oil on card 30x20cm
The source for this little painting was a photo I took a while ago from the bus travelling south on the A822 from Crieff, just approaching Muthill ('Mew-thill', not 'Mutt Hill'). It's difficult to say where exactly along the road the photo was taken, as the view (front seat at the top of course) was way above that of the google imaging car. This is my best guess though.
There's no meaningful music for this painting, though I did happen to be listening to these Bach Preludes and Fugues a lot while working. (Great for helping with concentration while painting, and for any stress reduction you might be in need of just now)
As ever, my snap was merely the starting point for the whole composition/painting process. It was flipped left to right, the distances exaggerrated, and a whole mass of trees on the left were vapourised to expose the uninterrupted skyline. The heavy cloud on the left was shifted in slightly, and the right foreground bent up a bit to stop the whole thing sliding away off the corner.
On the technical side, I had a little experiment in colour zoning and underpainting.
(This bit may get a little dry – might be easier to go the 'Works in Progress 2019' page, flick through the sequence, and maybe have look at the 'info' panel there)
I wanted there to be three 'keys' of colour – landscape, blue sky, and white sky. I needed the terrain, trees, etc to be dark and muted, so they were quite finely developed with black fluid acrylic washes – to kill off the white primer and get my drawing details fixed. The sky was to be generally as light and clear as possible, but with a blue area to the left and a white/grey area to the right. So, after placng the cloud forms in faint grey oil (Paynes Grey/Zinc White), the left area had a thin, transparent, Ultramarine/Prussian Blue/Zinc White glaze. Meanwhile the forms on the right were built with the grey glaze over the white primer. These three colour 'keys' – black, blue, and white - showed through and affected subsequent semi-opaque and transparent layers of development.
I'm very pleased with this little painting. The clarity of the blue works very well against the dull landscape colours, especially when it's looked-at in clear blue-sky daylight, and I think the sectored underpainting and base colour strategy has been very successful. I'm also quite chuffed with the efficiency of the landscape; the marks are actually fairly rough close-up, but work very well at this scale. Madam likes the tiny grey cloud in the central blue area, and I really like the changing quality of the light and colour along the horizon – in particular the blue haze behind the main tree as it fades into the grey on the right.
There was a small accident the day after I'd finished it though, and it brought me to a blind and cursing rage when it happened, but which I now think I may get away with. I had bought some big 8'x4' sheets of hardboard which had to be cut down a little for stacking. I'm crammed for workspace, so I'd moved this little gem out of the way to a much higher position on the easel. So having done my first cutting, I picked up the big sheet, raised it to carry it back into the hall, and it flopped (oh foolish thoughtless me) and a corner of it just touched – stroked - the surface of the painting. It's left a very shallow trace, almost imperceptable but for the track being matt and the surrounding surface more glossy. It's very difficult to tell just now whether there is any real damage to the tone and colour. I have decided to let the picture cure thoroughly, and then judge in a few months whether a retouch is needed. The paint surface still has more settling down to do, and then, hopefully, an overall satin varnish might lessen the visibilty of the surface damage and unify it enough to be virtually invisible.
I know not to push my luck though - the hardboard skimmed the two more substantially painted clouds, and lifted away from the surface just as it passed over the patch of clear blue sky between them. The lightest touch there would surely have scored through to the white, and entirely ruined the painting
We'll see, but I think I may just take that fluke of serendipity, and accept it as a win...
Post Script October 2021 – I examined the surface closely again pre-varnish, and decided it didn't need any attention. It's varnished now, and looks great
