A snow scene that is bereft of all signs of life or movement does not give any scope for using other elements to enhance a snowscape.

There were people in this photograph originally but I wanted to test out my theory that a snowscene can prove to be a worthy painting without the enhancement of life and movement.

I used a piece of mdf for my surface, which I sized with gesso and let that dry somewhat. But I drew in my shapes of the tor and the railings when the gesso was still damp, so I really used impress drawing for the shapes.

I painted in the sky (which is still slightly unfinished in the blog photograph) using layers of cerulean blue and a circular wide brushstroke. This took four layers (so far).

I underpainted the darker shadows of snow with a cobalt blue. These were very dark tones, I wanted some coloured ground to work my “white” colours on to. I let that dry and then started working on the snow. I mixed a light purple, using magenta and cobalt blue. I painted in the dynamic line of the ridge using a chisel brush. I mixed a range of light purples using my purple mix and adding differing proportions of white. I also used some pure titanium white, but with the blue colour underneath it there was still some colour evident. Throughout this painting I was mixing chromatic white colours.

Using large brushes was a key to keeping the wide sweep of the snow and expanse of land clear to the viewer.

I then painted in the rocks in the foreground. Undermixing colour is another technique that you should consider using widely. I undermixed three chromatic blacks, one with a brown bias, one with a blue bias, and one with a green bias. I then used a large filbert brush to make the shapes of the rocks. I used my differing chromatic blacks, but also differing brush pressures.