I didn't have anything in mind for this painting at first - just opened up Photoshop, dropped down a dull grey gradient and started playing with shapes.

Blocking in form & value...

First color pass. New layer set to 'colorize'.

Beginning to add details & build texture. I paint out a levels adjustment layer here for a little more contrast. For quick texturing I bring in some custom brushes, painting on a low-opacity overlay layer.

Needs something more... blue! I realize here that the foreground should to be a lot darker if I want this painting to have any depth.

Highlights & finishing touches. I decide to crop the picture frame in more aggressively.