Planning a Painting - John Deere antique tractor

I'm in the planning stages for a new painting. Yesterday, I loaded up my camera and drove out to a neighbour's to ask permission to photograph his collection of vintage John Deere tractors. I hadn't met the guy before, and I was a little apprehensive about knocking on a stranger's door. I think I was a little concerned he'd think I was a Jehovah's Witness!

But my worries were for naught, he and his wife were quite willing to let me tramp around in the snow getting shots of the farm equipment decaying on their land. And I actually recognized the guy as a fellow garage saler - I love living in a small town!

I'm glad I didn't wait - I was tempted to mull the idea over for a while longer before swallowing my fears and knocking on that door, but you know, the snow would have gotten deeper, and the impulse might have gotten buried and never come!

My next step will be to plan my composition (layout). I want this to be a larger painting, about 15" x 20" and I plan to introduce an entirely different background - perhaps a barn, a snowy road, a broken-down fence. I'll have my sketchbook out this week if the Christmas preparations don't absorb all my time!