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Always make sure that detail doesn’t occur in line with other detail.  What do I mean by this? 

Often for no reason except convenience, I see the sun striking a distant hillside, disappear behind foreground detail, like a tree, or a house and not appear again on the other side.  Maybe there are better examples.  Just don’t allow the vertical view of a house for example, to line up with some other vertical edge.  A cloud behind a hill or a tree, allow it to peak out the other side just a little.

Similarly, you wouldn’t put a mountain peak, right on the edge of your painting, or roadway, stream, bank right onto the corner by thinking in thirds for such details  - that by a 1/3 up from the corner, a 1/3 in from the edge.

Mixed Media:

There are some things that mix very nicely.  I have used ink, under acrylic, under crayon, under oils.  Don’t try putting acrylic over oils, but the other way around is fine.  An acrylic was over a crayon layer can give you wonderful textures for rocks.  Dripping ink with an eye dropper allowing it to partly dry and blotting, can give lovely round ring mould spots that are so round and totally correct.

I am still looking for subjects for next month and beyond.  We have had no requests in response to my last lesson appeal. 

Are there no problems out there?