This morning was the perfect weather condition for painting; dry, yet overcast and a bit squally. There was so much movement in the trees and paint was drying really quite quickly. Whilst Stephen was finishing his beautiful depiction of the little Summer House down by the lake, I decided on a study of the large tree that stood proudly above us. I’m still using the handmade paper and have adjusted my painting style to suit the surface. There is no option for blending at all and I enjoy that in a subject such as this.

However this is the best place to start… a painter should always work in a full stomach!

A little film of the work in progress….

The finished study after an hour and a half or so

This was painted using primary colours only; French ultramarine, Prussian blue, Cad Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Alizarin Crimson and a tiny bit of Vermilion. Good to have ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ primaries. Cad yellow being warmer than lemon yellow for example. They give better options for mixing all the colours you need.