Stage 1:
Having drawn up the subject (thinned dark oil painted), this time allowed to dry overnight the basic areas of colour were placed. Although not really a complicated subject this time the main shapes and position needed to be correct. This painting was started with the sky, this time painted before the tree branches although the branch lines (from the drawing) can just be seen under the sky colour. The dark areas were then placed (trees, walls etc), then I moved onto the mid toned colours of the hill side outcrop of rocks. The snow this time was painted in one go working from the distance towards the foreground...
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013.
Stage 2:
Adding the details... I started with the background trees (left) and moved across to the right hand side. More detail was added to the stone walls, very typical of this area, it was covered in places with thick moss, while in other areas bare stones were showing, while not forgetting the odd patch of snow and finally some dried winter grasses were placed.
The final elements to be painted were the main group of trees... dark and or mid tones colours for the main and smaller branches done first, followed by adding the lighter or highlighted colours - all done wet into wet.