Fighting the Bear

Are'nt you sick of seeing this thing? I decided to tackle it once again, with the hope of getting better control of it.

The first thing I did was cover the background with a light wash. Then I covered the two main trees, the bear, and the ground with a darker glaze. Then the hard work began by making numerous minor adjustments to much of the painting.

I moved the bear's left ear, and I raised the ground level around the bear itself. Then I built up the leaf litter, covered the whole painting with a warm glaze, and punched up the highlights of the birch bark. Does the painting look any better? It's at least as good as the cougar painting, although I still hate it. I'll have to fix the cougar someday as well. I think I'm done with this one called, Goose Creek Bear, 16x20". I already varnished it.

I also got an idea to paint some wolves in the same setting, but with a darker background. That way the birch trees and wolves will show up lighter than the background color. I'm curious to see what that would look like.