I have always loved the work of the Victorian Artists. I know they are derided these days as old fashioned and too 'chocolate box'. Well everybody loves chocolate so why not 'chocolate box' paintings? Whatever critics may say about them, they certainly knew their craft. I wanted to try and recreate the 'look' of an old painting in composition, colour and very importantly - title. It is an unashamedly nostalgic scene and I had great fun with it. The main ingredients are big sky, sunset, cluster of buildings, trees and a flowing stream - what's not to like! I used an old fashioned technique too. The arty name is 'glazing', but it just means putting on layers of paint over each other. It does help to get density and variation of colour into the scene. If you want to give it a go, here's a few useful tips (I hope!). Most importantly - ensure the painting is completely dry before you put on the next glaze. It's also a good idea to try and stick to transparent colours. I started with yellow, then blue, and finally several layers of red. Altogether I did about five glazes before I got the effect I wanted, so another tip is to ensure you use a decent quality paper. The sky was painted with my usual one wash and clouds added wet on wet. All this talk about chocolate has made me hungry, so off for a strawberry cream. See you later.
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