We just couldn’t wait any longer to show you how Diane creates the highlights and shadows on her mountain scene. Today Diane shows you how to create depth and beauty in her mountain scene using two colors with three values for each color.

Key Points To Consider:

• Diane is painting on a wet canvas.
• Her base color has been applied very thinly so there is almost no paint but only a stain on the canvas.
• Diane loads her knife the same way she did when she applied the base color.
• She uses the colors from the sky to highlight her mountains.
• Her red mixture is Alizarin Crimson with a touch of Sap Green.
• Her dark mixture is equal parts Alizarin Crimson and Phthalo Green (makes a nice gray color.)
• Diane adds a touch of Phthalo Blue to her dark mixture before adding white.
• She makes two more values from each of these mixtures. Values are created by adding white to the mixture. She makes a medium value and then adds more white to make the lightest value.
• Diane starts with the medium shadow color. It is applied on the left side of each mountain peak to create the shadowy side. Remember the light is coming from the right.
• Diane loads the knife, begins at the top of the mountain, and pulls the knife in a downward motion. She applies no pressure. The knife doesn’t touch the canvas, only the paint does.
• The canvas pulls the paint off the knife.
• If you press too hard you just get a smear of paint that covers the base color. If you cover the base color with another color you lose the depth you get with multiple values.
• The thick paint will break which allows parts of the base color to show through.
• Diane uses her creative license to form the shape of her mountain. Notice she doesn’t split the mountains equally in two, like a pyramid.
• She adds her lightest value on top of the medium value.
• Once she is done with the shadow side, she repeats the process on the right side to create the highlights on the mountains.

Diane is painting outside at Bill’s home in British Columbia. It was a beautiful and inspiring place to paint, though there is some background noise. You will notice that most of our shows were recorded inside a studio where we could control the background noise AND the lighting. Many people enjoy painting outside. Bill preferred painting indoors. He would sketch an outside scene and after time he could recreate what he saw in his mind.

I hope you enjoyed this video clip as much as we did. Remember, with the correct paint and tools painting can be this easy. We love to see what others are painting. Please feel free to reply to this email anytime and share with us what is on your easel.

Happy Painting!

Laurie and Dawn

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