Born With Wings: Step 17
Finally the grass is finished! Definitely the most tedious portion of the painting, and yet once it was done, one of my favorites. The model was standing on a small hill of green, well trimmed grass in the reference photos, so I had to do a bit of creative extrapolation with the way the blades crossed in front of her feet when I painted the field grass in the painting. Once the main effect of the grass was complete (which in the foreground meant painting pretty much every blade) I had a lot of fun painting the rogue blades and taller weeds that had gone to seed. That really finished of the background just the way I wanted it.
I spent several hours doing little touch-ups to the rest of the painting: highlights on the face and hair, very subtle adjustments to the plane, etc. At this point the painting was basically finished. I actually sat back and looked at it for at least an hour, partly making sure everything looked right, but mostly just enjoying it.
