The background was originally painted in with mixtures of Antwerp Blue and raw sienna. The sky was then darkened to give it a stormy effect as though more snow was in the forecast (I may pick out a few snowflakes once the painting is complete.) by washing over the sky area with a mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.
The dark pines where painted with various mixes of French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna. The bottom edge of the treeline was softened with water so it was not a hard straight line.
Shadows on the snow are a mixture of both French ultramarine blue and Antwerp blue, with a touch of burnt sienna added to darken the colour in the shadowed areas.
The painting was allowed to dry before the masking was removed.
With the light source being on the left side of the painting a wash of the lighter snow shadow colour was painted down the center of the tree and the right side of the tree trunk was the darker more greyed snow shadow colour.
On the larger birch tree on the right side I left some areas without the darker wash over the trunk to indicate the reflected light.
A mixture of French ultramarine blue, raw sienna and burnt sienna was used as an under paint to indicate where the dark markings were to be placed on the tree.
On the left side of the trees a thin wash of raw sienna was put in to give the trees a bit of warmth to contrast against the cold snow.
Using mixtures of raw sienna and burnt sienna dead grasses and growies were added to the snow banks and around the bases of the trees.
I will post this painting when it is completed.
