Last autumn we walked by a large bush of blackthorn, the branches almost falling down over the slope of the hill where our path was dug out. For several meters there were branches, berries and leaves and I could not really decide which view was the best, so I made a lot of reference pictures.
These past months I think about composition before I even start to make the sketch I will use for my reference to paint from and I compared the pictures I made to pick the branch that attracted me most. This one was hanging down in a nice curve and I could use the background to suggest the other branches and leaves that were in the vicinity of my chosen branch.
The grey background was inspired by the rocky slope of the hill where this scene can be found (near Reifferscheid, in Germany).
I have studied a step-by-step guide for a botanical painting of a blackthorn and looked at the colours used for reference. This was not very elaborate for a step-by-step guide, but I only needed to know a few things.
The blue of the berries was my biggest concern, but now I knew to start with Cobalt Blue, a colour I do not often choose. The berries were given their colour, shadows were suggested and I left it to dry to get an overall look of the painting.
I decided that a second layer of colour would be too much, I also wanted to paint the atmosphere of an autumnal walk.
The details about paper, paint, size and availability of this painting can be found at my website www.jannekesatelier.webs.com
No comments:
Post a Comment