First Light, Frost & Ice

Between Dark and Light.

This is a painting I forgot to include here in my blog. And as we haven't had a 'real' Winter here in Holland, I will share a few real winter pieces here on the blog next.

With this painting I remember the cold icy winds. Here I wanted to accentuate the darks, moving just slowly out, as the sun rises and bringing a pink glow.

Tiny things catch this light first. Grashalms here, there. The ice on the water gets lit and so on. Before you know it the scene has completely changed to brighter and warmer colors.

→ This is why you do need to remember the colors you saw starting the painting, or the colors you want to have celebrated in a particular painting, in your first idea, so that you won't break this first idea, first view, the first half of a painting.
→ And you can finish it, complete it, even when you are late and the colors have shifted.

LW24-2017 Landscape Plein air Painting 'Sunrise and Ice' Roos Schuring, oil on canvas, 24 × 30 cm | 9.6″ x 11.8″ Sold. Find Landscapes for Sale here:

On social people asked about the color for the shade on this ice here. I've said it before, will say it again, it doesn't matter which tubes you have or which you buy.

When you have a set of 7, 10, 15, even with just 5 tubes you could create this color. What matters is that you can see it's a 'blue-green', standing there. Maybe other times, in evening, it would turn to a 'purple-blue'.

Your Vision is the only thing that matters. Not the specific tubes. Yes, I recommend lots of tubes, and yes, the ones from cheaper brands might not work so well, and I also recommend (over time) to be purchasing All blues you can find! Just to see what they do. And what You can do with them. Just as experiments. For fun. For knowledge.

Mixing is not difficult when you've exercised the paint enough. You'll find hundreds of ways to create a 'blue-green'.

At one point you'll have found the base colors you like to work with. The magic is NEVER in the tubes. It's in how you perceive color, colors.

And this changes over time. It does. It evolves as you're busy painting. Proceed!

You might like my book 'PleinairMastery'. Find this book here: youareamasterpainter.com/book