Icy Hill Backlit, Trenholme Park

When the sun is directly in front of you, the scenery is said to be backlit. You can tell from the shadows of the two trees that the sun is directly up and roughly in between the two trees, shining in my face. To paint a backlit scene it is important to find some strong value contrasts and composition to emphasize. In this case I found a small icy hillside where kids had been sledding in the recent past, which created some lines and footprints up and down the hill. In the background, a row of triplexes and cars was almost entirely in shadow. Colours become darker but still have their intensity when backlit. The dark brick in the backgrond was a mix of dark red (PY179), red ochre (PR101) and carbon black (PBk7). Adding black makes a colour darker but will not diminish the colour purity (intensity). Black paint essentially lowers the amount of colour but does not alter the hue angle. A common alternative is to add a blue-green like PG7 phthalo, but that shifts the hue towards yellowish or greyish depending on which paints specifically are being used. I had to figure all this out by practice and knowledge from Handprint.com (MacEvoy), since conventional art literature seems to omit any such information. 

Icy Hill Backlit, Trenholme Park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2024