Variations on a grey

Hi there, it’s still sweltering over here in sunny Malta, so getting stuck in to painting frosty scenes and tiny icebergs feels a big ironic. I’ll talk about life in Santiago in my next post, but first I had to share with you the first of my Patagonia landscape paintings. I’m planning a little series of oils, capturing the different nuances of light and colour that this wonderful place is so famous for.

As an artist used to painting in pretty bold and varied colours, this painting was definitely tough. But I choose to take on the toughest first. I limited my palette down to just 5 colours: titanium white, ultramarine blue, Van Dyke brown, Naples yellow and a touch of paynes grey. In fact, I used more brushes than colours on this painting.

It was important to get the balance of tones right, to restrict them enough to create mood, but not too bold as to loose the impact of the fog. It really was this grey and un-saturated, I could hardly believe my eyes. I could see why they called it the Grey Lake.

"The Grey Lake" Original Patagonia Landscape Painting on Canvas

£62.00

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I very much enjoyed painting the foreground textures and creating depth here, with the intention of drawing the viewer’s eye forward and off the edge of the painting.

"Patagonia Story" Original Lake Landscape Painting on Canvas

£62.00

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Then, a few blobs of paint painted very carefully to create some distance icebergs.

Next up, I’ll be exploring Patagonia’s changing weather and that gorgeous glacial blue. Stay tuned!