I almost didn't go to the National Gallery today. I'm retired, so my mornings are normally relaxed. I wake up when I'm ready to wake up. On National Gallery days, however, I have to get up early if I want to catch the last commuter train or bus. Either that, or drive to the Metro, which runs all day, but the whole trip takes much longer. So I usually force myself to get up early one day of the week. Last night, however, I couldn't fall asleep, probably because I knew I had to get up early. My alarm was set for 6 am. Still awake at 12:30, I decided to unset my alarm and not go in. Disappointing, but I didn't want to be exhausted all day.
I woke up at 8:30, having had almost 6 hours, and decided it was enough - I would drive to the Metro station and go in late. I got to the NGA a little after 11 and painted from 11:30-1 before I had to break for lunch. (I was thinking I'd just work through lunch, but being sleep-deprived also makes you hungry, so I obeyed my hunger.)
During this 1 1/2 hours of painting, I repainted the sky - the cloudy part. My clouds were too violet, and his has more yellow. I mixed a color that seemed better and repainted those clouds. I also darkened the trees to the left of the house, and worked on the roof.
These photos are how it looked at 1:00 when I went to lunch, thinking I would work more after I ate. But when I got back to my easel after lunch, I decided I just didn't have it in me to paint any more today.
One museum visitor told me he thought my clouds were too gray. The original's clouds definitely look pinker in the photo. The art on the walls have spotlights on them, and my painting is lit by the skylight in the ceiling of the gallery, so they look different when photographed by the iPhone. I'll see what I think next week when I can look at it with fresher eyes.