Bill now works on the shadow side of the closest mountain. He uses exactly the same technique when highlighting with white. We're going to let you in on one of Bill's secrets. We've talked before about keeping your base mountain layer thin. You can see Bill did that with this mountain. Bill's secret, though, was to work on another part of the painting while a different … [Read more...]
“…I just let that paint fly on…”
Notice Bill's palette knife technique. He is allowing the paint to be pulled off the knife onto the canvas. There is no heavy pressure on the knife, just a delicate, light touch. The paint is thick enough, and the under layer is thin enough, that the two layers to work together beautifully. This is a technique well worth practicing if you want your mountains to show that … [Read more...]
A little bit of growth
Bill creates the reflection of the mountain in the distant lake. Then using the fan brush he adds just a touch of distant foliage on the bank of the lake. Because the lake is so far away he doesn't create much detail, just a hint of something there. Perspective requires distant objects to appear indistinct and gray. As Tom Anderson, Alexander Master Artist, often says, "Gray is … [Read more...]
Create that flat feeling…
Bill has an image in his mind of what he wants to paint. He has already created the water fall in the split between the two farther mountain ranges. Now he wants to bring the water forward into the painting. He decides to create the illusion of a flat area between the far mountain ranges and the closer one. The point he's trying to make is that you are the creator and you can … [Read more...]
Smeary paint, smeary painting
So you girls you should kiss me for showing you all that! -- Bill Alexander Bill was so proud of his paint. And why not, he spent the greater part of his career searching for the right formula and the best ingredients. Read about his search in the "The Bill Alexander Story". … [Read more...]
A feeling of separation
You always have to have a feeling of (separation). -- Bill Alexander We learned about highlighting light against light, now we're highlighting dark against dark. Bill says if you don't create the feeling of separation, then your painting doesn't make sense. What he means is it doesn't make sense as you would view that scene in "Mother Nature." Bill had a photographic memory. … [Read more...]