I painted this watercolour around 2007 and it was another exercise from Adelene Fletcher’s 2003 publication The Watercolour Landscape Painter’s Pocket Palette.

The exercise cleverly teaches you about the subtle use of tonal values to help create depth of field, and the striking effect that complimentary colours can have in a painting.

The simple instructions takes you through the use of masking fluid, explains how to lay a basic wash and how to drop in stronger colours to lay the foundations of the painting. You are then taught how to build up successive layers of pigment until the painting is complete.

This exercise used a palette of 7 colours

 

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It took me about one hour and a half to complete and again I was introduced to several new techniques that have gone a long way to build up confidence in my ability to create my own paintings. It was also my first foray into painting poppies and Adelene shares some great tips on how to repeat the effect she demonstrated in her finished painting.

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What I learned

It was this particular exercise  that introduced me to the wonders of Cerulean Blue, it is such a beautiful colour and I was so inspired that I wrote a tip about it here>>>. In particular I loved the way the grain in the pigment was amplified when the wash dried and gave such an interesting texture to the finished sky.