We stayed in at the Y again today and I started the day with a demonstration of a winter tree on a misty morning. The secret here is to keep the edges in the distance soft by floating the shapes on top of one another when the paper is still wet and working cooler in the distance to warmer in the foreground. I let the lake accept the washes from the distant trees to indicate the reflections. The angle of the paper has to be very upright for the wash of the trees to float down onto the wash of the water, this is a pretty simple thing to do but is very complicated in the fact that you can’t force it just touch the bottom of the distant trees with the water wash and let the paint do the work. The tree was painted with a number 4 rigger and I worked dark warms in the bottom of the tree and pulled cool grey colors for the upper branches. Reduce the values in the upper trees to get the effect of the mist and the lost branches of the tree.
watercolor on 300lb arches paper
Thank you very much for teaching us how to get the effect of the misty and the reflections of the grove in the water. Your watercolor is very atmospheric. You are fantastic as an artist and as a teacher. Thanks for sharing it with us.