Two Brothers Mountain Rio. Practice and Patreon Live Demo

Here are two fresh watercolours of Two Brothers Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The one with the red boat was my warm up practice on the beach scene, testing the waves, the skyline and the mist around the peaks. The version with the yellow boat was painted in a live demo for my Patreon members as part of our October project and our virtual trip around the world. Both scenes focus on movement in the surf and a simple, bright boat as the main story.

For the sea I used mixes of ultramarine and cerulean with a touch of spring green for the warm water near the shore. I cut in the foam with clean paper and then a few strokes of white for sparkle. The red boat was mostly alizarin crimson with a little cadmium red, while the yellow boat was cadmium yellow nudged with a little yellow ochre so it sits well on the cool water.

The mountains needed strong shapes and clear values. I laid in fresh greens for the slopes, then a cool violet shadow with ultramarine and alizarin for the rock faces. The sky was a soft wash of cobalt blue with broken cloud shapes and a hint of neutral tint for the moody weather. I kept the city very loose with light verticals and a few horizontal lines to suggest buildings and the beach.

My approach was big shapes first and details last. Wet in wet for the distant hills and sky, then dry brush across the foreground to get the broken edges of the waves. Small figures on the beach add scale and life. If this painting speaks to you, both originals are for sale, so please contact me for more information. Do visit the rest of my website at www.timwilmotartist.com and come and join my painting club at patreon/timwilmot. Check it out for a free trial.