Southampton Common tree by path in Autumn - WIP stages

Southampton Common tree by path in Autumn - WIP stages

Stages of a painting of a tree at the entrance to Southampton city common.

A tree in Autumn features in this seasonal landscape study. The tree is one to be found within Southampton Common, Hampshire, near to the entrance.

Shown in the picture above are four stages of the painting. In the first, the basic scene has been drawn out in brown acrylics on a yellow ochre flat colour, also done in acrylics. A basic indication of shading has been added. The second panel has some colour added in the way of a wash of diluted oil colour, used to indicate areas of colour and tone. These are not the final painted colours for now, and are left to dry. Moving on to the 3^rd panel it can be seen that paint has been applied heavier on to the painting, over the previous, dried layers. These colours are now truer to the intended tone and the painting has become more detailed in these areas. The final panel shows the completed work, with all the final layer of paint applied. A additional stage was to give most of the painting a 'glaze', which is where a further level is applied in the form of translucent colours mixed with a clear painting medium. It is similar to stained glass, though not as strong, but this helps to enhance the colours when seen by the human eye as light travels through the extra layer, hits the underlying area and bounces back. A camera does not see this effect however when a photograph is taken.

On other point of interest is that the support (canvas) is home made. This is to say that un-primed canvas material was purchased from a fabric shop and then fixed to a wooden stretcher bar, home made from scraps of wood. Once the canvas was stretched tight over the wooden stretcher bar, it was primed ready for painting. It was found that the painting surface was quite smooth.

The painting can be seen in greater detail by following this link.