I’m afraid I got caught up in trying to improve the rust today and almost ruined it as a result. I tried to add some richer colour with gold ochre, and this softened all the salt work I did yesterday leaving it looking smoother and less like rusty edges of peeling paint. In a way it looks more realistic, but I did like the crispness of yesterday’s painting.
I’ve also put some colour onto the wood fastened to the posts and added a dark reflection under the distant one. The more I do the less I like the colour of the water – it’s far too strong a blue and I think it’ll be hard to make the bird stand out against it. I’m not sure what I can do to subdue it at this stage though. Maybe I can just bring some darker areas in near the bottom of the page to break it up.