I coated my canvas board using a thin wash of ultramarine, Indian red, yellow ochre and white, making sure that it was bone dry before starting to draw out a simple, rough outline of this local scene, using a turpsy wash of raw umber. With the same mix, I blocked in the main tonal areas, such as the woodland to establish a degree of depth.

By working on a mid-toned ground, it becomes so much easier to judge your tonal values and colours, a white ground just doesn’t enable you to see these as well, if at all!

Time to start introducing some colour starting with the distant trees and outcrop of woodland, which is known as the Blackhills on the O/S map. The obvious choice here was to use mixes of blues and greys; King’s blue is particularly useful as a base for greys. 

Dark variations of browns were quickly blocked in to indicate the bare winter trees and foliage in the foreground, scrubbing some of this colour to indicate shadows and different levels on the field. A loose wash of titanium white and yellow ochre was dropped in to establish the base for the snow.

My preferred choice of working is to build up my paintings using layers, much of what you see in this stage will be painted over at some point. Finally, an indication of brick colour was applied to the buildings, keeping this colour fairly subdued by adding a touch of King’s blue to Indian red. I’m looking for a degree of harmony throughout the painting, a stark red brick building is not what I’m after.

Now to block in that expanse of sky, using a mix of cerulean blue, toned down a touch with yellow ochre – adding titanium white nearer the horizon. I’m not looking to introduce drama or cloud structure into this composition, but trying to convey a quiet and still snow-laden landscape.

More work on the distant trees, blending these into the sky with a dry brush to give the illusion of distance and low visibility – hard edged should be avoided at all times. The same principle was applied to the Blackhills, strengthening them as they are nearer, and again feathering out the tops into the sky.

Further work on the snow was required, introducing cerulean blue of varying shades and strengths, mixing dabs of colour from my palette to achieve variety. The tones of the foreground trees were a touch severe, so I knocked these back with some lighter grey/brown mixes.

Very nearly there! Some darker blue/browns were added to the foreground trees and old fencing stumps. A slight increase of Indian red to parts of the buildings and a dash of pure white to the snow under the barn, helping to create a focal point for the eye to rest on.

It’s so easy for me to start adding detail at this final stage, but it’s not necessary and I do try and avoid it. I did, however, indicate a few dead branches on the trees with a rigger brush, as well as some distant fencing, it just gave it that lift!