Night lights and reflections (first use of masking fluid!)
This is the Lange Voorhout in The Hague. Its a series of tree-lined avenues that dates from the 15th century and is lined with neo-classical buildings. Not sure who the monument is for, perhaps the first Dutch king in the early 19th century, or some battle or other - I will need to find out.
Anyway I was walking home at 2am in the morning and all the lamps were illuminating the avenues with an eerie but magical light. The streets were wet and there was a cold crispness in the air, so I've tried to capture that moment where I had the entire area to myself.
For the lamps I used the blue masking fluid from Schimcke. Its finer and more fluid than other brands and it was easy to remove from the Millford paper I used. I then with a damp brush blurred the edges to get the glowing effect.
I enjoy the camaraderie of this forum, it helps drive us all forward.
Millford 12 x 9 inches - a little smaller as I like to mask out a white border around my pictures.
I'm avoiding any opaque colors and I limit my palette to 5 or so pure colors, this is ultramarine, raw umber, viridian, q.gold and al.crimson all W&N. This way it doesn't get muddy building up layers.
I also lift out with water and tissues a lot - which is how I get the bark on the trees to glow a little. Milford does allow you to go in with a damp brush and blur edges effectively as well.