The hushed stillness of a morning mist

by Tissa Hewavitarane

People tend to avoid painting mist scenes on a misty day because they imagine they will be dull. Yet a misty landscape on a cold, bleak day has a stark beauty all of its own. The skeletal shapes of the trees make a dramatic patterns against the mist and the sky.

A misty morning

There can be a few atmospheric effects which make it more fascinating and mysterious. Mist lends itself ideally for portrayal in watercolour. It is composed of fine particles of water suspended in the atmosphere, virtually a cloud on the ground. These particles are like a series of veils between you and what you are looking at. The greater the distance the more veils and the less you see.In painting a misty scene don't make the mistake of painting everything woolly and soft. Use a strong interest in the foreground and always paint it strongly and richly so that your picture will have a firm anchor to it. Start your picture from the furthest point you can see.

There's probably no horizon, visible and the sky will be brighter and lighter at the top than at the bottom. This is opposite to a normal sky. Paint from light to dark. Mist has a distinct colour of its own which may be a cold grey or even have a yellow tint. The local colours of individual objects will take on some of this mist colour. For example, when the sun is struggling to break through a morning mist, everything in the picture is in various tones of a golden colour.

Nearly all modelling is eliminated in mist and you will mostly be painting silhouettes, so that objects in your pictures should have interesting contours retaining their crisp, sharply defined outlines. Remember to make the near objects warmer in tone than the distant ones which will then increase the effect of contrast.

The painting I have done here is highly effective in conveying the hushed stillness of a misty landscape. Using a limited palette of subtle grey and browns plus a pale yellow composes this picture in terms of light and dark tonal patterns which, in their austerity, convey the bleakness and coldness of a misty morning. The beauty of a mist scene is that everything is reduced to striking patterns of light and dark.

Look for opportunities to use strong tonal contrast, such as the dark shapes of trees, walls or buildings against the mist. The fact that you're forced to simplify your tones and details in misty scenes may suggest that you could well use some of these properties in your normal paintings.

One of the most attractive qualities about watercolour is its ability to suggest even the most transient effects of light, colour and atmosphere found in nature.