i tried tackling the large wash in the upper left above the far bank that represents dark fir trees yesterday. i realized, having slept on the debacle, that the wash was really poorly done. it was too light, uninteresting texture-wise, and had wildly inaccurate outlines. in my defense i was somewhat distracted while doing it as there was pandemonium going on around me with the kids and grand kids. the truth is that i never should have even started under such conditions. the real question now was whether i could salvage it or not.the predominant change was in value. i don't like to go over large areas of previous washes with darker values if i can avoid it, but i really couldn't avoid it here. the colors were ultramarine blue, quinacridone gold, hooker's green, and burnt sienna. i tried to vaguely emulate the shape of the individual trees in the wash application using a 1" flat sable brush. as i often do with this brush i put one color on a corner and then another on the other corner and then applied to the paper allowing the pigment to mix in situ. i was more careful in getting a believable edge along the clearing that more accurately read "fir trees." i created a few trunks along the bottom by negative painting and then scratched in some branches, trunks, texture with my small palette knife. just to finish this off i sprayed the whole thing with medium to small droplets of water from a small spray bottle.
all in all i am satisfied, if not thrilled, with the overall work. it is dark enough now and reads "trees" better than before. the texture is also more interesting. i am getting some visitors now so i will show that i learned my lesson two days ago and i shall knock off work for now to return on the morrow.
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