Every time you observe the same photograph you will see it differently.

My opening sketch was painted with a fine No. 1 brush and thinned-out white gouache. You can carefully measure the placing of the horizon and other laterals. I reduced the trees and the telegraph pole to just upright verticals, which usefully broke up the horizontal format, cutting into the sky.

I also included where the angles of clouds run and some of their shapes, and marked out areas of fence. You should arrive at a Mondrian-like matrix, including a few angles. Avoid placing anything in the dead centre of your picture and the angles of posts should lead the eye around the picture.

The next move is to mix permanent white with French ultramarine blue for the top of the sky and gradually add cerulean blue to the lower sky.

Lighten the lowest area of sky with more permanent white then a little viridian and lemon yellow to produce a pale turquoise on the horizon.

It’s very important to convey this bending of the sky from dark to light and think where the sun is in the picture. Because the sun is to the right, the sky gradually lightens to that side as well.

1. When painting clouds, remember the perspective in the sky. You see the underside of clouds at the top of the picture and gradually more of the sides as they compress towards the horizon. The clouds are layered in types: long strokes for high stratus and much curvier bubbles for the cumulus.

2. The colour mixes for clouds should include a little lemon yellow, remembering sunshine is not white! Darker tones of clouds can be made with permanent white, yellow ochre with a little crimson mixed with French ultramarine for the very darkest.

3. Again, always be mindful of the right to left sunshine and include reflected light blueness in the turning shapes. With gouache you can soften the edges with a wet brush if you need a softer look. I painted the sky inside the tree shapes where necessary to even out the sky tones overall.

4. Notice how the clouds range diagonally across the sky pointing in different directions to create movement. As I moved down the picture the cooler colours of the land on the horizon were varied mixes of permanent white, viridian and lemon yellow for sunny grass.

5. The middle ground cloud cast shadow (near the telegraph pole) is a cool mix of cerulean blue, burnt umber and permanent white. The distant trees need a cool mix of French ultramarine, permanent white and burnt umber.

1. The nearest foreground colours should give warmth and a well-lit feel with maximum contrast, making the most of the different tree shapes. The darkest moments were mixes of dark pine green with French ultramarine and a dash of crimson. Don’t be afraid to use your richest greens, brilliant yellow and cerulean blue with a little permanent white on the nearest lit trees.

2. The tall poplars need to be painted delicately with a feel for the tiny branches giving the overall shape, which you should always be conscious of. Dark leaves to the left and brilliant lemon yellow and permanent white mix for the flickering light sides.

3. When painting fine lines always breathe in and let go in one direction, keeping the brush as vertical as possible with a mix of burnt umber and French ultramarine. A steady hand is also required for the poplar wood, telegraph pole and posts.

The nearest foreground colours are yellow ochre heightened at times with Rowney tangerine and even vermilion, and all lightened with permanent white to give a salmon tint to the long strokes of the dried grasses.

Notice the brilliant yellow leaves in the foreground tree sprig and add the vermilion-coated figure walking near the telegraph pole to pull the eye across the picture.

Hopefully you will feel the true scale of the tiny marks that make the distant trees and get used to summing them up. Bold hatching strokes give lots of energy to the domes of nearer trees.

The finished painting.

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