Misty River

Not my original concept, inspired by Ryan O'Rourke's "Misty River Landscape" 12x12 oils on stretched canvas

Great representation of underwater stones! Nice fogginess on the left and control of values!
It has a feel, this location is somewhat at very northern latitudes where the trees are short and slim and summer lasts only 1 month.

Beautiful and love the underwater stones!

Love the trees. Did you use a fan brush to get that effect?

beautiful painting!

very very good really well done

Wow, really nice

Alex_Ander, No I did not use a fan brush for the trees. (very rarely do I use the fan brush for trees), I used a 1/4" flat brush and and a #1 liner

I didn't think you used a fan brush, Brady. Those trees are just too unique.

Not to be a pest, but did you just touch the flat brush square to the canvas and bend the bristles a bit to get that effect...sort of how Bob uses a one or two-inch brush to do his trees and shrubs? I'm curious, because I've never really been a 'fan' 🙂 of the fan brush. I'm currently using filbert brushes, but I'm always interested in learning new techniques for making trees. And your trees are great.

Thanks.

Alex_Ander I laid in the trunks at the same time, to get an idea of each of the trees individual height (wanted it varied of course). Then much like using the fan brush I only used the top corner of the brush. Loading the corner fairly heavily with color, I started at the tops and made sure my bristles were an angle that would match the direction of how the branches grow with an upturn toward the top of the tree. When I was applying the paint I was using very little pressure, letting the canvas take what it wanted, each time. I did reload my brush quite frequently. I did all the tops first and worked downward toward middle portion. The trick is to paint the trees in skinner and more sparse than what you intend for them to look when completed. To finish the tops and create all those holes I pulled the paint that I just laid down as the base and pulled it out and up. Again, trying to follow which way the branches and needles would like grow. Remember to make the inner portion of the tree darker the closer you get to the trunk. Basically I repeated that process for the middle and bottom portions of the trees as well. One thing to be aware of is changing the pitch of your branches from upturned at the top to downturned at the bottom. With each "level" of branches I changed the pitch of the branches slightly as I progressed down toward the bottom. Whew, that was a lot, but I hope this helps. Happy Painting & God Bless.

Thank you, Brady, for taking the time to explain all that. Yes. Your description was great. I'm going to try your technique on a painting I have going at the moment. It's an 11x14 canvas, and I have a 1/4-inch flat brush. So, I'm all set.

Thanks again and best wishes.

This painting is very detailed. Great job with the use of and the balance of light through the whole painting.

Very nice! Love the light and shadow play