I have mostly painted indoor motives lately, so no landscapes to post until I decided to work on a photo I took on a small excursion before Christmas. We went to Ronehamn on the southern east side of our island (Gotland in the Baltic sea). It was a quiet gray atmosphere, nothing muchhappening, but I was captured by the bright reedbeds framing a sidepass into the old jetty. No boats around, but I was content with the odd shacks (one with a very odd window design), the jetty and the reedbeds mirroring in the calm water.

To paint this I started with a pencil sketch to see where the lights and darks would sit. Then I wet the whole paper (Fabriano Artistico 300gsm rough) and made a first wash with a main cool gray and bright warm shapes for the reeds. The second layer already got a bit fiddely, and I thought it would end up in a mess. But I rather like the contrasts between the warm and cool, so maybe it was not a complete waste. And I learned a lot doing this. Tell me what you see.

And oh yes: Happy New Year everyone, and a special thought goes to Olly, Thom and Edo for keeping this forum alive and well! See you next year!