Livening up your autumn and winter landscape paintings

    How often do you find yourself in a superb location for painting, but with poor, flat light and dull, lifeless colours? This happens to me rather too often, and while it pays to go out to seek painting subjects in fine weather, this is not always possible. As a result we find ourselves with a scene that needs livening up quite a bit, and this is best done by introducing some exciting light and atmosphere, and changing the colours to a degree. In this watercolour of a farm in snow I warmed up the sky with a touch of alizarin crimson, and while the mass of trees to the left of the farm were still wet I washed in some light red to warm that area up. Cast shadows, created with French ultramarine with a touch of cadmium red liven up what would otherwise be quite a dull foreground.

   Every autumn I do a watercolour seminar, which is extremely popular, as it involves not just a landscape demonstration, but an illustrated talk and an opportunity to fire any questions at me. This year it takes place at the Pontypool Community Education Centre (The Settlement), in Pontypool, Monmouthshire on Saturday 1st November. The centre has tiered seating and excellent access roads, and the seminar begins at 10.30am and finishes around 2.30pm. The demonstration is projected onto a screen, with techniques highlighted and shown in enlargement, enabling the audience to follow each procedure more clearly, and ask questions as it unfolds.

    The illustrated talk covers many aspects of painting winter and autumn scenes, from initial sketching and how to work comfortably out of doors in the cooler months, what to wear outdoors, to painting back indoors with methods to make the most of low winter light to bring your painting to life; bringing warm and rich colours into a drab scene; making the most of snow in its various forms; describing those graceful bare trees; capturing the magic of autumn; tackling foregrounds, with examples of various types of foreground; and much more. Many watercolour techniques are shown in detail and discussed.

    To find out more about the seminar visit http://www.davidbellamy.co.uk/watercolour-seminar-2014/   Make the most of winter and autumn painting by planning your approach now.

Painting Winter Landscapes

    Winter is a time when most artists feel they should stay indoors, yet in many ways the winter landscape is more colourful, more varied and not covered in overwhelming greenery that also has the habit of hiding many fascinating subjects. Yet there are many days when getting out to sketch, or even just to photograph the landscape is not only rewarding, but pleasurable as well. You just have to choose your days, but to really make the most of it I have produced a package that should really help those who want to make the most of this fascinating season.

    Winter Landscapes in Watercolour is my brand-new 80-page book published this month by Search Press, and I have produced a companion DVD with the same title, filmed by APV Films to accompany it. The combination of book and film really does give you an all-round idea of how to produce a watercolour landscape and the thought processes behind it. The image on the right, for example, appears in both book and film, with the film showing me working on location, then in the studio. It's a farm on the Staffordshire moorlands, a simple subject which I have made even simpler by bringing in mist at the two extreme ends of the ridge and reducing the mass of white snow patches that were present. Sweeps with a large mop brush have created a drybrush sparkle over a lighter, earlier wash that had dried, and this is especially noticeable to the right of the buildings. It's an effective technique for suggesting rough ground without actually having to paint in a lot of detail. In the dark areas on and in front of the buildings I have left flecks of white gouache. This is clearer in the book and DVD, and really livens up the focal point.

    It's important to be well-prepared for working outdoors in winter, and this is covered in the book, together with ways of working quickly. But it's not all about working outside. The book and DVD are crammed with advice on painting the seasons from late autumn to early spring, and even if you don't intend going outside you will find much to help your landscape painting here. At the moment we have a special offer if you buy both book and DVD from my website at http://www.davidbellamy.co.uk/davids-page/  I really enjoyed working on these two projects as for me winter is a marvellous time to be out sketching, so I hope you will make the most of this fascinating season with these useful companions during long winter evenings.

Painting misty mountains in watercolour

    Jenny and I have just returned from Austria where we took a group to paint Alpine scenery. It was a great trip, with many memorable scenes, despite rather a lot of cloud and mist. So we had rather a lot of practice in rendering misty mountains in watercolour!

    Here I'm doing a watercolour demonstration way above the clouds, with marvellous views all round as the mountains rise out of the inversion. Alas, there were even more clouds above us, so we did get a little rain near the end of the demo, but not enough to spoil things. A cappuccino and an apple-strudel quickly restored morale.

    Mist on mountains can, for the artist, sometimes be both magical and a misery. I love the way it can blot out unwanted features, but as we all know, it often blots out the very features we want to see!

    There are a number of ways of creating mist in watercolour. In this scene above the Inn Valley I ran colour into wet areas to create soft edges to the clouds. I had to work quickly as I was painting on a cartridge book. With such a lot of cloud edges, inevitably some dry hard-edged before they can be corrected, but this is not usually a problem as they can later be softened with a damp brush when the paper is completely dry, though the odd hard edge here and there might well enhance the clouds. Alternatively a soft sponge is an excellent tool for softening off, but take care if you use cartridge paper as it won't stand too much surface friction. Enjoy your clouds!

Foreground techniques in watercolour

    Foregrounds can often be a pain in the neck, and are often not considered properly until the rest of the painting has been completed. This is not good practice, of course, as it's by far a lot better to give the foreground some thought before you start painting. Anything but the simplest of landscapes will benefit from one or two studio thumbnail sketches to help you decide on the main features and relationships of the composition.

    Foregrounds vary considerably, and sometimes completely different types of foreground may well suit a scene. Having a lead-in to the focal point can be very effective, and in this watercolour of cottages on Skye the track undulates and wriggles, losing itself in places until it disappears completely round the right-hand side of the buildings. A lead-in doesn't have to be continuous, and there are times when it helps to be less conspicuous. The warm colours in the foreground here counter the cool ones in the distance, accentuating the sense of space, although I have mashed some strong blues into the foreground vegetation with a spatula in places to create interest. I used the edge of a piece of card to apply the paint here and there - this introduces a change of style from the brushwork, tending towards the abstract. Drystone walls, posts and boulders can be useful for breaking up masses of vegetation. Experiment with all sorts of objects with which to apply the paint if you'd like to try something new.

    On a hike recently I wanted to find a spot where the river created a really good lead-in to a mountain, but there was no path. The dense vegetation simply got worse as I battled upstream (without a machete - they don't like you carrying them around these days, and my Swiss Army knife wasn't quite up to the job). If, rather than fight it, you wish to paint such dense vegetation, then the semi-abstract system as in the bottom left of this painting, can be the best option. Enjoy your painting/hacking!

What on earth is that?

    Do you ever look through your sketches and sometimes think 'What on earth is that?' You simply can't remember what it was and thought at the time you had enough detail to work from. I sometimes deliberately make a sketch a little obscure, although more often I make certain parts of the sketch less definite, with perhaps hardly any detail, or maybe make it more abstract.

    In this rough pencil sketch, which I did on my recent visit to the Scottish Highlands, my aim was to create a simple record of an interesting composition for some future painting. I could easily see many features on the distant hill and shore, and I could see so much more around the houses, but I was only interested in the basic composition, a few shapes and a couple of colours. This method makes it easier for me to impose my own atmosphere and colouring on the scene, and not painstakingly follow every scrap of detail and colour in the actual scene.

    I've sketched hundreds of Highland scenes, so I'm familiar with many of the standard colours. When I come across prominent or new colours that have impact, such as the strips of dull pink pebbles and orangey yellow weed as in this scene, I make a note, as that's the sort of thing that's so easy to forget. There were a few small boats on the other side of the dark concrete pier, so I will probably add one or two of those in just below the buildings when I do the painting, and maybe add some figures and gulls for life, otherwise the composition is fine as it stands - the far hill will dissolve into a light mist or squall. This approach to sketching will help you simplify your paintings and impart more impact.

    The Highlands were at their most beautiful, but sadly the onset of vast wind turbines, hundreds of them, is now encroaching into the classic Highland scenery itself, such industrialisation being completely alien to the natural environment, but making enormous profits for energy companies and landowners. As more turbines come on-stream the grid becomes less stable, and there is strong evidence that blackouts have already started because of this. For this to happen in one of the most beautiful countries in the world it is unforgiveable. The Scottish tourist organisation recognise this beauty and implore visitors to help keep it this way, yet this is at odds with their lack of protest against this industrialisation, and I take every opportunity to tell them so. If you want know more, visit Scotland Against Spin

Painting Watercolours in Intense Heat

   With such a lot of intense heat of late in Britain it's been excellent for painting out of doors. Getting out early in the morning or in the evening light is more preferable for those of you who find it just a little bit too hot, and finding some shade in the heat of the day is advisable, for the watercolour if not for the artist! Bright sunlight on white paper can really hurt your eyes, dry your washes too quickly, and give you a false sense of tonal values, so that when you return indoors your painting may look a little stark and contrasty. Take along and umbrella or other form of shade if you intend sitting in the sunshine to paint, and make sure it keeps your painting in shadow.

    A few weeks ago I was asked how to depict intense heat in a painting. In this watercolour sketch I left much of the tops of the rocks as white paper, with much stronger tones on the sides forming a strong contrast. There was much more detail present, but adding too much detail can destroy the suggestion of sunlight, so keep it to a minimum in the lit areas. Cast shadows highlight the sunny effect, but here the sun is almost directly overhead, so there is not any great length to the shadows. The sense of intense heat has been further enhanced by laying a weak wash of blue-grey over the background.
 
  The sun beat down every day on our recent landscape course at Builth Wells, although happily we did have some welcome fluffy white clouds at times for variation. The ideal spot was down by the river running through the hotel grounds, where several students took the opportunity to dangle their feet in the water while they sketched. In the photo Jenny is giving advice as they paint a mixture of delightful cascades and still water punctuated with stunning colour reflections. Make the most of this lovely sketching weather.

Painting Alpine scenery in Switzerland

    Some of the best painting holidays where we have taken groups have been those which combine spectacular scenery with the more rustic, and this is usually very true of mountain landscapes. Next summer Jenny and I are taking a group to Zermatt in Switzerland, not just to paint mountain icons like the Matterhorn and the Obergabelhorn, but many other peaks, as well as lakes, mountain streams and the local vernacular architecture. The region is full of exciting prospects for the artist.

    The watercolour shows a pair of stadel barns above Zermatt - these make excellent subjects, especially when set against a backdrop of Alpine peaks. The roofs in this instance particularly interested me with their strong textural variations and colour. It is always good to look for colour in a scene and I often exaggerate warm colours on a focal point such as this, both to reduce the amount of greenery (which can overwhelm a landscape in summer), and to draw the eye towards the centre of interest.

    Note that the greens in the painting are not really intense greens - the summer grassy pasture is a light, but subdued green, while much of the conifers greenery is more a blue-grey, achieved with French Ultramarine and burnt umber. You don't have to make the green trees in front of you green!

    Our painting holiday to Zermatt is in conjunction with Leisure Painter and The Artist magazines, and is being organised by Spencer Scott Travel  Tel. 01825 714311   The holiday runs from 4th to 11th July 2014  With all that amazing Alpine scenery it's a truly exciting prospect.