Beginning my Autumn Fox Painting

I never did get around to doing a painting to take my Etsy shop's summer banner from, so I'm determined not to have the same lapse for fall.  Here's the very beginning.

Except for a few final touches, I feel that I have to complete the trees before I proceed to either the field or the fox since both will overlap the trees to some extent.

At this stage I've worked two layers over the left part of the trees, but only one in the right portion.  It's interesting how the placement of the darks suggests a break in the trees just right of center.  It feels like you could walk back into the trees directly back from the fox's shoulders and enter a little path that would turn to the right behind the bright orange tree.  In reality, I put the colors on more or less randomly and then only saw this effect once I took the photo.  I plan to capitalize on this happy accident.

So there's a real-life example of how common wisdon - "step back from your painting" - is wisdom indeed.