Painting Progress: Rusty Hinge

As mentioned in my last post, I've been working on a series of watercolor paintings based on photos that I have taken at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.  I finished the first one in the series yesterday, and took photos as I went so I could see the progress.  I thought I'd share them with you, too!  I don't have an official name of the painting yet, but refer to it as Rusty Hinge (too superfluous?).  Maybe I should call it something like, Time Passes, or Bleeding Gate....?  Anyway, don't compare the reference photo and the finished painting too closely...  But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!  And I'm my worst critic.  (Seriously, I am.) 

Reference Photo

Step 1: Add background color, put masking fluid
on parts that need to stay white and clean

Step 2: Add light layers - use salt to get textures

Step 3: Start adding details

Step 4: Continue to add details

Step 5: Finish!

Step 6: Obsess about certain details
and go back and fix them...