Planning Landscape washes

What makes this landscape painting successful is the planned approach. Laying down the paler washes first, putting in areas of wet in wet then overlaying the dark trees allows for a loose confident technique, not hindered by cutting in around existing areas of dark.

Tips

• On the splashing paint DVD
  Watch the animation at the start of the demonstration a couple of times. Having the overall plan firmly fixed in your head really helps these landscapes work smoothly.

• Big broad approach
  Be fearless and rough when you put down your first underlying washes. Use your old 1/2” bristle brush, plenty of pale watery paint and splash it on roughly. Because everything is wet the washes will tend to settle down as they dry out. Brush strokes and marks that remain at this early stage can add a lively character to your painting.

• Strong interesting Darks
  The secret to getting nice strong darks is to use plenty of pigment, very little water and don’t rinse your brush when you go from one color to the next on your palette. Vary the mixture slightly to keep the colors interesting.

• Substitute Colors
  Indian Yellow can be used in place of Quinacridone Gold. Prussian or Windsor blue can be used if you don’t have Phthalo Blue