Secure the paper to your board with masking tape, then sketch the panda, tree and background on to the paper using an HB pencil

Use the 15mm (1/2in) short flat brush to apply dilute burnt sienna over the whole surface. Allow to dry.

Use the same brush to lay in a dilute wash of ultramarine blue on the sky and allow to dry.

Glaze ultramarine blue over the sky again, avoiding the main shapes of the tree, horizon and panda.

Lay in a dilute wash of Prussian blue over the mountain in the background. Again, allow to dry before continuing.

Add a little burnt sienna to Prussian blue and lay in a dilute wash over the hills in the mid-ground and foreground.

Add chromium oxide green to the Prussian blue and burnt sienna mix, making it less dilute than before. Once the hills are dry, texture the foreground hills by dragging near-dry paint in short, ragged diagonal strokes to generate the feeling of movement. Vary these strokes with curt vertical strokes to represent distant trees.

Add a touch more burnt sienna and detail the foliage in the lower left- and right-hand corners in a similar way. Vary your brushstrokes with stippling to create random sprays of greenery.

Dilute titanium white and lay a glaze over the whole painting to knock it back and help to merge the colours.

Once dry, lay in a second glaze of diluted titanium white over the lower half of the sky and the rearmost mountains.

Allow the paint to dry, then lay in further glazes of titanium white over the sky. Do not overglaze. You are aiming to create the impression of a spring sky – cool, but not cold.

Switch to the 15m long flat brush and dilute burnt umber to the consistency of single cream. Use this to sketch in the main trunk and branches of the tree, leaving the upper left-hand sides clean. Work loosely, leaving a few gaps here and there to suggest the texture of bark.

Dilute ultramarine blue and use it to develop the bark, washing over the upper left-hand sides and glazing some areas of the burnt umber.

Once the underpainting of the tree has dried, use the same brush and ultramarine blue paint to paint in the black areas of the panda’s fur. Switch to the size 6 round brush to paint in the facial features and the shadows on his cheek and brow.

Use yellow ochre to lay in a dilute wash on the white areas of the fur, still using the size 6 round brush.

Start to detail the tree using the size 6 round brush and Payne’s gray. Use the paint only slightly diluted so that the underlying colours show through a little. Texture the tree with directional strokes that echo and emphasise the shape of the tree, and apply the dark colour away from the parts of the tree in the light.

Switch to burnt sienna, slightly thicker in consistency than the Payne’s gray. Use this to make lots of small strokes to create texture in the mid-tones. When the strokes are nearly dry, smudge them in with a clean finger, following the shape of the tree.

Build up midtones over the rest of the tree in the same way.

Add burnt sienna to titanium white and build up initial highlights over the tops of the mid-tone areas. As with the mid-tone strokes made earlier, make many small strokes and blend them in with your finger before they are completely dry.

Add more titanium white to the mix and create final highlights on the tree in the same way, covering some, but not all, of the initial highlights.

Begin to create the fur texture on the foreleg on the left-hand side. Dilute Paynes gray to a single cream consistency and use the size 6 synthetic round brush to draw fine strokes along the arm. The fur runs from the shoulder to the paw, so follow the shape of the arm to guide the direction of each stroke.

Continue the base layer of fur over the rest of the black areas of the body and limbs in the same way, paying careful attention that the fur flows correctly.

Build up the fur on the left-hand foreleg with a second layer, repeating the method detailed in step 21, but using shorter, more densely packed brushstrokes. Work from the outside edges inwards, so each layer of short strokes overlays the previous layer (see inset). Leave some of the underlayer showing through in areas in direct sunlight as shown.

Build up the fur on the other black areas of the body in the same way, following the direction of the fur carefully.

Still using the size 6 synthetic round brush, glaze the black areas of the body with very dilute Payne’s gray to strengthen the tone. You may need more than one glaze to achieve the depth required. If so, ensure each layer is completely dry before adding the next.

Indicate the panda’s features with Payne’s gray diluted to the consistency of single cream.

Glaze the darker areas of fur on the face with dilute Payne’s gray, preserving a little of the blue underpainting.

Using fairly thick titanium white and the size 6 synthetic round brush, develop the white fur. Do not try to suggest individual hairs, but evoke glowing sunlight by using soft, short strokes on the areas where light hits the fur.

Pick up the colour reflected from the tree on the white fur highlights, using very dilute glazes of burnt sienna on the areas of the cheeks nearest the bark.

Once dry, reinforce the warmth on the face with glazes of burnt umber on the muzzle and areas of shadow (see inset), then use pure titanium white to add tiny impact highlights to the white fur.

Use the 15mm (1/2in) long flat brush to apply dilute ultramarine blue to the middle distance. Draw the paint down from the ridge into the valley to create texture, blending it downwards with a clean finger.

Add more paint to the mix to make it less dilute and add texture to the hills in front in the same way.

Add sap green to the mix until you have the consistency of single cream. Use short rapid upward strokes to suggest trees in the corners of the foreground, then glaze ultramarine blue mixed with a little Payne’s gray to enrich the shaded areas of the trees.

The finished picture.