Winter glow by Rebecca Yoxall

Hey you!
Thanks for stopping by, hope you are having a great day.
I'm sharing some ideas using Brusho and EXpandIT for creating a lovely winter themed painting that has a real cosy glow.

I first began by sprinkling Brusho onto dry paper in a sort of bullseye pattern. Yellow in the middle, then orange, then a ring of purple around that and finally ultramarine all over the background. I sprinkled fairly generously but tried to keep the colours separate. 

Spritzing then with a water spray activates all the wonderful Brusho crystals. I allowed the colours to naturally merge together as I continued to spray the water and gently tilted my paper to enable an even/continuous flow of colour.

The image below shows how the colours have settled onto the paper and mixed together yet keeping the bullseye area. The yellow area will now become the glow form the light of the lantern.

I allowed the washes to dry naturally and then drew out my lantern and tree branches.

Once I was happy with my design I began to paint in the lantern using dark brown brusho that I mixed together in a palette. Using a small brsh with a fine point makes capturing the details much easier for me.

I paid particular attention to painting a broken line which allows for a more natural feel and as though the light is diluting the colours.

I also used the dark brown to paint in the fine branches.

I finished off the lantern by painting in a few shadows using black brusho. (again by mixing on a palette)

Then comes the really fun bit with EXpandIT. I absolutely love this stuff!!!

using a palette knife I spread large raised up areas of EXpandIT over the branches and underneath the lantern.

Applying heat with a heat gun makes the ExpandIT explode into popcorn texture which is just perfect for the effect of snow.

My final touches were created by using white acrylic paint, just to fill in the foreground, white light inside the lantern, add a bit more to the snowy branches and flicking a splattering the background to depict falling snowflakes.

I really enjoyed painting this little scene, it makes me feel all 'wintery' and cosy and framed up it has taken a space in my festive decoration in my hallway at home. 

let us know what you think. And if you have a go at creating something with Brusho we would love to hear from you and see what you get up to.