Watercolour Landscapes: Tideswell, Betws-Y-Coed

After the first attempts at (probaly not the most appropriate scenes) from Kippford, I have tried something different to progress learning more about watercolours.

I started with these trees. I’m quite pleased with this, though it is really a quick sketch – trying to get the blend between the wash and the detail has not quite come together and I think overall the scene does not have a clear focus, but it has been good in getting the feel of the paints.

This next one, however, I am very pleased with. I tried to pick an image that fills hat I look for in a photograph (and this was based on one of the better photos I took) with the wide angle view and the forground limestone roacks leadng to the escarpments further back.

After masking the very edges of the rock and the trunk of the silver birch, I started with the sky wash, in Ultramarine. I blotted out the clounds an then added a little shadow with Potters Pink. I then washed in the the distant trees with Burnt Sienna and Hookers Green Dark and the foreground initially with Sap Green.

Then I put in the tree trunks. From there I built up the textures of the trees and grass with washes and dry brushing with various green blends, using Oxide of Chromium to settle and granulate in the darker areas.

I worked on the rocks with very diltue lamp black and a hint of yellow ochre, drawing in the cracks in black and using more oxide of chromium for the moss and gras around the rocks.

The next image I tried was Ffos Anoddun (Fairy Glen) near Betws-y-Coed, a place I visited a few years ago.

I wanted to play with the contre-jour effect of the light through the trees (this being the charm of the place). I masked the far stretch of water and some streaks in the forground (though as I’ll discuss this didn’t quite work) before putting a number of loose washes progressing through from Lemon Yellow, Sap Green, Hookers Green, and Veridian.

I then worked on the cliffs with various blends of Burnt Sienna and Cadmium Red Hue, before bringing in the tree trunks and branches using Burnt Sienna with a rigger brush. I used dabs and splashes of the various greens, often mixed with Oxide of Chromium (for the sedementation and opacity) to form the leaves and dry brushed oxide of Chromium and a bit of Veridian glaze for the moss and vines.

The water in the photgraph was a very deep blue-grey-brown, which I tried to work on with Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna over the masked highlights. These came out very bright and I tried to work these in a litttle with white gouache, but wasn’t realy happy. So I later re-did these with a darker Prussian blue, Paynes Grey and Sepia, though with the gouach there already it has gone a little muddy. But it’s better than it was.

I really enjoyed making these and feel that a bit of a step up in the huge learning curve has been acheived.