Happy Little Website

Step 1: Sky 

Load the 1” brush with Bright Red and create a pink glow in the sky with criss-cross strokes just above the horizon. Use long horizontal strokes to reflect this color into the snow, below the horizon. Without cleaning the brush, add very small amount of Yellow above the pink glow and again reflect this color below the horizon. With a clean, dry brush, complete the sky with Blue across the top of the canvas.

Then, use long horizontal strokes to blend the entire canvas.

With the fan brush and circular strokes, paint the clouds with Titanium White. Blend out just the base of the clouds with a clean, dry 1” brush, then use sweeping upward strokes to lightly blend and ‘fluff’ the clouds

Step 2: Background Trees 

Use the knife to make a Brown mixture with equal parts of Alizarin Crimson and Sap Green. Load the 1” brush with the Brown mixture and tap in the background tree shapes along the horizon. Add tiny tree trunks with the liner brush or just scratch in the indication of trunks with the point of the knife.

Use the fan brush with various mixtures of White, Blue and Crimson to add the shadowed areas to the base of the trees. Contour the snow with the fan brush and long, horizontal strokes.

 Step 3:

Highlight the snow-covered background trees with the 1” brush and mixtures of Liquid White, Titanium White, Blue and Alizarin Crimson. Be careful not to cover all of the dark base color.

Cabin Working forward in the painting and paying close attention to angles, use the Van Dyke Brown on the brush to shape the cabin

 Step 4:

 Add the snow-covered roof with Titanium White and the knife.

 Step 5: Paint the tiny windows with a small amount of Yellow on the short edge of the knife. Scratch in the window panes with the point of the knife

 Step 6: Foreground Evergreen 

The large, foreground evergreen tree is made with the fan brush and Mountain Mixture. Load the fan brush to a chiseled edge, then hold the brush vertically and just touch the canvas to create the center line of the large tree then use one corner of the brush to form the top branches. Working back and forth apply more pressure as you move down the tree, allowing the branches to become larger as you near the base.

Use the Mountain Mixture on the 1" brush to underpaint the grassy area at the base of the tree.

Use a mixture of Blue and Titanium White on the knife to add the large tree trunk.

Highlight the evergreen with the fan brush and the grassy area at the base of the tree with 1” brush using various mixtures of Titanium White and Phthalo Blue, again contouring the snow and creating the ‘lay-of-the-land’.

Final Touches