It’s strange how a familiar walk can look different and suddenly become an inspiration.  One day, walking through the wood that I have walked through many times, I heard a lot of squawking. Looking up I saw rooks fighting and tumbling high up in the winter canopy. Suddenly they were gone and as I stood in the silence looking around me I thought, this is such a beautiful place I have to paint it!

I took some photographs and then made a sketch. I enlarged this on the photocopier to fit the size of the ply board I was going to paint on. I painted the board with 3 coats of acrylic gesso, sanding lightly between coats. This makes a good smooth surface.

The next stage was to paint the background on the board; the sky, clouds and ground. I then traced the outline of the trees onto the dry board using graphite transfer paper. I then began to paint the trees. 

I had never painted before. I had over the years had fun with collage and enjoyed drawing. I would say that practicing drawing and learning how to mix colours is an essential part of making art. There are some excellent little books written by Julie Collins on how to mix colours, for watercolour, oils or acrylics. There is a huge amount of information on-line for all those little questions that come up as you proceed.

I have found that there really is no mystery to it all, you just need to devote some time to looking around you, find what inspires you, take some photos, make some sketches and have a go! 

I decided on acrylics because they dry quickly and you can wash the brushes out in water. Sometimes the paint dries too quickly! I bought a Masterson Sta-Wet palette which solved that problem. I bought Windsor and Newton Professional acrylic paint which is the same colour dry as wet. Some acrylic paint dries darker, so you may have to allow for that depending on which paint you choose.

The first painting was in January, and then came the snow in February, followed by the bluebells in May.