bright golden highlighted part of the
painting where the sun was hitting
the river bank (which attracted me
to this scene in the first instance).
I added more golden highlights to
the trees and to the reflections in
the river. I also worked on the tree
trunks and branches, using warm
colours against the dark areas and
cool colours against the light areas
to give the impression of how the
evening light was hitting the trees.
STEP EIGHT
I continued to work on establishing
the contrast between the foreground
trees and the background trees by
adding some lighter colours where
necessary. I really began to enjoy
smudging and blending at this stage.
I also did more work on the water
and reflections, adding layers of
colour – working from dark to light. A
quick light spray of fixative enabled
me to continue with layers without
smudging the underlying colours.
The lilac Unison pastel worked really
well (I love the texture of this brand of
pastel) and I scumbled it gently over
the tops of the trees and also into
the water to lighten up areas over
the darker blues. I added skyholes
to the trees where I thought they
needed to be thinned out a bit.
STEP NINE
I worked on the closer reflections
and added highlights to the water.
I livened up some of the darker
areas, by adding some warm reds.
I added squiggles of sky colour
over the dark foreground water
to give the feeling of movement.
I also added more warm colours
to the lighter area of water.FINAL STEP
Not far to go now! I worked on
refining some of the reflections using
the side of the pastel to create lines
in the water, and also squiggles
to create a feeling of movement.
I added a few gum leaf saplings
to contrast against the light water,
and a few darker colours at bottom
left corner to create a non-intrusive
impression of the left bank. I added
some more warm pink tones to the
sky and some more warm reds to the
darker water; and I left some areas
unblended to create texture. ■Step seven Step nineStep ten