I used (15x20cm) 2mm thick board, but thick paper or card will do.

Prime this with burnt sienna and white.

When it’s dry, make a simple map of your study.

1. Using the hog brush, block in the big shapes. With cobalt blue and a touch of burnt sienna added to white, make a light blue grey mix for the sky, and lighten this towards the horizon.

2. Use the same colour for the snow. There’s little value difference here as it reflects off its surface. Use a darker value of the cobalt, burnt sienna and white mix for the shadowed area beyond the trees.

3. Block in the trees with cobalt and sienna (no white) leaning to brown. The tree shadows are ultramarine and white.

4. Suggest a line of bushes on the horizon with cadmium yellow and ultramarine, lean toward yellow near the top part that’s in the sun, and bluer at the bottom in shadow. Soften the bottom edge to suggest distance.

5. Using your finger, lightly circle in white where the sun goes then wet your finger and soften the edges.

1. Darken the leaves with burnt umber, ultramarine and some of that green we used for the bushes. Turning the brush as you paint, vary the angle of your strokes to avoid repetitious marks. Leave some gaps or sky holes showing through.

2. Paint the trunks with burnt umber and ultramarine, but retain the lighter underpainting at the sides of the trees lit by the sun. Using burnt sienna further lighten the right side of the three trees on the left, and the left side of those situated to the right of the sun.

3. Anchor the trees by smoothing the bottom of the trunks into the snow with your finger.

1. Change your water and work in the lighter areas.

2. Reinstate the sun by rotating a large white area with your finger about an inch wide, gradually softening at the edges. While this is still wet, move away from the white centre and add a little cadmium yellow, again in a circular motion with the finger moving out to the edge. Move out a little more and repeat with a little cadmium red. Practise on a scrap of paper if you are unsure.

3. Rework the foliage with dark, mid and light green, getting lighter nearer the sun.

4. Re-established the tree shadows with ultramarine and white.

5. Keeping the values close, work on the snow with light hues of pink, peach or orange using yellow, red and white.

Pick up a palette knife for the following:

1. Add weeds for foreground interest using burnt sienna and ultramarine. Burnt sienna and white can be added to these marks to suggest variation in the light.

2. Add highlights to the snow with lighter value pinks etc. than before.

3. Add white at the tree line, and re-establish sky holes in the trees.

Finished painting

Liverpool Painting No.104: St James’ Gardens, acrylic on card, (15x20cm)

It's a good idea to grab a coffee and make notes before adding the final touches.

1. I thinned the shape of some trees as they looked too stubby, this meant altering the shadows too.

2. I scraped the foreground with wax candle to resist much of the paint, and using a wash of ultramarine and burnt sienna, lay in a cool blue to suggest a dip in the land.

3. I added a few more weeds and worked on the tree stumps by rubbing a candle over them. This resists much of the watery blue snow shadows, and the pink and white highlights.

Don’t overdo these final touches; remember, less is more!

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Find out more about Steve and his work by visiting www.stevestrode.com

This demonstration is taken from Leisure Painter January 2019

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