Ivan Hitchens contemporary landscape. Liked the colours in this with his limited palette, and his brush marks. Thank you Louise interesting excerise.

Louise Balaam - Monthly Landscape Painting

Ivan Hitchens contemporary landscape.
Liked the colours in this with his limited palette, and his brush marks.
Thank you Louise interesting excerise.

Skills

Posted on

May 1, 2025

← Here are my rapid studies of the stormy skies we had a few nights ago, trying to chase atmosphere & light – & using some of the colours I played with from Ivon Hitchens later works. These are gouache paints ( which I love), mixing them on the paper trying to respond to a fleeting moment as the skies & colours changed within minutes. Image 1 Fast oil sketches on paper For me, working expressively and intuitively means working fast, in fact not just fast but as fast as I can. That way I cut out all the analysis and doubt and just get on with putting paint down as I’m not really thinking or judging. Louise is a master at this and often mentions the need to work quickly. However, working fast doesn’t come naturally so I have to practice. Louise has mentioned in the past the value of doing quick oil sketches on paper and this is the way I now practice. It provides me with three main benefits: working expressively in right brain mode; testing out a palette that I’ve just mixed to see how the colours sit with each other and whether I need to mix any other colours before I start a large painting on canvas, and thirdly, avoiding being precious about my work as it’s just a piece of paper and some paint. Here are 3 oil sketches on paper 42 x 56 mm, each one painted in about 5 minutes. I reviewed them using a card mount to frame the image as straight edges help me see the painting more clearly. I then spent maybe a further minute adding one or two more touches before finishing and photographing. →

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