DEMO
4
6
7
5
4
MASK THE GAPS
I took my time to fi nish the
“distant” paintwork on the sky, fi eld
and cow, leaving me ready to tackle
the next part of my challenge: the
fence. I delicately applied masking
fl uid to the key areas between gaps
in the fence and foliage – the reason
for this was to keep a looseness in
the next stage.
In order to achieve this, I needed to
be bold with my colours and fast with
my painting. The masking fl uid would
keep the quick washes focused on the
shapes I needed without any mistakes.5
BE BOLD WITH COLOUR
This is the fun part. I can now
paint the hedge more boldly, safe in
the knowledge the paint will fall into
the reservoirs created by the masking
fl uid. I use a mix of colours including
Indigo, Winsor Violet (Dioxazine),
Antwerp Blue, Green Gold, Gold Ochre,
Payne’s Gray and Winsor Green (Blue
Shade). I bled lighter colours wet-in-
wet into the tips of the leaves and
placed shadows where necessary.
This should be a quick stage, as you
will need to let each application dry
thoroughly and then repeat once dry.6
KEEP YOUR FOCUS
When I was happy with the
foliage, I stopped. It is so easy to keep
doing a bit more and a bit more, but I
wanted the fi nished result to show off
the brushwork and look like it was
painted with bold strokes.
I also wanted to differentiate
between the sharp focus on the fi eld
and cow in the background and the
loose, less detailed foreground. This
trick will give depth to my painting.7
TIE UP LOOSE ENDS
When the whole picture was
completely dry, I removed all of the
remaining masking fl uid to see how
it looked. Some parts were a little
crude and others were lighter than
I needed them, so I worked across
the whole image to pull it all together.
My fi nal job is to neaten things
up with some white gouache, adding
highlights or painting over slight slips,
before then adding a minimum of
fi nesse with the coloured pencils.
http://www.matthewjeanes.co.ukTop tip
Avoid using black
paint, as this can
distract the eye.
Mix your darkest
tones instead