DEMONSTRATION River Thames at Marlow

MATERIALS

● Wallace Seymour oils (right to left): Titanium white made with titanium dioxide is very powerful; a little goes a long way. The pigment is ground in coldpressed, single estate, artisan linseed oil which provides a good levelling and a strong paint film.

Cadmium yellow lemon is a very zingy yellow. Try mixing it with viridian to create wonderful lush greens.

Cadmium yellow middle has a midtonal value that is warmish yellow. It’s fairly opaque so is often used to add texture and final brushmarks. It can be used to create earthy greens or used on its own sparingly.

Puisaye burgundy yellow ochre is a very rich earthy yellow that is slightly gritty in texture and has a slightly orange hue. When mixed with titanium white you can achieve the most wonderful creamy yellows with vague pink undertones. This type of yellow ochre is far superior to all of the other yellow ochres.

Cadmium red middle is a modern red which is a strong, versatile primary colour when used on its own – or mixed with blues to create deep violets, or yellows to achieve beautiful orange hues. Tinted with white it can provide a beautiful range of warm pink hues.

Rose madder genuine is a bright scarlet-madder oil colour made from the processed roots of the madder plant, with the pigment bound in cold-pressed linseed oil. This pigment is very transparent and creates a good range of cool pinks.

Cobalt blue – a stunning blue for skies and greener in colour bias than ultramarine. It’s fast drying and is semi-transparent, and is a colour that I always use.

Ultramarine blue deep is a super-rich deep blue that is excellent for achieving warm blues by mixing with white to achieve violet blues.

Prussian blue is very fast drying and deep blue, almost like the colour of midnight. It can be used as an effective glazing colour due to its transparent qualities.

Terre verte bohemian genuine Sourced from Bohemia in the Czech Republic this is the finest ‘green earth’ (terre verte) as it has a higher chroma. It is semitransparent so I often use it to add subtle changes within the landscape. I use it on its own as it does get lost when mixed.

Oxide of chromium is a midgreen and very useful colour to have on the landscape painter’s palette. It’s opaque so I use this towards the later stages of the painting to create the subtle colour shifts seen in nature by admixing with primary colours. It was used by JMW Turner and I would recommend any landscape painter to give it a try.

Viridian is a modern classic. It is a very stable and powerful, clear blue green, used frequently to achieve a cold, almost acid green. The Wallace Seymour viridian is very pigment rich and has a real freshness and zing.

● Brushes I always use hog hair brushes when painting as I want to retain the brushmarks and also you can load the brushes with a lot of oil paint. They last longer than synthetic brushes and I gravitate towards the large flat-head brushes but do occasionally use small pointed rounds or riggers for detail.

For the materials used in this article, try Art Supplies with Painters Online or Art Req in Glasgow.