I wanted to create a cloudless sky so the barbed wire strands would standout once painted.

A very light raw Sienna was used for the dirt and a light sap green was used for the grass undercoat. Olive and sap green were used for the trees.

I started working more grass into the painting along with speckled dirt. I didn’t worry about painting over the fence posts because these were only light washes and should still be visible so didn’t use masking fluid.

The fence posts were going to be a darker colour than the background so would easily cover up the underlying paint.

Next I started painting all the wire on the fence, which was hard trying to get a nice even thickness same as the strand below it.

A few dead trees were added into the background to make the painting a little bit more dramatic. I did contemplating painting a grey stormy sky, however I didn’t want this happy place to look too dark.

Fun fact, none of the bombs were ever used in World War II.

It was a very time consuming process adding all the barbs on the wire and small holes in the fence posts. I used a dry brush to try and create woodgrain in the fence posts.

Final scanned painting showing more grass and stones added. The last thing to paint were the shadows from the fence posts as the sun was just about to go behind the ridge line.

I would like to create six paintings in the Possum Park collection but I’m trying to work out what the last painting would be. Maybe the dam, windmill, camp fire or do I paint my art gallery, Possum Cottage the old explosives laboratory ?