Studio Snowscape with Salt Wash

See my Instagram for short video on salt wash

Having some 5x7”” fun in the studio today. I started out with the idea of posting a simple video tutorial on my Instagram feed, but the techno gremlins got me. Actually, the first video post came out great. You can view it by following the link in the caption above.

Here's the finished landscape before adding figures and the chimney with smoke. See my Instagram feed for the final version.

Closeup of salt wash while wet.

A few tips:

• I'm keeping to a limited palette of Fr. Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna
• I don't usually tape all around the page but this is a small 5x7" and won't be affected by wet paper expansion
• Make sure you brush off all the salt once the wash is dry. Salt particles are abrasive to natural hair brushes.
• Salt water takes longer to dry than fresh water, so your paper needs more time to dry than usual.
• Since the salt effect wasn't as pronounced as I would like, I added light blue spatter and Uniball Signo White gel pen for more snow at the end.

Figure Studies vs. 6-Stroke Figure

If you've been around my blog and/or website for a while, you have probably encountered my tutorial on simple silhouettes, which I call 6-stroke figures. I even have a tutorial page and video on how easy they are to do. They're great for giving scale to a cityscape or adding the human element to a composition.

A 2 page spread from my little DYI pocket sketchbook

While I am recharging my art spirit this summer, sketching all over the place with friends and colleagues, I have decided to kick it up a notch (as Emeril would say) Let's see if I can put a little personality, individuality and expression in the figures I'm adding to the scene. BAM!
I would call these more than a silhouette, but less than a portrait....so maybe "studies" would be a good term to use. I feel that I did achieve a bit beyond the generic and succeeded in trying to make them as individual as possible.

I guess the guys on the fishing boat are half stroke figures, or maybe just a dot! ;)