Walk in the Woods by Ruth Dolan

hi live this it has a real dream like quality to it i love the shape of your trees also from paula

Hallo again, Ruth. Did you scrape out those lights with a knife, I wonder? Or reserve them with masking? I like the way you've woven the darker lines through them. AND I like the lack of very sharp lines, which you tend to get with masking fluid. There's an almost collage-like effect to this - one shape superimposed on another.

This has a very mysterious atmosphere, Ruth. I love the very subtle and delicate colour scheme.

Thank you Paula, Mia and Robert, for your comments. Robert...No, I didn't use masking, or scraping out techniques. I laid in my background in a loose manner, lifted out and then left pale, or painted in again after lifting. It is basically a wet in wet work, left to dry, then elements lifted out with a moistened brush, and blotted with a soft tissue. It is the water and the pigment which do the work. The ground too, is the very reasonably priced SAA Saunders Waterford paper....a so called 'Practice Paper', which I found to my surprise had a lovely tooth and suited my purpose well. I made the mistake though of not photographing it until after it was framed, but it hasn't lost much of the effect, just a slight reflection in the left of the image.

Very 'dreamy' Ruth, lovely atmosphere.

The master/mistress of the ethereal . You always get this lovely atmospheric feeling in your paintings Ruth, I also like your limited palette. I was up in Croesor on Saturday ( do you know it? , foot of Cnicht ,above Plas tan y Bwlch..ish) . Anyhow it looked just like this .Glad to see you have got out of your painters block.

Very beautiful Ruth. You've used some of watercolour's secrets to produce a lovely transparent painting full of mystery.

Lovely painting with lots of atmosphere

Lovely colours Ruth and such a good composition. Also, it's photographed very well considering that it's behind glass. Often, when I try this, I end up with a reflection of my head !! I never look that good either :}

Nice to see you back in the gallery Ruth and with such a lovely painting. Your wet in wet washes have resulted in an ethereal watercolour with an aura of mystery. Beautiful work.

Lovely painting Ruth. Very atmospheric.

Thank you Carol, your comment is much appreciated.

Beautiful palette and lovely feel to this painting, I like your style Ruth :)

As soon as I saw this I felt it was a magical moonlit or dawn scene. The ghost like trees add an air of mystery. You have achieved a super atmosphere in it. Well done, Ruth. (Sorry I am a bit late in commenting but I have been up to my eyes preparing a school appeal - Julia may have told you).

I would call it mystical - not surprised it has had so many comments.

This is lovely, Ruth. It has such great atmosphere and a great composition. It deserves to be in an illustrated fairy tale!

This could be an illustration for a childrens story book, Ruth. Mysterious and magical.