A Brush With Art.pdf

Painting Hay TorIdrew in Hay Tor with my 2B pencil on Whatman200 lb Not surface paper. Before I started to paint,1 had to decide whether to paint the rocks darkeror lighter than the sky. Rocks~ become lighterwhen lit by the sun but, when the sun goes in,they look darker than the sky. That day wasovercast, so the decision was made for me - topaint the rocks dark!A subject like Hay Tor is very good forpractising washes, as you have to paint yourwashes to definite shapes. I started by painting awash for the sky, mixing French Ultramarine,Crimson Alizarin and a little Yellow Ochre. Ipainted up to the rocks and ground at the top ofthe hill. Then I mixed a wash of Yellow Ochre andCrimson Alizarin and painted over the hill andfootpaths. Remember, when you mix a wash, tomake sure you mix enough to cover the area youwish to paint.Next 1painted in the rocks, leaving little bits ofwhite paper showing through for the light areas ofthe rocks and using a mix of French Ultramarine,Crimson Alizarin and Yellow Ochre. I didn t worryif my paint ran into the wet paint of the ground -in fact, this can help a painting. But be careful notto let it run into the sky if that is still wet.1 then mixed a stronger wash of 'ground'colour and painted over the hill again, makingsure that my first wash was dry. I painted from theIJ^1top downwards, adding green to my wash as Iworked down the paper. I didn't paint the paths,except for the second from the left. When therocks were dry, I painted over them with a darkerwash, leaving some areas unpainted to representcracks and crevices. Then, when this was dry, Ipainted in the dark areas on the rocks with myNo. 6 brush to give them more form anddimension. Finally, I painted a wash of strongercolour over the hill (not over the paths) andpainted in the figures.Painting TipAlways have your colours in the sameposition in your box and keep your box inthe same position when you work. There'senough to concentrate on without worryingabout where you last left the Yellow Ochre!Right: Dark areas ofthe rock formationwere painted in with aNo. 6 brush (brushstroke K, page 29)24