MATERIALS
• I use Daler Rowney paints:
• Raw Sienna
• Burnt Sienna
• Pthalo Blue
• Indian Yellow
• Cobalt Blue
• Permanent Rose
• Ultramarine Blue
• White Gouache
STEP ONE
Mix a thin wash of Raw Sienna, remembering that watercolour dries lighter. Wash in sky area. Mix mauve in a slightly stronger consistency than sky wash. Apply to background hill. While this wash is still wet, “drop in” some Raw Sienna to represent distant trees. You will find that if the wash is too wet you will make “cauliflowers” and too dry and the paint won’t blend together (something that requires a little practice). Come down the painting with the Raw Sienna to the edge of the grassy bank.
STEP TWO
Mix a green using Burnt Sienna and Pthalo Blue (again this will take a bit of practice but if you persevere you can make a huge range of greens with these two colours and even more if you introduce Indian Yellow as well). Use this green to suggest trees at the base of the hill. Add some of this same green to a Raw Sienna wash and do a second coat over the grass area. It doesn’t hurt to leave some of the first wash shining through. I have also dropped in some darker green on the edge of the bank. Notice how a mixed green, when applied wet to the paper, separates and looks more interesting than a green straight from a tube.
STEP THREE
In a clean area of your palette mix another mauve wash with Cobalt Blue and Permanent Rose (I don’t like my mauves to be too pink). Apply this wash to the entire water area making sure to “lift out” some light with a dried off brush, particularly in the foreground.
STEP FOUR
Once the paper is dry apply a strong dark green (i.e. less water) in another coat over the water, softening the edges as you come forward and making sure you cut out some interesting rock shapes on the edge of the creek . When this step was dry I added a bit more mauve to the foreground water.
STEP FIVE
After greying a mixed mauve wash with Raw Sienna I “scumble” the creek banks in a circular motion with a quite dry small brush to create rock type “marks.” Practice this technique on some scrap paper. Now it is time to sculpt the creek banks with Burnt Sienna and a dark mixed with Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue. Be sure to use your knowledge of perspective to make the bank recede – the further into the distance it goes the cooler the colour and less detail required.
FINAL STEP
Now the finishing touches. I put a couple of thin washes over the rocky bank, loosely suggest the foreground grasses and paint in the three trees. (I use white Gouache for this purpose.) Fine branches and twigs, detailing on some of the rocks and some reflections in the water and the job is done. At this point I like to put it under a matt and regard it for a while to be sure I am happy.
