Mixing clean colors and keeping your palette organized can be a challenge! Here are some practical tips you can use whether you are painting in the studio or plein air. Don’t swoosh;wipe. Dunking your brush in turp during the painting process not only puts a dirty film on your brush but also affects the viscosity […]
Five Tips For Getting Values Right
Understanding the concept of values and learning to mix values accurately are perhaps the most challenging aspects of learning to paint landscapes. Here are five tips that will help you master your values! Think planes. When looking at the landscape, don’t try to ascertain the value of individual objects first. Instead, think in planes–sky, ground, […]
Four Steps To A Strong Start
Starting a painting can sometimes feel daunting. Especially when we know that often our start will determine how ultimately successful the work may be. So many things to think about! Here are four basic steps to getting a strong start on your landscape painting, whether you are working in the studio or outdoors. We are […]
Water: Color in Reflections
Painting water is an endlessly challenging subject. In addition to understanding the visual science of how we perceive reflections, as artists we also need to think about how to best depict those perceptions in color! Here are a few helpful color notes to think about when painting reflections: ~the depth of the water (the deeper […]
Scumble!
For landscape painters one of the challenges of depicting the outdoors is getting a sense of “air” and atmosphere into our work. A scumble is a useful technique that can add that look of distance and “bigness” we want. Use a scumble to create atmosphere. Here’s a short video to show how that works! P.S. […]
Simplify Mixing Greens
It’s spring, soon to be summer, and one of the best ways to get a strong start on your landscape paintings is to simplify your palette. Mixing beautiful naturalistic greens can be challenging. Here’s a short video on mixing naturalistic greens to show you how! P.S. If you’d like to know more about how to […]