I woke up to a smattering of snow this morning ~ I think the weather here in the UK has decided that life is going to imitate art, as today sees the launch of this lovely winter landscape project!
In this loose, textural painting I’m going to encourage you to employ your playful side and embrace experimenting with different tools and techniques to create a range of different marks on your paper.
I have used a piece of plastic, a glue spreader, salt, gouache, ink pen, masking fluid, a scalpel blade and a water spray PLUS my usual paintbrushes to build up different marks and shapes to create natural, organic forms.
Why not take a look around your home and think about what you could use as a drawing tool.
It could be a knitting needle, twig, fork, toothpick, piece of string, old store card etc. Different tools will create slightly different marks ~ so you could make a visual dictionary of the different marks that each item makes so you have a reference book which you can use for future paintings too! Here you can see a page of my sketchbook with some experiments.
If you would like to find out more about how we are going to paint this winter landscape, then take a look at this short video.
Remember, this is your painting so feel free to play with the composition. Make as many hedgerow plants and shapes you would like and intertwine them how you like! You can even introduce different plants too. Why not swap out the church and pop in a cottage or barn or perhaps add some distant figures out on a walk. Don't let the strive for realism hold you back ~ this painting aims to be loose and slightly abstracted ~ not photographic. Don't be afraid to change the scale, composition or the colours. If you would like your painting to appear more icy cold, you could complete the whole thing using just cool hues in icy blues and cool greys. But you could use any colour palette you wish ~ just be careful of using very warm colours as this will fight against the feel of a winter landscape!
Investigate this style of painting
If you like this way of working and would like to find out more about different techniques and ideas, you might like to look at the work of John Blockley or his daughter Ann Blockley. You can also look at Jane Betteridge, Carole Robson, David Parfitt and Nita Engle as a starting point!
I really hope you enjoy this one and I look forward to seeing your work on the Forum.
Happy Painting!