Blue shadows blue sky

When the sun is shining, shadows on the snow will reflect the blue sky. While the sky is technically cyan on the horizon, its the colour directly above that matters, a nearly pure blue. I make the cyan in the sky by blending phthalo blue (PB15) at the top, with phthalo green blue shade (PG7) at the horizon. The shadows are true blue, which I can approximate with the same phthalo blue mixed with a touch of bright magenta (PR122). It takes a delicate touch to get the mixes right. You don't want the sky appearing green, or the shadows appearing purple, unless of course that is what you are going for. There is a style called Fauvism, pioneered by the likes of Matisse, where shadows, skies, skin tones, and other details are rendered in outrageous colours just for thrills. On locations, the challenge is identifying a colour and then replicating it with paint.

Community Garden Benny, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2025

 

The trick here is getting the colour and moisture level of the blue wall correct before applying the shadow. The sky as usual is a blue-cyan blend, while the wall colour is a low chroma, high value blue that might be described as baby blue, periwinkle, or powder blue. It was made with phthalo blue mixed with a touch of bright magenta, then diluted with water. the shadow is indo blue (PB60), a greenish umber (PBr7), then adjusted with dark magenta (PV55) and phthalo green (PG7) to get the hue right. When it was mostly dry, the real tree branches were applied with a heavy mix of yellow ochre (PY43) and other earth colours along with a dark purple for shadow (PB60 + PV55). These paintings are a good display of various shades of blue.

Tree shadow blue wall, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2025