By way of preparation, I applied gesso in specific locations for the picture although the application itself is quite random.

Gesso acts as an undercoat, creating textures in my watercolour paintings.

Here the gesso was applied in the sky area with a broad palette knife, used flat to create a broken application resembling cloud formations.

The lower half was similarly applied I then created the branch-like effect by pressing waste mount board into the wet gesso. When removed by lifting vertically, the suction of the mountboard pulls at the wet gesso and creates the wonderful ridges that resemble plant veins.

Once the gesso was dry, I applied the background washes.

Using a 1.5 inch flat wash brush, I applied a full wash of yellow ochre to the paper and, while the ochre was still wet, added a wash of indigo from the top down, and similarly a wash of quinacridone gold from the bottom up.

As the underlying gesso resists the paint the different textures I was looking for start to appear.

Once the initial washes were dry, I literally lifted the moon off the gesso using a simple process of painting clear water on to the surface and mopping it off with kitchen towel.

A light touch of indigo was then applied to suggest the moon’s surface.

To suggest the glow of the moon through the clouds I knocked back the gesso surface with a decorators sanding block. This removes the paint from the gessoed surface, revealing the white underneath.

Creating depth by layering the various distant features is important to my style of painting.

I began layering by painting in the distant tree line and water using thin washes of indigo.

I never use guide lines or any form of drawing for my paintings, so I needed to concentrate on positioning the features, in particular ensuring the water line was completely horizontal.

The trees were painted with an old, worn-out No. 4 round brush. As the hairs are sticking out in all directions it provided the broken edges to the trees.

The water was painted in using indigo and a No. 12 round brush. To achieve the light tones, I followed up with clean water, washing out much of the colour, making sure the colours were similar to those in the sky.

The gesso provided a mottled effect in the trees rather than the flat wash I would have achieved had the paint had been applied straight on to the paper.

I started to create depth and to pull the picture forward by introducing the range of middle distance trees.

I began by blocking in the dense foliage. Again, I used the worn No. 4 brush and almost pure indigo.

The brush was used flat to the surface, building up the shapes by barely touching the paper, taking care to leave small gaps and lighter patches allowing the light to shine through, suggesting the tree is being kissed by the glow of the moon.

The trunk and main branches were then painted in using the No. 12 brush and  a No. 4 rigger for the finer branches.

To achieve the shadow below the tree, and create a transition from indigo to Quinacridone gold, I washed over with clean water.

I strengthened the foreground tree, to make it stand out from the one behind, by lifting out paint from the rear tree thus creating a dark on light effect suggesting moon glow.

All of my focus at this stage was on the Scot’s pine. 

Using the same process as in stage four, I built up the foliage and subsequently central trunk and finer branches.

For this stage I used undiluted paint for the foliage, adding just a little water to gain a better flow for the smaller branches.

The roots, shadows and the transition from indigo to quinacridone gold were washed in, ensuring the tree was anchored to the ground.

Often, I create texture in the foreground by knocking the gesso back with the sanding block to emphasise the texture, however, in this case, I used a wet finger to move the paint around. The effect was more subtle but gave me tonal differentiation.

Finally, I reviewed the painting and fine-tuned elements where needed.

I felt the moon wasn’t strong enough so I over painted with Chinese white water colour paint. I could have used gouache but I often find it too opaque.

I emphasised the trunk of the main tree by lifting out paint from the tree behind. I found this emphasised the moon glow as well.

Finally, I touched in raw paint at the bottom of the distant trees to create the shadow