moonlight in winter by Rebecca Yoxall

Moonlight in winter

Hey Guys! We are well into the new year now and getting lots of wintery weather and dark nights. I've noticed some fantastic moonlit night skies and wanted to capture something similar in Brusho.

I find Brusho great for large expanses of colour as the inks just merge and blend together beautifully on watercolour paper.

So grab a sheet of good quality watercolour paper and the skies your limit!

I started by mixing up 3 different shades in a palette. Ultramarine, violet and grey. I applied some water to the top portion of the paper with a spray bottle then brushed in each of the 3 colours softly blending with a little more water if needed.

use some kitchen paper to blot out some colour where you will be placing the moon to indicate a glow.

Allow to dry. I then painted the woodland trees with a mix of ultramarine, lemon yellow and olive green using a brush with a good point. I find it easier to put a central line first which gives me my desired height of the tree then gradually build brushstrokes radiating out from the line. These generally are wider and thicker at the bottom of the tree and shorter at the top to create a tapered shape. Usually some of the same colour brushed at the base of thetree creates depth and distance and stops your trees looking 'stuck on'

                             

                     

Build up different sizes and slight variations on colour and it soon becomes a dense forest. I created the shading under the trees by washing some water and allowing the colour to blend downwards.

To capture the glow of the moon I decided to use a little bleach to lift out the colour. Place a coin on a sheet of kitchen roll and wrap tightly. Dip the wrapped coin carefully in a little watered down bleach and stamp it into the sky area

             

I also added a very diluted mix of lemon yellow to the left hand side of the moon and carefully brushed some of the bleach mixture in broken rings around the moon shape to help capture the glow.

Finishing off with some splatters of white opaque paint such as gouache or acrylic.

I hope this inspires you to have a go at a winter nights sky and see how stripping out the brusho colour can create some great effects.

Thanks for stopping by. 

See you next time

Bec