Today’s challenge was all about balance. The bright jumble of warm colours to the left of the tree needs something strong enough to set it off, on the right which is the sunward side. It required several warm greens, and so at the end of day 2 I had broken out the viridian and a mid-toned primary green with no particular name. They were both strong colours, with the viridian being almost opaque. One of the problems of titanium white is its strong opacity, which can be chalkiness in some colour mixes. On a coloured ground, the transparent paints provide beautiful colours but can be very weak when there are colours that let none of the background through. I used much more of that green mix today, and for the next day’s painting I will be going back to mixing from yellow and blue, to deaden some of the brightest areas that should not be sticking out of the background. It should be receding a little more, especially around the tree, which has to stand out further while remaining dark and mostly shadowed.