World Inspired Landscapes: Burundi

The last country alphabetically to begin with the letter B is Burundi, located in the great rift valley of Central Africa. Rolling hills and extensive agriculture creates a patchwork of farms and grassland interspersed with winding roads, sequoia and palm trees. What impressed me was the atmospheric effects. Bright foreground elements were contrasted by grey-blue hills in the distance. Small houses also dotted the landscape. Most of the African countries have very flat landscapes, but Burundi offered a varied geography.

World Inspired Landscapes: Burundi watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, November 2021 (No. 2915b)

After some digital analysis I knew what the colours were, but had no idea how to achieve the effect with paint.The distance colours all represent shades of indigo (dark neutral blue). I finally had the idea of creating an underpainting that would set the atmospheric tone. After a quick outline, I filled it in from yellow at the bottom to indigo at the top. Here is a scan of the underpainting I made before over-laying it ... 

 

And here are some paint-sketches I made to figure out the intensity of yellow and blue...