46 Artists&Illustrators
- Vary your strokes
I was already thinking about how I can
replace a lot of the green, and how to
produce a painterly version of the photo.
I started to experiment with using blues and
violets in the shadow areas of the foliage.
I also added some Oxide of Chromium green
to the sky mix to create some darker clouds.
This swap of colour serves to add a little
continuity to the overall scheme.
I also varied the direction of the
brushstrokes at this early stage so that the
painting doesn’t become too static. At this
point everything can be modified, and
changes made without too much repainting.
- Adjust the colours
Using a size 2 filbert brush, I adjusted the colours. Again, I tried to add continuity by using the
same colour on the building that I did in parts of the sky. I experimented with adding a little
colour to the foreground foliage, a mixture of Raw Sienna, Winsor Violet and a touch of every
other colour that was on my palette. By using very few tube colours yet varying the quantities
in the mixes, it is possible to produce a vast array of tones and colours.- Experiment with blues
Having just about blocked-in all of the various
elements, I began to experiment with a
mixture of Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue and
Cadmium Yellow Light for the greens in the
distance and the shadows of the grassy
banks that jutted out into the water.
At this stage of my paintings, I like to use
less painting medium, so that the colours
become more opaque – it means I can get a
better idea of how the finished painting will
look. With this canvas, there was still a fairly
large amount of the underpainting showing
through, but most of this would be covered
later on.
- Balance the tones
Using the size 4 brush, I defined the tonal
balance with a little more certainty by adding
more opaque Titanium White to the water
and some of the clouds in the sky. I built
these areas up slowly, while holding back
from adding any detail until I was happy
with the tonal relationship.
There was no benefit in finishing any of
the elements until the overall juxtaposition
of colour and tone had been established.- Suggest depth
Using a mixture of Cerulean Blue and
Cadmium Yellow Light in various quantities,
I added a little more detail to the distant
foliage and the foreground.
To give the illusion of aerial perspective
(the effect where distant objects appear
lighter and cooler in colour), I kept the majority
of the distant greens on the blue-violet
side of the colour wheel, and those in the
foreground on the yellow-green side. In the
shadows, I used stronger violet mixes, rather
than the darker tones of the green.Top tip
Try using touches of
contrasting colours to
tie things together but
don’t allow them
to dominate^