"Under An Iron Sky"

New series that reminds me of how I used to work.  This is not quite finished, but the process is clear and logical.  I feel so sane. 

I laid the ground with lots of gesso and sanding. Then I blocked out the background, leaving the pelican white. 

I am slowly adding layers, opaque and sheer to build up a luminous background.  I did thicker paint for the clouds. 

I decided not to make the background all sky and I put in some undulating water.  The water has a lot of color in it.  I want to vary the contrast of the values, so that parts will look closer and the part near the horizon will look farther away.    I am starting to build up the clouds and started blocking is some darker values to the pelican. 

Stay tuned...