Artists David Bellamy and Jenny Keal - Tip of the month July 09

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Tip of the Month

Tip Jul 09

Tip of the month July 09

Misty Gorge: a semi -abstract foreground

When you are confronted with a jumble of foreground objects such as the detritus of a mine where just about everything has been thrown out, an abstract or semi-abstract foreground can be the answer. In this case I retain some of the boulder shapes and the small cascades, but on the right I scrape red paint across with a piece of old mountboard and dab the edge on the paper once or twice. In the bottom left I dip one of those miniature net bags that come with washing powder into blobs of French ultramarine and burnt umber and press this on to the surface of the paper to create a pattern. Whatever you decide, try basing the shapes on some of the objects lying around and experiment with various colours and patterns. Experiment with these abstract methods on paintings where the foreground has been an abject failure

This month's tip comes from page 71 of David's new book,

The Complete Guide to Watercolour Painting

To purchase a copy, click here