Earth of eternal winter. Watercolor illustration

I have promised long time ago to begin an illustration of a book about the «Earth of eternal winter» by @zhivchak. And here is the first idea, which I somehow managed to realize. I do not really want to do a full-fledged work in the book, but there is something to think about in the future.

I paint with a watercolor "Nevskaya Palitra": ultramarine, indigo, cadmium lemon, yellow-green, white zinc. For stars, I use white gouache. Paper Saunders waterford 300 g / m2, 100% cotton.

I will draw without a preliminary drawing. I conceived a nighttime winter landscape with a Northern Lights in the sky. So I'm starting to paint a picture from the technique on wet. I moisten a sheet of paper with water and take light shades of watercolor for snow: ultramarine and cadmium lemon. I start with a near plan and gradually I get background dull. In the center of the sky, I add cadmium yellow and yellow-green. On the water, I leave a yellow-green glow from the Lights.

The first layer is ready, and I turn to the details. I specify the snowdrifts in the foreground and add traces and irregularities. In the background, I have a ocean and sky.

I pick up the white and start drawing a tree. This is a bright detail of my picture: a tree in the snow that glows! I also add blades of grass and twigs that stick out of the snow. On the water, I add a few waves and light spots. I close part of the picture and spray the stars at the sky with gouache.

Since this picture was made specially for the book, I decided to insert this inscription:

Thank you for watching!

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P.S. It is hard to write in English, because my native language is Russian. But I'm learning. If you notice serious errors in the text that interfere with the correct perception, please let me know about them.