The hardest thing about learning to paint wet-on-wet is understanding how and when to use thick or thin paint. In today’s Video Clip, Bill teaches a valuable lesson on how to create distant trees. Such a simple technique with wonderful results!

Key Points To Consider:

• A thin coat of Magic White® is applied to the canvas.
• Bill uses a 2 1/2″ Blending Brush to apply the paint to the canvas for the distant trees.
• He uses a darker mixture of paint, just so it shows up well on the canvas. Normally Bill would use a grayed-down version to show distance.
• Bill says “Distance eats up paint and details.” What he means is the eye can’t see color in the distance. Everything gets greyed down, the further it is from the viewer. Details get lost as well. Another thing to note is the farther away something is, the straighter it appears, both horizontally and vertically. Trees, though they might not be perfectly straight, will appear so at a distance.
• The tops of the trees appear darker because that is where Bill applies the most pressure. He bends the bristles and then slightly pulls down, applying less pressure as he goes until he lifts off the canvas completely. This creates a lighter appearance at the bottom of the trees.
• Bill changes the angle of his brush so he doesn’t repeat the same strokes always. Regardless of the angle of the brush, he always pulls straight down to create the allusion of a row of trees standing in the distance.
• He uses a clean, dry 1″ Brush to tap out the base of the trees to create mist. Notice the bristles barely bend. He pushes the paint, already applied to the canvas, into the Magic White® to create a soft, misty look.

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Happy Painting!

Laurie and Dawn

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