Mountain Reflections

very detailed reflections indeed! Your mountains are very majestic, super! And I'm jealous about your evergreens! :)

The reflections are great and I'd also like to mention the realism and atmospheric distance you achieved in the mountains. They read very well. Nice work!

Thank you Dracula, the reflections dried much duller than when they were wet. Bob's are really bright.

Thank you VoyKay, you ought to see Dracula's evergreens, they are superb.

I find that my paintings also dry down and become duller (darker too on black canvas). I think this is fairly common and is often reversed if you varnish the painting. I haven't tried varnishing a Bob Ross-type painting yet, though it's probably be worth a try.

That sounds like it will work Dracula. Years ago an artist friend of mine painted the royal train in oils. The subject is very dark brown, and his painting looked quite drab, but when he gloss varnished it, it became much more vibrant. I couldn't believe the difference. I fancy trying the spray can method as soon as my paintings are old enough.

Nice painting, i love it.

Thank you Patoex, I really enjoyed painting it. It was my second painting and at the time I was thrilled to bits with it. I feel I could do a better job now, which strangely I find really annoying although I shouldn't as it's nice to think it means I am progressing. Does anyone else feel like that when you look at your early paintings? And what do you with them? Mine are stuck in the back of a cupboard. I only display my current favourite.

Hi, i know what you mean, but your painting looks amazing, the bushes and trees are very beautiful so is the mountain to, very nice textured you created, well done keep going!

And you achieved a really good reflection in the water.

Thank you Patoex, for your kind comments.

I LOVE this painting. The variety of color is stunning. This is something I would like to work at. I also love the detail in your bushes and trees. What brushes did you primarily use for this one?

Thank you Rockwithspock I like this one too. For the evergreens I used the fan brush, I used lots of gentle tapping motions with the corner of the brush to avoid it taking on the half moon shape of the fan brush, I didn't want that. And for the bushes I used the 1" brush. To get the bushes to look detailed you have use very little pressure on your top layer, that way it looks like a bunch of small leaves spread out instead of one thick block of colour (sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't). Turning the brush in different directions helps to create different shapes and if you get more than one colour on your brush that's a good thing, you can see it's happened several times here. Never be afraid to use a dirty brush when painting trees, bushes, paths etc. as it adds interest and helps to bring your colours together to create a natural looking painting. On the trees I tried to show light through the branches instead of making it all solid colour. You have to work slowly, don't try to keep up with Bob, and apply gentle pressure. See my painting Sunny Morning, those yellow trees on the right in the distance, I used the round brush and I didn't even feel the brush touch the canvas. Happy painting!

Awesome! Thanks for all the help! I can't wait to try some of this stuff out. Your instructions are really detailed and I appreciate all of your help! I love that you said don't try to keep up with Bob: never can haha! Thank goodness for youtube and the ability to go back.