Painting green can be fascinating or frustrating, or sometimes both at once.
This post is a step by step guide to how I painted this double page, starting with greens and the blues of the sky.
I sketched the pages on location in Italy on a hot sunny day but time constraints meant that I had to add the colour at home.
This is the sketching spot, and my first sketch, I only had to turn to then sketch the other two vignettes.
I nearly always start with the sky, that’s about the only academic rule that I follow.
Then when I came to the greens I wanted to try and convey the contrast and the profusion so I decided to use a big brush, a Princeton Aqua Elite size 10. Above left.
In doing so I had no choice but to paint in a loose and free style, letting the paint work its magic. My greens are mostly mixed from blues and yellows.
The photo above right shows my first washes on the buildings, dropping colours onto wet paper. As you can see it’s very washed out and doesn’t look finished.
Above left everything is starting to look better, with a second wash and more detail.
Above right the finished pages, everything comes together when I add the shadows. Feel the heat of the sun!
Two important things to note about shadows, they are not grey and they vary in darkness.
I mix my shadows with browns and blues, yellows and purples, sometimes adding orange and red, there are so many possibilities. I never use black or grey.
The part of the object that is in the shade is lighter than a shadow that is cast onto the object. just look at the triangle cast shadow on the side of the church tower, it it darker than the walls in shadow.
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Susan Knapp Sketches 