Hill Farm Above Leek

Hill Farm Above Leek
Comments

Beautifully painted, love the clean glowing washes and superb atmosphere.

Lovely and atmospheric David.

Another lovely watercolour David, the farmhouse seems well grounded, probably needs to be in the open.

Superb, great colours and not overworked which is nice to see. Great effort David, you've captured the bleakness of the scene.

Great atmosphere David, love the sky.

Thank you all for your comments, glad you like it. <br /><br />The &quot;clean, glowing washes&quot; come from not overworking it, as Alan says. &quot;Going for the glow&quot; is what I attempt every time I start a painting. I try to achieve this by one stroke painting or alla prima, ie. one application of brush to paper - right tone, right colour, right shape first time. It&#39;s the second and third time you try to make it better that destroys freshness. Have a look at the work of my present-day guru, Andrew Pitt, who is a master of the one stroke approach.<br /><br />The sky is two applications of Cobalt Blue and Light Red, wet in wet, tilting the board, one well-loaded brush each time, and the hills are also done with one brushful of paint each - different mixes of French Ultramarine with Daniel Smith&#39;s Transparent Red Oxide (like Burnt Sienna). The latter colour, together with DS Transparent Yellow Oxide (like Raw Sienna) make up the hillside grasses.

Smashing watercolour technique David

Hang on Studio Wall
12/05/2015
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My favourite hunting ground for wildscapes, the Staffordshire Moorlands. An opportunity to let Daniel Smith's granulating watercolours create the textures for me!

About the Artist
David Whitehead

I have always loved the British landscape – walking in it, photographing it and now, since early retirement, painting it in watercolour. I prefer to paint in the field and have experienced all the difficulties the British weather can present to a painter, from the sun drying the paint on the…

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