Welcome back! This is the tenth blog post of Stubborn Hope. Previously I painted an image of a bison on the side of the road on a misty morning.
The paintings gallery documents the memorable scene that inspired the painting. I was unsatisfied though.
So I tried again. It took over a week to complete, an hour here, a few minutes there. Starting with black gesso applied using a natural sea sponge I laid out the path for the road, a few tree shapes, and the bison position. It might look like a cat to you instead, and that is ok.
The key to the next step of this technique is once your gesso is dry (minutes really, but I was a couple days) you coat the canvas with a very thin coat of Homebrew Liquid Clear (linseed oil + a bit of paint thinner). Next you need a transparent or at least somewhat transparent paint.
But wait! I didn’t own any transparent yellow paints. Although I tried to purchase the colours that Bob Ross used on his show I had not found Indian Yellow. I assumed it was no longer available or was renamed. I was wrong. Sure you won’t find Indian Yellow in the Winton Oil Colour lineup. Winsor & Newton Artist’s Oil is a whole different story. The Canadian site lists 55 colours for students (Winton). 135 colours in the Artist’s Oil lineup. oh my Indian Yellow is beautiful. Check out their site https://www.winsornewton.com/collections/artists-oil/products/artists-oil-colour-indian-yellow and drool over how gorgeous Indian Yellow appears. Series 2 is more expensive, but with this colour I’m firmly in the take my money gif camp. Look!
Look at this colour. So nice. And transparent. chef’s kiss
Light source!
Details added. 
More details! 
Birch trees. They started strong but the branches got away from me. 
Leaves and I tried to fix the birch trees. 
I wanted dirt on the side of the road, but I now think it looks odd the way it indicates the dirt is above the pavement in the foreground instead of below. Ooopsie. 
The left side also needed a tree. I forgot to put the leaf shadows in though. 
I added the shadows after the fact but they look stupid, like some weird fruit. The tree itself also just feels wrong, wrongly proportioned and off. I did like the fruiting bushes in the foreground on the right side, and the road itself was looking more interesting with some highlights and plants encroaching on the roadside dirt. 
Then I fucked it all up. The end.
See, I wanted more foggy light coming into the center of the image. The center paint was somewhat dry in some places, less so on the road. My soft fog became an ugly white blob in the middle of the canvas. Ruined.
Or is it? Can I Bob Ross my way out of this? How can it be a Happy Accident? I tried dabbing some of the white paint off, then removing a bit more with a dry brush. I was left with an ugly white ring instead of hideous blob. Not satisfied with that I decided to make it a portal and enhanced the portally looking parts of the ring. I also snuck a little more Indian Yellow back into the painting! I love that colour!
So, Happy Accident?
Peace