New Year Painting Session

My first new year resolution - to get back into painting in oils.  I brought some oils to Lochcarron with me with this purpose in mind. Thought I'd attempt one of the views at Drumbuie.  It started off looking like this a couple of days ago.

Drumbuie Shore - Oil - Stage 1

Actually, I quite like the treatment in this, now that I look at it again.  I think it's because this is quite a loose treatment (I used oil crayon and diluted the oil colour with turps).  But it was just a start, and I wanted to darken down the shore.

Drumbuie Shore - Oil - Stage 2

Again, I quite like this, looking at it again.  I added some graphite marks and was still using a lot of turps.

Drumbuie Shore - Oil - Stage 3

I thought this was still looking quite interesting - I was still using a lot of turps and ragging it back.  I would have preferred to use some varnish, but I hadn't brought any along. 
Sadly, I lost my nerve today and have gone in a bit heavy handedly with the colour.  The light was failing (had to work in electric light) and I was enjoying using the brush - it seems more natural to use brushstrokes than dabbing on colour then ragging it back. Anyway, the picture currently looks like this.

Drumbuie Shore - Oil - Stage 4

I've lost the shimmery effect I was getting with using the turps and ragging it back.  I suppose I got a bit impatient. I think I need to decide how I want to present the image.  I don't feel that this works as a final picture.  If truth be told, I don't feel any of them are quite right - they don't convey what I want.  But it is a long time since I worked in oil, so I'm not surprised that I don't find this satisfactory.

I'm not going to give up, but  I need to reflect on this for a bit, and decide how to finish it.  Think I'll go back to acrylic in the meantime....