Last time I showed you this oil painting commission it looked like this:

In this session, I began working on the water, first measuring to be sure the horizon line is horizontal. Then I repainted the water. This erased the hint of stilts that the cabin was resting on; now it is floating. 

I kept studying the photo until I discerned a hint of shadows and reflections from the cabin.

Then I started adding more detail to the snow covered trees. 

This is how it looked at the end of the painting session. As I add the detail, I realize that much is hidden in shadow or behind undefined blobs on the photo.

So I turned to the Duck! looked up the name of the lake on DuckDuckGo and found many photos to study for better detail. Turns out that this version has been flipped horizontally. Forrest doesn’t need me to copy the photo exactly because he is looking for a particular feeling that the scene evokes. However, I do need help to put something in place of vague black blobs, so I will just inch along, making decisions with each indistinct item and area.