I was meeting some school friends at Mt Hotham, on the Victorian ski fields, for a reunion. There was not supposed to be any rain and snow, but it rained on the way up the mountain, and the mist rolled in. So I got out my camera and took some photos. The next day it bucketed down with snow as well!
This soft atmospheric scene was made to be painted with watercolors.
Photo reference for watercolor painting
Rain fog and mist reference photo Mt Hotham
Watercolor materials used
Paper: Arches 300 gsm Cold press. Quarter Sheet: 37cm x 27cm
Brushes: Round watercolor brushes sizes 24, 16, 12, and 8
Watercolor paint: Winsor and Newton French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Turquoise, Aureolin, Raw Umber and Cad Orange artists quality watercolors.
The initial drawing
The drawing prior to painting rain fog and mist
I decided on a portrait format painting so I had to modify this scene a bit. As my main intention was to capture the atmosphere of the moment I had no compunction with making adjustments to objects to allow for a better composition.
I moved the left side of the road over to the right and reduced the numbers of trees or it would have looked too cramped in the portrait format.
Continue to: Initial watercolor under painting of mist and fog
