it was a finished piece. I hate to let anyone see a painting before it's finished. So if you look at it and think "ewwww, I don't like it!", don't judge me. It isn't finished, ok? And I might not finish it before I'm 80. So here's the post. OK?!?!?!
I knew before we got out there that we'd have to take some more reference photos, a big group shot to track the shadows. I can't remember whose idea it was to use the laundry rack and blanket as the camel, but it worked! Kurt and offspring looked very epic and were just what I needed. (Thanks!)
I had a good reference photo for a camel, with the right lighting and everything, but wasn't sure how a camel's shadow might look on a short figure to its right. So I made a really realistic looking camel out of kids' clay. Pretty believable, yeah? I do what I can.So, then to the paint. I mainly just worked on the ground/background:
Before:
After:

Before:After:

But I did a little work on some of the figures too. Notice the robes on Sariah:
Before:After:
And then the real beast was to redo the camel. Again, he isn't finished. But he's better than the wookie I had before. (By wookie, I mean furry bactrian camel. But that species isn't very recognizable.) Here he is as a non-furry dromedary:

Before:

After:Still a long way to go. I'll get to it sometime.