Landscape SPECIAL

AERIAL PERSPECTIVE

Watercolourist GRAHAME BOOTH explains this tricky concept and how it can be used to give a sense of depth to your paintings

Painters frequently talk about “depth” in their paintings which is slightly ironic as paintings in general are completely flat with absolutely no actual depth whatsoever. Of course, what we all mean by depth is really the illusion of depth. Our paintings are optical illusions that try to fool the brain into believing that our two-dimensional flat sheet of paper has a third dimension.

Aerial perspective – also known as atmospheric perspective – refers to a combination of various methods we can use to enforce that suggestion. Aerial perspective is real. Distance has a neutralising effect on all of the main