Creative Lighting

Whatever your subject, whether landscape or otherwise, it’s common to have a strong light-source. After all; without light, we cannot see our subject. It’s said that the opposite ends of the day are best times to view the landscape, because the light tends to be warmer and the shadows stronger and longer. This I would certainly agree with. What many people tend avoid (particularly in watercolour) are deliberately dark subjects, where the light within is minimal. Dark doesn’t have to mean cold, however, or uninteresting. Far from it, a well-positioned glow from the dying rays of a sunset, or a slither of a highlight just catching the edge of a building or a rock-face in the semi-gloom can be dramatic, and in some cases quite breath-taking.

Have a go at painting a dark scene, a moon-lit landscape for instance (If you have the PWStudio cd-rom, take another look at the night-scene video for a practical demonstration). A useful salvage technique on a painting that has gone wrong is to do something radical with it (it doesn’t matter if it goes horribly wrong because presumeably you’re unhappy with it in the first place if you’re wanting to salvage it)- turn it into a night-scene by overpainting it with Paynes Grey or Neutral Tint (or a French Ultramarine / Burnt Umber mix if you’re working to my palette).