Painting process | Bright Haze From Richmond Hill
I've always loved this view from Richmond Hill, as I'm sure all Londoners do, with the dramatic curve of the river Thames and vast distant horizon. I’ve painted it a few times before, and wanted to revisit it to see what I can do with it now that my style has changed and skills improved.
I wanted this painting to capture the sense of light sparkling through the trees, making the grass glow an electric green and the river shimmer. It's a painting all about distance, with the foreground field leading to the arching river and out to the very distant blue horizon.
You can watch the full time-lapse of this painting by clicking the image above.
Preliminary sketches and studies
I wanted to zoom in and focus on the river. But, I was really unsure where exactly to place the horizon and edge of the foreground field. To break up the horizon line I pulled some of the trees a bit taller than they were in real life. I did these two sketches to play around with some subtle differences.
I simplified the scene to 5 big simple shapes of dark and light in this sketch. This helped me to see the design and how the layering creates depth.
I went waaay too dark with my first value paint sketch! I realised that the scene is in a much higher key, where the darkest dark is near the mid-range.
Finally, I did this little colour study to work out the big over-arching colours. I love how the purple shadows make the yellow-greens glow.
The painting process
Drawing in the underpainting was quite quick for this painting. I layered the burnt sienna paint and rubbed it away to create the masses and highlights of the trees.
This is the first layer of the painting. I love its freshness at this stage. Part of me wonders if I should have stopped here! But I wanted to refine the sense of light, so I pushed on.
I brought more texture and variation to the edges of the foreground trees to give them depth and sparkle. I also extended the shadow from the right hand tree down so it fully blocks the eye from escaping out of the painting on that side.
I made the distant horizon far lighter and bluer for atmospheric perspective. I think this really helped to push the sense of depth.
Finished!
"Bright Haze From Richmond Hill"
40 × 60cm, oil on linen
I loved how expansive I could make this small slice of the view feel. The backlit trees were wonderful to paint. I particularly enjoyed layering so, so many shades of green to create that hazy light effect.
Details
Here you can see my layered brushstrokes in the leaves to build up glow as the sunshine hits them. I like how I've dealt with these lit edges, they're soft and varied and sometimes melt into the river.
I was super unsure about including any people walking in the foreground. I'm still unsure, actually. After a long consideration, I chose to add them to bring life to the scene. When would you ever be at Richmond Hill with no one else? It seemed unrealistic to omit any people. So, these two guys were added right at the end. I painted them loosely, just indicating their posture and clothing. I think they help to give the foreground scale.
Here you can see how the greens and purples of the trees give way to blue as they recede into the background. I also softened the poplar tree against the bright sky. I like how the trees quickly lose any detail as they move into the background.
This painting will be available in my release of new paintings on August 6th. Sign up to my Collector Preview list to get early access.
