Back to basics continued

Consolidation is the name of the game, using recently learnt skills to create a painting. I suggested a simple theme, distant hills, a lake, and a tree in the foreground. There are some new ideas here of course, making picture for a start!

Wetting the shape, then introducing colour is a good way of painting a very simple sky.   While that was drying I mixed a dull green, Ultramarine Blue and Indian Yellow, for the hills to push them back suggesting distance.  It a strange fact that a warm blue and a warm yellow make a dull green, – well not really strange in you think about it because they both lean very slightly towards the red  thus the mix includes the three primary colours.  The trick in painting these distant hills is to start with the whole body of the brush level with the top of the hill, then draw the paint down, so a more interesting, believable edge is achieved.  A sweep of the brush following the hill top is just too smooth.  Now, watch the paint dry, and just as it loses the shine and turns dull,  touch in the trees edging the lake with darker green   (more pigment, less water).

The back of the lake is a sweep of the brush for this time we need a reasonably straight edge, while the front is dry brushed.  The foreground is begun with a wash of Raw Sienna, then titivated to suggest fallen leaves, rocks, etc., and a truly dark mix of Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna define the tree trunk and pushed the hills further away.  The leaves of that tree are tickled in with the point of the brush.

I’m not thrilled with the result, but I’m not ashamed of it either.  Maybe my painter’s block of the last four months is finally cracking!