Winter in different colours

Fields in December #3
Mixed media on paper, 45x60cm

Ok... here the second lot of winter drawings... well, not really drawings anymore but more mixed media on paper - and the paper did take a bit of a battering, as the not very good photo of Fields in December #4 shows. It warped in despair over my reworking of the middle ground: layers of acrylics got hidden by layers of gouache only to get more acrylics on top... Not sure if that is how it's supposed to be, but I did like the washed back effect of the gouache.

Fields in December #4
Mixed media on paper, 45x60cm

So, here the palette is much warmer - thanks to the red iron oxide. But the generous applications of white, and in particular the dark greys that cobalt blue and raw siena make knocked it back a bit, or rather turned the heating off. That cobalt blue/ raw siena has quickly turned to one of my new favourite colours. Well, probably not all that new really, if I have a closer look at my range of pastels - it's been there all along, but with this bit more systematic colour learning, I now get a sense of how to get there through mixing.

What am I talking here... there is no cobalt blue in my acrylics, so it's thalo and cerulean, with some sepia and raw siena. Hahaha... now I remember again the hesitation of applying a new layer of these different ones on top of the first one. But, hey, seems to be working alright. Also, the lemon yellow has been coming into its own: with titanium white gouache it lifts the middle ground of #3, defines tree outlines in #4 and did a lot more magic on the oil paintings... which will be next one for posting.

These past few weeks of mixing, experimenting and observing what happens when have been great. And it's been one of those times again where I'd wish I had more time :).

Oh, and finally: my absolute favourite in these is the line in #3.

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