This painting took a lot longer that I thought it would mainly because I spent so much time painting the trees and plants around the train carriages.

I started off with a light sky blue wash and blotted out some clouds, then a light wash for the dirt undercoat.

Next I painted the train carriages with multiple red ochre washes to create the lines and shadows of the paneling. After this I started painting the pathways with shadows and stone rockeries.

Then I tried to make each plant look different from the next, some using lines others just multiple dots.

After this I worked on the steps, air-conditioning, shadows under the train carriages. I was going to add some eyes or an animal under the carriages but totally forgot.

I spent a lot of time painting the rocks with my stippling brush, I must admit I’m spending more time trying to get the ground looking more and more realistic with each painting I do. I’m spending more time looking for shadows and tire tracks from cars and quad bikes.

I started working on the solar panels then the tree trunks as this gives you an idea where all the leaves will be going later on.

Train numbers, lights and other fine details were added, like locks and door handles. It’s amazing what you miss sometimes when you’re concentrating on other areas of a painting.

I must admit that this is the most fun I have had painting trees. It was more a challenge to get a large variety in the trees making them look quite different from one another.

It’s so easy to add a straight trunk with a few leaves but making them all individual takes a little more time. Painting some at odd angles, others with dead branches, painting the imperfections makes a painting more realistic in my opinion.

Final artwork scanned, this is more a true representation of what the colours look like on the original artwork.