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PAINTING A SNOW LANDSCAPE IN WATERCOLOUR - STEP BY STEP PAINTING DEMONSTRATION
Below is a step-by-step demonstration of a landscape painting in watercolour.
Linton, North Yorkshire
9" x 13" © Alistair Butt
A detailed drawing of the subject was produced on stretched Bockingford 250lb watercolour paper. Before any painting is started all the white parts of the painting are masked (I use the colourless masking fluid from Winsor & Newton).
Next the whole paper area is given a wash with plain water and while this is soaking into the paper I'll pre-mix the first wash colours on the palette. The first objective is to establish the sky and distant hills and remove the remaining white areas of paper. A wash of very pale Yellow Ochre followed by Cobalt Blue for the distant hill while the paper was still wet to give a soft edge. The blue was also painted over the shadow areas and water.
Working from background to foreground I started with the left hand building and then worked on the trees.
The building was painted in three washes leaving areas for the branches in front that had highlights on them. The trees were painted using three washes. Light, mid and dark to build up shape/form and distance.
The image (right) shows the trees on the left complete, the central group of trees have had two washes and right hand trees have had a mixture of one and two.
The next section were the bushes and stone wall. The bushes had the usual light, mid and dark washes to create form.
The wall had a shadow wash painted (leaving areas for white highlights) on first and then the dark stones painted (two or three washes) leaving gaps to represent snow.
The two walkers are just simple washes using the correct colours and a shadow wash.
Almost a repeat of stage three for the area of the small stone footbridge that crosses the stream. The bridge had a shadow wash painted first (leaving areas for white highlights) and then the dark areas of stone painted (two or three washes) leaving gaps to represent snow. A further shadow wash completed the bridge.
The vegetation was painted next with a number of washes to get the correct colour and then a shadow was applied. The reflections were painted at the same time.
This stage involved getting all the reflections painted to create the effect of a slow moving stream. The colours used were those used for the trees followed by a number of grey or blue washes to soften the edges.
Next came the painting of the far and near bank of the stream and the shadows created by the trees. The banks had areas of grass showing and this was painted first, followed by darker areas for the bank and its reflection.
The shadows from the trees were painted next and finally a clean water wash in which soft areas of blue were added to give some form to the snow.
The last area to be painted was the bushes on the left. Three washes (light, mid, dark) followed by a shadow wash that covered part of the bush and the snow.
Further light shadow details were added to the snow in the foreground and the edges softened with clean water.
