Artists & Illustrators — June 2017

54 Artists & Illustrators

MASTERCLASS

8 WORK ON THE MIDGROUND

With the weather closing in and showers

more frequent, I work quickly with the round

flat size 1 brush. I add more detail and work

on the sunlit midground fields with stiffer

mixes of Permanent Sap Green, Cadmium

Yellow Light and Titanium White. With the

same mix as the sky, I paint the puddles and,

with a touch of grey, the granite gateposts.

7 CREATE STRUCTURAL MARKS

Using mixes of Yellow Ochre with Burnt

Sienna and Cadmium Yellow Light with

Permanent Sap Green – both with a touch of

Titanium White – I begin to define areas of

colour. The round size 4 brush is used to add

structural marks to the painting. The wall is

added with a mix of French Ultramarine,

Burnt Sienna and Titanium White. I always

aim to mix my colours with a palette knife

but, as enthusiasm or time gets the better of

me, I normally end up mixing with the brush

• hence the touches of green in the wall.

6 ADD IN THE SKY

I begin to block in the sky with mixes of

French Ultramarine and Titanium White.

The sky is changing very quickly, as is the

landscape, but I need to get some colour into

the sky that would make it easier to asses

the tones for the distant moorland. The large

flat brush covers the area quickly without too

much fiddling.

5 WORK FAT OVER LEAN

My particular method is to work as slowly as

the time allows me, building up the painting,

starting with dilute mixes, progressing to

thicker applications of paint: essentially the

‘fat over lean’ method. I begin to build up the

structure on the hills with mixes of Yellow

Ochre and Burnt Sienna, and the foreground

with Yellow Ochre and Permanent Sap Green

using the flat size 16 brush, strokes of which

describe the shape of the land.

3 PLACE THE STRUCTURE

With the round size 4 brush and a mix of

French Ultramarine with Burnt Sienna,

thinned with water to a wash, I loosely place

the underlying structure of the painting,

indicating the main forms to establish the

composition. If any adjustment is needed,

then I wipe the marks from the board with

an old piece of rag.

4 BLOCK IN COLOURS

The subject is a tricky one with the light

changing by the minute. Working with very

watery mixes of Burnt Sienna and Permanent

Sap Green, I begin to block in some of the

greens and browns that give a suggestion of

the tonal range and placement of colour.

The large flat brush is used vigorously,

scrubbing marks onto the panel.

Top tip

Create the impression

of sunlit branches

by scratching

them out with a

palette knife

52 Masterclass.indd 54 07/04/2017 10:25