Flood Meadow, watercolour, 9×10in (23×25.5cm)
The world grows smaller on a misty day. The horizon appears closer and the familiar becomes shrouded in mystery. Mist, haze and fog are made for watercolour. Gone are the hard edges, strong contrasts and overtly colourful palette of sunlight, and in comes the soft, diffuse and more muted palette of fog’s close relative, rain.
As with rain, foggy, misty or hazy weather conditions are, of course, capable of a shot of rich colour, but the hard, cut edges that rain can still produce on occasion will be absent from our softer friends, with the exception of the immediate foreground. If the sun is on the prowl, our close tones will be lighter and perhaps contain some colour; if absent, then the tonal map stays close but moves darker and colour edges to grey.