Tonally graded wash

Prior to starting the exercise I experimented with water mixable oil (WMO) and some of the mediums designed for them

1. Neat: I found it difficult to spread the paint but I liked the fact that it was easy to control and to lift off if I needed to do so.

2. With water: the paint was more fluid so I achieved faster coverage, but the paint looked very chalky.

3. With thinner: I achieved a much better result than with water; I could get thicker or thinner layers more easily, the colours were more vibrant, and I was able to create transparent effects.

The exercise required me to choose two colours and a medium so I used WMO Prussian Blue and Viridian Green, with thinner as a medium, and instructed me to work from top to bottom with increasingly dilute mixes until I had a very pale wash. My first trails were not very good as I did not achieve a pale wash so I continued practicing

After a few trails I managed to control the mix and my final result was much better. I was very tempted to try to get rid of the brush marks with a rag but didn’t do so as I was afraid that would spoil the next stage

I was then required to work wet in wet to paint a wash using the opposite colour and I found that although I achieved very similar results there is slightly more intensity in the Prussian Blue over the Viridian wash.