"Morning on the Silk Road" process

"Morning on the Silk Road" is approximately 8"x10" on some sort of smooth mat board. It began with an acrylic wash in pink and yellow, giving me oranges, too. The early drawing was in oranges, browns and reds: all warm colors.

I didn't take a photo of the wash without any ink drawing, but I think you get a good idea of what I started with from the first picture. 

Just before I took this photo, my brain had an argument with itself:

A - There's a little tree, right there. 

B - Yes. Make the trunk simple. 

A - Okay, good idea. And the top should be green. 

B - WHAT?!?! Are you nuts!? 

A - No, green is good. It will be different. 

B - Right. It will stick out like a sore thumb. 

A - It will be a highlight, a point of interest. Green. 

B - You're crazy. Go ahead. Mess it up. 

A - Going green!!! 

B - Hunh. That's not bad. 

A - It's great!! YAAAY!!

Below,  the foreground is done. I found a tiny crescent moon in the upper left. I used the bump on the right-hand tower to make some interesting stone features. I realized that the bright yellow was a focal point and I think that's when the title came to me. I often forget to leave space for the title and signature and have to squeeze them in somewhere, but I remembered this time! I added a bit of green in the three trees in the background.

Some folks thought it was finished at this point, but I was quite bothered by the division in the wash around the upper left corner and across the top. I had to do something about that.

I tangled across the top so that odd band doesn't show and it now looks to me as if I'm looking out of a fancy tent. I realized that I didn't like the green trees in the background and that I wanted the little green tree to be the only green, so I took the green out of the trio of trees. I added a bit of pink to the sky on the right to divide the white area. The shadows are blended and more subtle.

You can see, around the edges, where I've tested colors. :)

I like how the image is contained by the border (almost), and how the path and the border lead the eye around the picture. I also like how the eye bounces between the little green tree and the bright sunlit sky and tower in the background.

And there it is, pretty much finished. Now for a frame.