Some touchups and a new painting

This painting was done a few days ago, when there was a fine haze over the landscape. The scene seemed to call for a soft approach, and I decided to use a linen canvas, since I like the color of the unbleached linen showing through. It soon got covered up, however, since I kept changing my mind about what colors looked best. I again touched up this painting this morning, adding the blue at the far edge of the foreground field.

I also added some blue highlights to the painting in the previous post - for better or worse. Here's the new version:

This new painting was done on a heavily gessoed canvas. I like having a textured surface to work into; I think it gives extra liveliness to the colors and brushstrokes. I'm not sure I like how it looks in this painting, though. I think the swirl in the gesso is too large, making it seem too regular.