I made this one right after "island paradise" since I had some leftover paint on my palette, particularly the phthalo green and blue. I've also been trying to practice my mountain making so this was a good opportunity to do so. It took me around 15 minutes to make this one, as I went fairly quickly. Overall, storing my tube of titanium white cap side down has resulted in there being less oil right at the top, and a firmer paint on my palette. I also tried a different way of loading the knife and applying paint to the canvas and I think it is helping. I was able to achieve a bit more 'breaking' of the snow with this one. I genuinely really enjoy painting the northern lights on black canvases so I will find any excuse to do so! This was a smaller canvas, maybe 10x14 or something like that? I am not certain.
Comments
I like the snow
Thanks for the kind words! I actually used one of my wife's old makeup foundation brushes to create the soft misty effect at the bottom. I used it in place of that soft Ross blender brush since I don't have one. It actually worked very well for what I was trying to achieve. It was soft enough to not destroy and just create this hazy effect.
Lightsnow, your snow breaks! You are getting there! Congrats!
My husband asked me to do northern lights too but with the forest as this was where we saw it. I am looking forward to get black canvas for that painting!
@Sunnylady - I've been trying to practice the snow breaking as much as I can. I think I'm starting to get it. I loaded the knife slightly different this time and it was a bit better. Also, just in case you were wondering, I've never actually purchased a black canvas. When I want to do one of those, I just cover a regular white canvas with 2 coats of black acrylic. I get a bottle of black acrylic paint at the dollar store for 1$. I use a small roller and a foam brush to apply, let it dry, then apply another layer to make the black really consistent - like painting a wall. I then apply a thin coat of refined linseed oil to the canvas, really spread as little of it around as possible and cover the entire canvas, and then I'll cover it with a thin coat of transparent colors like phthalo blue and green, some crimson, etc. I just received some liquid clear so I'll be giving that a try, but so far, regular old linseed oil has worked very well!
@lightsnow - I was wondering if oil paint would stick to the acrylic and never tried it because I was not sure. Thank you very much for your advice! I normally use linseed oil too instead of liquid clear, so I will be looking forward to hear how is liquid clear behaving. I assume there should be some solvent there added as in oil painting we supposed to use thinner (less oilier) paint in the first layers and then build with adding the oils, so it does not crack during drying which takes one year time to fully dry.
Another true beauty. And how well it worked out to only put mountains and Northern light in the picture, it puts a well deserved focus on those two! SUPER!
Sign in to leave a comment.
Not a member yet?
Join over 5900 other painters and share your
paintings with the world!
This is lovely! The lighting on the mountain peaks is very effective. I also store my titanium white standing up so the oil drifts down away from the opening. It seems to help. Nice work!