1 The first stage is to draw the subject using a 2B pencil. I decided to add a character walking his dog on the right-hand side of the painting to add more life and movement to the subject.

System 3 acrylics are made from high quality pigments, with good pigment loading that allows for them to be thinned to create pale washes. Using diluted yellow ochre, I applied a wash over the entire surface. This helped to tone the surface and, at the same time, form an insoluble film that fixed the pencil drawing to prevent the graphite being picked up during subsequent layers of paint.

Once dry, the next stage is to add the sky, using a mix of process cyan and white with a ¾in. flat brush. Ignoring the surrounding trees, the sky was painted down to the rooftops of the buildings. I picked up white on the brush and blended that into the wet sky to suggest clouds. 

The buildings were painted next using the ¾in. with the ¼in. for the finer detail. The nearest buildings were made of grey stone so I introduced System 3 warm grey to the palette. This helped to form a base colour for the subjects.

The nearest buildings were painted using a mix of warm grey, yellow ochre and black. Very little water was needed to apply the paint and mixing was easier due to its flow. 

The distant cottages used the same mix but had a little more yellow ochre added.

The roadway was painted using a mix of warm grey, white and a touch of yellow ochre.

I kept the same mix for the figure, adding a little chromium green for his jacket and boots. His trousers and hat were added with burnt sienna.

Finally, the collie dog was painted with Mars black. 

Acrylic paint dries quite quickly so, after a short while, the trees could be added. Starting with the most distant, the trees were painted with the ¼in. flat brush using a mix of deep violet and warm grey.

The tree surrounding the second house in the street was painted with an arch-shaped palette knife. This has a blunt nose and can be used to create a variety of marks. A mix of chromium green and cadmium yellow hue is picked up on the knife.

I then dipped the tip into a jar of marble dust and painted the tree, beginning with the outside edge. The marble dust helped me to create satisfying foliage effects until the dust on the knife was used up.

I then added Mars black into the mix and cut around the cottage roof and chimneys.

Next the trees were added onto the right-hand side of the painting. A large mix of dark green using chromium green and Mars black was applied to depict the upper foliage. Loading the tip of the knife, it was dragged down diagonally and allowed to run out of paint. The resultant scumble, combined with the texture of the surface, gave a feathered edge to the tree.

Working into the interior of the tree, an even darker green was created by mixing cadmium yellow hue with Mars black, ensuring gaps were left in the paint to represent sky holes.

The large tree on the left was painted using the same mixture but a slightly different knife technique. The paint was loaded along the edge of the knife and dragged downwards to represent the foliage shapes.

Once complete, I returned with the ¼in. brush to add small branch details. The flow of System 3 allowed the painting of fine lines with the addition of very little water.

The remaining verges and bushes were completed using both brushes. These areas can be a little fiddly for a knife and are easier to complete this way. 

After adding the trees and foliage, I was ready to begin the fun part –adding the shadows! The long shadows across the road were created using a mix of warm grey, violet and black. Using a ¾in. brush, I swept the paint from right to left, allowing the brush to run out of paint to create broken gaps in the shadow. This was also helped by the texture of the canvas. I left little encapsulated light areas in the shadow to represent the dappled light from the trees.

Where the shadow crosses the verge, I mixed a darker green with black and cadmium yellow.

I felt the buildings were too light so mixed violet with warm grey and diluted it with water then washed over the nearer buildings. The shadow sides of the far buildings were also darkened.

I finished by adding a cast shadow to the figure and the collie. 

The finished painting Alstonefield, System 3 acrylics on Loxley canvas-covered board, 12x16in. (30.5x40.5cm)