Snowy Mountain White Paint

[Rosicler Kleckner]

Oneof my favorite subjects to paint is Mt Talbot in Fiordland, New Zealand. The mountains in this area are rugged, majestic and beautiful and their forms make it relatively easy to compile dramatic and engaging compositions.If you have never done plein air painting before, it can be helpful to have a go at painting in a plein air style in your studio first of all. Please feel free to use and have a go at painting the image below.

When painting outdoors or indeed even in my studio I prepare my canvas first of all with a layer of burnt sienna. The burnt sienna layer adds a dimension to the painting and brings warmth through the paint, I find this particularly advantageous in plein air painting. I prepared this in the studio prior to going out on location by mixing burnt sienna, liquin and thinners and then allowing a couple of days for it to dry.I have sketched out the scene with burnt umber mixed with liquin.

Next I darken the tone of the shadow areas of the large mountain on the right in the mid ground. I have used the same trio of colours, ultramarine blue, burnt umber and quinacridone magenta, as I used for Mt Talbot but with less titanium white in the mix to make the values darker. I have used even darker values of the same colour mix in the trees beneath the mountain.When painting en plein air I am constantly thinking about the tonality of my painting and I keep in mind that as elements in the painting get nearer to where I am standing that darks get darker and the lights get lighter as the tonal scale widens. The tones in the distance are closer together and lighter than the elements in the mid and foreground. As I mentioned earlier, squinting your eyes with help you to see tone in the landscape which can then be applied in your painting.I want to get my range of darks and mid tones in as soon as I can saving my darkest tones for the foreground.

Next I have started to block in the snow that is in shadow on Mt Talbot. Again I am thinking about tonality and that my range of light and darks is much narrower for elements in the distance. Therefore I am using desaturated colour as I do not want the mountain to come forward which would make the painting look flat.I have used ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, as little burnt umber to reduce the saturation of the blue and a liberal amount of titanium white.

Now I am blocking in the foliage and bushes in the foreground and at the same time increasing the saturation of my colours. I mix different hues of greens by using varying amounts of cadmium yellow deep, ultramarine blue, pthalo green and quinacridone magenta.The shadows in the trees was mixed using pthalo green and quinacridone magenta which creates a very dark tone as the two colours being near opposites on the colour wheel, cancel each other out. This colour mixes in well with the highlighted greens of the trees as they both contain the same colours as well as colours in the rest of the painting. Paintings are more harmonious when the colours contain common elements. If required I can also add burnt umber and/or ultramarine blue to create dark tones.I also add burnt sienna or cadmium red light to my greens to create a variety of hues.Be mindful that pthalo green is a very saturated green and therefore only a small amount is required. If used in excess, it can quickly overpower your colour mix. If too much pthalo green is added it can be nutralised with a little quinacridone magenta.

Next I am painting the rocks and boulders in the river. In order to create the effect of strong sunlight I am keeping the shadow areas dark. Effective landscape paintings are about relationships between light and dark values and where they are placed in the painting. I want to keep the shaded areas of the rocks dark so the highlighted areas are more effective and dramatic.I have started painting in the river using cobalt blue and ultramarine blue mixed with titanium white and generally matching the colours contained in the sky. I have left a few gaps to add in white water.

The purpose of this brief article is to share with everyone in our painting community the lessons I've learned on how to make snow break properly on a mountain. It finally hit me while painting this one yesterday, all variables coalescing nicely. I will list the process in point form, for simplicity's sake:

Canvas: Doesn't really matter. Bob recommends double primed. I buy value canvases that were supposedly single primed and I prime it myself with white gesso once. You want it smooth but with a slight bit of tooth to it.

Liquid white: Add a thin, even coat. Don't be too stingy. Start in all 4 corners and work across. Scrub it in with the brush. Use long horizontal and vertical strokes after to ensure an even coat. Use the finger print trick to test - put your index finger on all 4 corners (wiping off your finger in between). You should be able to see a nice white "finger print" on your finger. If it's too light, add a bit more liquid white. If it's way too dense, consider wiping down the canvas lightly and evenly with a paper towel or soft rag.

Mountain base color: This is the first important point. Create a nice, dark color on your palette. I like using black, dark blue, a bit of crimson, creating a very dark blue or purplish base color. Use the knife to create the edges of the mountain and really work in that color with the knife, effectively 'staining' the canvas, blocking in that mountain shape. Now, here is where the first piece of learning happened for me recently: Bob recommends to scratch out all excess color and pull down with the two inch brush. That's what I always did. Yesterday, I realized that isn't enough. Case in point - if you look at my painting above, check the highlights on the right smaller mountain to the highlights on the left mountain. You can distinctly tell the highlights to the right are 'caked' and the snow does not break. This is because I was going about my business as usual with the right peak.

Important point # 1: After scratching all that base color and liquid white off with your knife, and scratching some more, and then scratching even more just for good measure, use a paper towel and wipe all of that paint off! Don't be shy. Wipe all paint off until your canvas is practically dry where the mountain is, just leaving behind a mountain shaped stain. Wipe it down to death.

Important point # 2: Use a titanium white that is super thick and dry. The Bob Ross brand titanium white I have is ironically not thick enough, really oily. I recently got a tube of cheap Van Gogh brand titanium white and it's really thick. What I learned is that if I spread out a generous glob of white onto a piece of cardboard about 20 minutes before I use it, the excess oil gets soaked up into the cardboard. I then spread it around the cardboard with the knife, then take it all and add it back to my palette. What you're left with is an excessively dry and firm paint that is almost difficult to spread out onto the palette. Really work it to death. You might want to put your palette down onto a table and really give yourself enough room to spread out that titanium white with the knife. Then, you cut a small roll just like Bob does.

Important point # 3: Grab the knife lightly and just let it graze down the mountain, following angles. After following the process noted above, I was surprised at how easy it was to get the paint to break. It just happens because the paint is so thick. It can actually get difficult to get the paint to stick at times! This is the complete opposite to what I had experienced in the past.

I think that's it. I tend to ramble, so I added these important points above. It just worked so well and was so simple. I'll add a brief summary here for those that may not want to read all of my ramblings.

When you create the mountain shape with dark color, scratch out all that excess paint and liquid white with the knife. Then, use a paper towel to really scrub out ALL the paint, leaving behind just a stain. Wipe it down until it's almost dry - the dryer the better!

When working with titanium white, use a stiff, firm brand of paint like Van Gogh. Spread it on cardboard and let it soak up the excess oil for 20 minutes or so before using it. Scoop it up and back on your palette. Put the palette down on a table, grab your knife, and really work it to death spreading it out. Now I understand what Bob means when he says 'get tough with it.' It'll be super dry and firm.

Load the knife with a small roll, gently add to the mountain. It'll break on its own. Doing it in short, fast strokes helps a lot. After you've added your highlights, you can even got over a few more times to add more breaking snow. I did this in the picture above.

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Felix Auer, 2019

Snowy mountains attract attention and charm with their beauty. The Milky Way draws us a road to our goals and dreams. The stars are reflected in the snowy hills filling our hearts with beauty and magic.

A lesson showing how to paint snow capped peaks.

The method of painting natural looking snowy mountains is to keep the sunshine showing on one side of the mountains and shadow on the other side.

If you think about where you are putting the different tones of the white paint you will have greater success.

Do not let the sunshine and shadow tones mix.

The snow is either in the sunlight or not in the sunlight.

Mix two tones of the white snow, one can be pure white (or a very little bit of yellow added) and the other needs to have a very little bit of blue mixed into it.

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