You know how sometimes you catch a glimpse of something and you just have to stop what you’re doing and eat it, read it, watch it, make it or in my case paint it? Well… I was sitting at the dining table tonight doing a small sketch and my husband said that oft repeated and familiar phrase ” look at the river”.
Dusk was settling over the hills on the other side leaving a warm glow and so I abandoned my sketch and did a really quick postcard size painting , hurrying to try and catch it before the light changed.
It’s tough staying with the original light as dusk settles further. The changes were very rapid so I laid down the lightest colours, splashed in a few darks then added the midtones after the light had changed.
It took about 10 minutes but by the time I finished the hills were almost entirely in evening shadow and those lovely bright splashes in the uphill paddocks were gone.
I work fast and loose to get down the essence.
When I’m working with rapidly changing light I try and get the broad areas of lightest and darkest as well as warm and cool down really quickly. If it’s a larger painitng I’ll take a photo before I start so I have the light fixed for later reference but if it’s just a mini postcard size I simply work fast and loose to get down the essence. I can size up and rework back in my studio if I want to.
Lindy Whitton Studio 
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