4 Attempts at painting cows.

Here a while back I decided to try painting a photo I took last fall. I liked the "rear" view, and the hills with no sky. It turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. Here are my attempts.4th
third
second

first

Sorry these pictures are all backwards. I will have to remember this for next time. The bottom Picture is my first attempt. I decided to put sky in and regretted it later. I don't like the middle dark area, it doesn't read as a cut in the hill, just as a dark something!

The second one, or the second from the bottom, Doesn't look finished at all and i don't like the far back hill, it looks misty.

The third one, I like the shadows but they are too strong in the middle area, but i like how they fade as they get further away. But they don't read as ponderosa pines but more like fir.

The final one on the top is better in my opinion, fading as it get farther away, and i like that cows look like they are standing in grass and casting a good amount of shadow. It got a little blue on me but the trees read as Ponderosas now.