DEMO
N
o matter how long a person
has been painting, we all
benefi t from a challenge.
It stretches us, makes us think harder,
and improves our technique. These
are things we all need if we are to
avoid getting lazy and relying on what
we know rather than what we see.
With this demonstration, I decided
to set myself a really big challenge.
A cowlookingthrougha bramble
hedgeina fieldmaynotseemthat
biga deal,yetfroma painting
perspectiveit reallywas.Torecreate
thisimageit required,ineffect,two
paintings:thescenewiththecowin
thefieldandthenthebramblefence
I waslookingthrough.
Thechallengewastopaintboth
layers,whileworkingoutwhatgoes
whereandavoidingoverpainting,
whichwouldmuddythecoloursand
losethefreshnessrequired.1
2 3
1
SKETCH KEY SHAPES
I began by looking long and hard
at the photo, just trying to work it all
out in my mind. I felt it would look
better if I squared up the horizon and
didn’t paint any other cows, so the
focus would become just the main
one looking at me. I lightly drew these
shapes, as well as a guideline of
where the fence and some of the
bigger leaf areas will be.2
WASH THE BACKGROUND
I wanted the sky and fi eld to be a consistent tone, so
I painted these with light washes of Cerulean Blue, French
Ultramarine, Naples Yellow, Viridian and Hookers Green
across the entire page – even the areas hidden behind the
bramble hedge. I needed to make the fence ultimately look
like it is in front of the background so it must be painted
separately in this way. If I had used masking fl uid to mark
out the hedge at this stage, the areas between could
puddle and dry with different levels of tone.
Once this wash was dry, I did add a little masking fl uid to
the highlight areas in the background, such as the grass.
This reserved those areas for when I added a second light
wash of the same colours as before.3
DEEPEN HUES
With the previous layer dry, I used watercolour and coloured pencils to build
up some more of the background. I wanted this complicated image to look as
loose as possible, so I added bold strokes of colour to the cow and darker areas
of the painting, using various blues, dark reds, violets and greens to build the
palette on the paper and keep my colours fresh. When this was dry, I rubbed off
the masking fl uid.