Mystic Waterfall. Painting #62

Mystic Waterfall is painting 62 and the 6th painting I streamed live on Twitch. This is also only my second attempt at a waterfall.

I did this on a Friday night hoping to get some Friday night chill viewers on Twitch. And for that reason, I wanted to give them something unique. In this painting I used the technique I learned when I did Starry Galaxy. Since I like streaming, I wanted to prolong the stream so I prepped the canvas on stream rather than prior. That means the audience watched my apply the gesso and the under color so there wasn’t much of a surprise with how it’s done unless they came into the stream after.

Colors

• Alizarin Crimson
• Bright Red
• Cadmium Yellow
• Dark Sienna
• Indian Yellow
• Midnight Black
• Phthalo Blue
• Phthalo Green
• Prussian Blue
• Sap Green
• Titanium Hwite
• Van Dyke Brown
• Yellow Ochre
• Liquid Clear
• Liquid Black

Equipment

• 2 Inch Brush
• 1 Inch Brush
• #6 Fan Brush
• Large Palette Knife
• Script Liner Brush

Difficulties and Tips

Here are a couple of tips to remember if you do this type of painting. Don’t apply too much liquid clear. The liquid clear works sort of like the liquid white in that it helps the paint to move easier on the canvas. A very thin coat is all you need. You should only need a few dabs on the canvas and then scrub it in.

Once you have the liquid clear applied you add your transparent under color. Here’s where it can get tricky. I have learned that you need a lot of under color to make this work better. I think too much is better than too little. This is especially true with the Indian Yellow and Alizarin Crimson. I have made the mistake of not putting enough base color on thinking that I was applying too much. Without enough color, it won’t come through when you apply the white.

You can apply the base color in any shape or pattern you want but remember to start with yellow, work to red without cleaning the brush. The red is stronger than the yellow and will also create a subtle orange color as a nice transition. Then you can move to the blue. Since that is much stronger than the red, you don’t need to wash the brush and it will transition into a purple very briefly. Then you can move on to Thalo Green, Prussian Blue, or Black.

Once you have the base color applied, you must wash the brush then sort of blend it all together starting with the yellow and working out. Once you’ve done that, then you apply the white with a clean brush. Again, starting from the yellow and working out. I demonstrate this in my video below although it’s sped up quite a bit. Maybe I can create some how to videos. If you’d like to see that, leave a comment.

In this type of painting, the base color is the most challenging part. The rest of the subject matter is done with standard Bob Ross/Bill Alexander techniques. My only minor issue with this painting is that I think I used too much red in the shadow color of the mountain. Well, that and I think my base color has too much rigid shape to it. Other than that, I’m pretty pleased with it. It even sold! If you want an original for yourself, you can find them in my Etsy shop.

Here’s the time lapse video. If you have any questions, comments, or tips, leave it below. Happy painting!