Ray Campbell Smith's Way with Watercolour

Stage One: The octagonal spire of the church needed careful drawing but the rest presented no problems. The warm colour of the lower sky was a mixture of raw sienna and light red, while the cloud shadows were ultramarine and light red, with rather more red towards the horizon. The clear sky was pale Winsor blue with a little added raw sienna. When I prepared these wishes I applied them as quick as possible with large brushes. As the colour of the lower sky was very pale, there was no need to paint round the spire, the chimney or the trees.

Stage Two: Once again I tackled the trees at an early stage so that uninhibited brush work might capture their broken outlines. I used washes of Payne's grey and raw sienna for the greenish trees, with added Payne's grey for the shaded areas. Plenty of burnt sienna was added for the russet-coloured trees and the warmer parts of the hedge. The distant Downs were then established using flat wash of ultramarine with a little light red added and I had no difficulty in carrying this right up to the ragged outlines of the trees. A little raw sienna was added to the lower slopes. The village green was a broken wash of Winsor blue and raw sienna, and when this was dry I added some texture with a large brush charged with a deeper mixture of the same colours. A wash of Payne's grey and raw sienna was applied with horizontal strokes to indicate the dappled shade on the left and the shadow cast by the line of the hedge.

Stage Three: The pale stonework of the little church was raw sienna modified slightly with burnt sienna and ultramarine. Various combinations of burnt sienna and light red were used for sunlit old tiles and brickwork with a touch of green in the lower courses. Notice how these pale washes contrast with the deeper tones of the background trees and shadowed elevations of the buildings. I painted the shaded side of the old barn in deep tones of ultramarine and light red with a little green added at the base and took care to paint round the outline of the white gate which makes a crisp accent against its dark background. I finally added the small blue figure which appears to be moving, albeit slowly, into the centre of the painting.