Please note painting can be viewed via link below in author’s biography.

I love painting the Scottish lochs and this is one of my favourites. I’m using 15″ x 11″ 130lb watercolour paper and unless otherwise stated I’m using my large Ron Ranson hake brush. There are the usual 7 colours – Raw Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber, Lemon Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Paynes Gray and Light Red though I’ll be trying to use as few as possible to keep the colours harmonious.

Start by wetting the entire paper with clean water and then adding a little Raw Sienna randomly across the paper both in the sky and foreground. Repeating your sky colours in the foreground helps keep the colours in your painting balanced throughout and more pleasing on the eye.

Add some Ultramarine Blue to your sky to create the impression of breaks in the clouds. Again, repeat the colour into your water to give the illusion of sky reflecting off the surface.

To complete the sky we need to add some dark clouds. Mix Paynes Gray with a little Alizarin Crimson and, starting at the top of the paper, add the clouds remembering to make them smaller as you approach the horizon giving the feeling of distance. Once again you can add a little of the cloud mix to the water but keep it subtle.

Next we need to add the distant hills on the horizon. To help push them far back into the painting we use the same colours as the sky. Mix a weak wash of Raw Sienna, Ultramarine Blue and Paynes Gray and block in the hills. Don’t worry about details, at this distance everything will appear the same tone.

The two closer hills are put in with richer colour and more detail. Starting with the left hill, we’ll first put in the trees along the top. Mix Lemon Yellow and Paynes Gray to get a rich, dark green and using just the corner of the hake, begin painting the profile of the trees that live along the top of the hill all the way down to near the shore.

With a clean brush add Raw Sienna below the trees to create the impression of grassy areas. Allow your brush to just touch the green of the trees to allow some of the paint to spread into the Raw Sienna.

The bank of the hill is put in with darker colour. Use various mixes of Burnt Umber, Paynes Gray and Ultramarine Blue to paint the shoreline. Remember the dark shoreline will allow the white yacht sails that we’ll put in later to stand out.

The right hand hill is put in using the same colours but without the trees. Remember to make the shoreline nice and dark to contrast with the lighter toned water.

Make sure the paper is completely dry before you continue. Rewet the water area of the picture and quickly add the reflections of the hills into the water before the paper dries. Again, wait until the paper is dry before continuing.

With various mixes of Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue and Paynes Gray use broad sweeps of the hake brush to paint in your foreground. You could even add a touch of Light Red to warm it up.

When the foreground is dry, mix Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue to an almost black mix. If necessary dip just the tip of your hake in your water jar to bring the hairs to a chisel edge. With your straight edge add the dark mud banks where the land meets the water.

Next take a couple of credit cards or similar and cross the two over to create a triangular template where you will create a yacht sail. Using a slightly damp