Winter Landscape Watercolour Paintings...

"Across the Snow Fields", near Hill End, North Yorkshire.
Watercolour. Alistair Butt © 2008.

To help speed up the painting of the foreground, I first painted all the dry grass/vegetation. Then using Winsor & Newton Colourless Masking Fluid I masked each and every bit of dry grass/vegetation. Then the North Yorkshire stone wall and shadows on the snow could be painted. It should be noted that some colour is or can be lifted when removing the masking fluid therefore it's not something I'd normally do. The alternative would be to mask the areas of dry grass/vegetation and then paint them in, after having painted the shadows and wall, a technique that works better when there's some colour behind for example: grass or masking leaves on trees
 

"Last of the Evening Sunlight", Yockenthwaite, North Yorkshire.
Watercolour. Alistair Butt © 2008.

A late afternoon patch of sun bathes one of the collection of farms at Yockenthwaite, Upper Whafedale, North Yorkshire. If there's one 'minor' drawback to the North Yorkshire Dales in mid winter, it's that the sun drops down behind the hills an hour or so before sunset. This place one valley side into shadow which then quickly climbs the other.