SNOW SCENE

The purpose of this lesson was to experiment with a different paper - 300 lb arches cold press-- and to discover different ways to preserve whites.

We started with masking tape, and tore strips of it down the long sides to create tree trunks. We used smaller ones for branches. We also experimented with ironing on strips of white freezer paper (waxed on one side.)  Most of us discovered that the roughness of the 300 lb paper doesn't allow the freezer paper to stick as well.  (in the picture above I've done the same thing--you can see the blue tape--but I've started a fall scene. Just ignore the paint and see how we taped off trees and grass)

Then we used Contact Paper to cut out the shape of a little cabin in the background. Then we spattered some snow with miskit. All this before we even picked up a brush to paint!

Leaving on all the tape and miskit, we used a combination of ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and a bit of red to wash in  a dark sky. The darker the sky the more the snow shows up. While the paint was wet, sprinkle a little salt into the whole area. After all that was dry, and salt was scraped off, we created a little bit of background bushes behind the trees and cabin using the same mixture, only adding a bit of green to it. We kept it very soft to imply distance.

After drying, we removed all the tape, contact paper, and miskit. Then we began to work on the trees.

This picture above shows about how far we got in the class.

To create tree bark, trying for an aspen type of tree with white bark, we used ultramarine blue and burnt sienna again. We applied about an inch or two of paint on one side of the tree (in my case, the left side) and scraped it with a cut up credit card to create the bark.

In the next class we just have a bit to finish up. We'll finish the trees. The barn/cabin will be painted with a little red toned down with the blue/burnt sienna combination. The siding will be created by scraping the credit card into the wet red paint. We will shade small mounds of snow and make the trees look like they are attached to the ground. And for the last step, we will spatter white guoache for a little more snow effect.