Sky, mountains, foreground, in that order
The sketch is down — penciled light, not fussed over. That's the map. Today the aim is a complete painting, worked start to finish in one fixed order: sky, then mountains, then whatever sits down front.
The order isn't an artistic preference. It's physics plus dry air, and it follows three rules:
- Sky first. It goes down while the paper is still wet and open, so the wash stays soft.
- Mountains second. They go on after the sky is fully dry, so their edge reads crisp against it — that crispness is what pushes them back into the distance, the effect we covered a couple of lessons ago.
- Foreground last. It carries the most detail and the most contrast, and you want it to be where the eye lands, not competing with a sky that's still doing something loud.
Work out of order and every element fights for attention. I've tried it. On paper it looks like a shouting match.
Get set up first
Two setup steps before any paint:
- Tape the paper down. All four edges, painter's tape, pressed flat. I repeat this every time on purpose. My first wash was on untaped printer paper and it warped into a potato-chip shape while I watched. Taping doesn't stop buckling completely — the next one still cupped a little — but it helps a lot, so do it.
- Use the cheap paper. Not the good stuff. Today involves some calls you might regret, and cheap paper doesn't care.
Sky
- Wet the sky area with clean water first, strokes running the direction you want the wash to move — usually side to side, following the horizon.
- Drop in color while the paper is still glistening wet. One color, maybe two, blue up top fading to almost nothing near the mountain line.
- Work fast. Our air dries a wash quicker than any tutorial filmed somewhere humid will admit, so mix your paint first, then move — don't mix while the paper dries out under you.
- Let it dry completely before touching the mountains. Completely. Check with the back of your hand: if it feels cool, it's still wet.
Mountains
- Far mountains: cooler, lighter, a little blue-gray, painted wet-into-wet so the edge stays soft and sits back in the haze.
- Closer mountains or foothills: darker, warmer, more detail, painted with a drier brush so the edge is crisp against the sky behind it.
One note on color: don't panic if a foothill comes out grayish brown. That's close to what our foothills actually look like through most of August — dried out and dusty. A little mud in a landscape is realistic, not a mistake. I mix that color on purpose now.
Foreground
Last, closest, and the most fun. This is where the loose sketch pays off: you already placed the tree line, the fence, the field, so follow your own plan. Use darker values, more contrast, and tighter brushwork if you want it — though "tighter" for me is still fairly loose. For genuinely crisp detail work I'm not your best guide; I'll point you to a better resource rather than fake it.
Let each layer dry before the next. The pull to keep going while you're in it is strong. Resist for thirty seconds — that's usually all our air needs.
A caution, since we're using more water today
Two things to watch with the extra water:
- Change your water often. Dirty water muddies the sky in a way you don't want, and it's an easy step to skip when you're moving fast.
- If you use a hairdryer to speed a layer, keep it moving and off the tape edges. Tape lifts and goes weird when it gets too hot for too long.
Before next time
Bring today's painting, warped tape and all, and don't fix anything about it before class. I want to see what dry air and gravity did to it on their own.