In The Studio: 20 paintings 20 Days, “Out West”

15 x 22 watercolor arches rough.  This is a painting with a pretty simple motif, winter trees in front of a distant horizon.  The brush marks for the foreground trees are made with a 8 scripts liner from silver brush and I have really manipulated it against the paper and kept the colors consistently blue grey.  This color is cobalt blue, burnt sienna, and cobalt violet and I kept working it until I got it just the value and color I liked.  They are painted on really dry paper.wet the paper and take the excess water off with a natural sponge.  Elevate the paper and then brush in a light sky that is graded cool to warm and get some nice movement in the brush strokes.  Paint in the trees with a nice rich color of cobalt burnt sienna ultramarine blue and cobalt violet.  Do this when the paper is still wet.Brush in the middle distance trees with an upward stroke from the side of a 1 inch flat, getting a lot of variety in the marks.  The colors are mixed darker than the first washes and are painted on the still damp paper.  This will allow the shapes to merge into the background form.  I used the same mixes as before except I used them stronger with less water and I added olive green and raw sienna. I hope you are getting your painting time in everyday you will notice a big improvement in your work.  If you haven’t started yet then, OH LETS SEE START NOW.