ACEO - Frost Fantasy 1

The temperature is going to continue to drop during the day from 12F (-11C) to well below 0F (-18C), on the bright side there is very little wind and the sun is shining.

I thought I would like to play with some salt and do a little bit of negative painting today.

Wetting a small piece of paper, I dropped French ultramarine blue into the top half of the paper and brushed in some Antwerp blue and raw sienna into the bottom, leaving a section of white between them.

As the paper started to dry, I sprinkled a small amount of salt into the blue area at the top of the painting and then set the paper aside to dry completely and let the salt do its work.

Where the salt had pushed away the blue paint it seemed as though it was the leaves on a tree covered with hoar frost.

Painting in the negative I started by indicating the tree trunk and a few of the lower branches.

From there I added some small branches in among the frost covered foliage.

Working my way down the painting with the blue I added more detail to the tops of the grasses and growies in the white area.

I decided the green at the bottom wasn't what I wanted for this piece so I lifted most of the green with water dry.

Using the blue I added some detailed grasses into the bottom area.

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

The ACEO shown here is an original watercolour painting using Artist quality Windsor & Newton paint on 300lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.