painting wood to look old and bleached?

[Shadowdragon]

What would be the best way to paint a wooden fence so it looks like the wood is old and sun-bleached? i was thinking of painting it all dark grey, then haphazardly brush on light grey and white. But, I'm not sure if that'll turn out the way I want it. I would love to hear other suggestions, or maybe someone has a link to a tutorial or something?

[Cate]

If/when I do a more sun-bleached or old wood I start out with the original colour of the wood, i.e brown, and then carefully drybrush lighter colours over it, pale grey or pale yellow depending on how I want the finished effect.  

This is a more pale wood base I have done. If I remember correctly I used coffee stirrers as material and then painted it with Vallejo beast brown and after that I drybrushed it with a light grey colour. 

 

/C

[Omenbringer]

I also generally start with a brownish color for the wood, then dry brush lighter colors over it. My dry brush colors are typically khakish (Think of it as a "warm white") rather than grey or white (both of which would be more of a "Cold White"). To make it look a bit more natural I then wash it with a sepia tone and/ or a brown tone.That is how I have done all the wood on my Death Marshals and Gremlins.

Here is a sample (Forgive the crappy photography)