40 simple and easy landscape painting ideas

40 simple and easy landscape painting ideas how to#
40 simple and easy landscape painting ideas professional#

Painting this scene will introduce you to the following techniques: It’s hard to beat this view from the shore across to Brownsea Island in the distance, with the Purbeck Hills beyond. Poole Harbour in Dorset is one of my favourite landscapes to paint and features regularly in the work that I sell through my gallery in Swanage – The Mulberry Tree Gallery.

40 simple and easy landscape painting ideas how to#

My YouTube video ‘Watercolour Equipment – An Introduction for Beginners’ will give you more help if you’re unsure what is best to buy: How to paint a watercolor landscapeįor this easy landscape painting exercise, I’m going to show you the techniques and stages needed to paint a simple landscape. Piece of spare/scrap paper to test you colour mixes.Support for your board or block – they should be tilted at a shallow angle towards you.Paper towel or something to help you regulate the amount of water on your brush.Mixing palette, if you don’t have one already to hold your paints (white ceramic plates work perfectly well for this.).To paint along with me you will need the following equipment: For beginners, the Aquafine collection of paints and brushes is a good place to start and The Langton range of paper is ideal. I have used Daler Rowney products since I started painting and have always found them to be excellent quality and sensibly priced.

If you would like to see what these attributes mean in practice, then watch my What is Watercolour video on YouTube, which is aimed at those with no prior experience of the medium. In some cases, this can be up to 40% lighter depending on the colour. A skilful watercolourist understands this and becomes adept at persuading the paint to comply with their ideas and brushstrokes.įinally, watercolour dries lighter than how it appears when you apply it to the paper. We know that water will flow where it wants to and often there is little we can do about that. Because you can see what is underneath, it also becomes very difficult to hide your mistakes! For this reason, despite its simplicity, watercolour is perhaps the hardest medium to master. As you dilute the paint with water it allows you see the brightness of the white paper shining through which gives a good watercolour painting its sense of freshness and luminosity. Firstly – and this is where it differs to all other media – it is transparent. What is watercolour?īefore you get started with watercolour, let me introduce you to its most important characteristics. Looking for more painting inspiration? Check out our watercolor painting ideas, learn how to paint a watercolor portrait or how to paint a watercolor galaxy. Of course, the medium works well for a variety of different subject genres, but I can’t help thinking that it was somehow designed for landscape painting! As you become familiar with the way that watercolour behaves – and misbehaves – you will find yourself engaged with a captivating activity that challenges and rewards in equal measure. Unlike other media, the equipment needed to paint in watercolour is simple and easy to use and that allows me to make an immediate response to the landscape around me, particularly on location, helping me to capture fleeting moments of light or outrun the incoming storm! In the studio, watercolour’s quick drying time enables me to complete paintings quickly, ready for the galleries that represent me or the clients from whom I receive commissions.įor the beginner a good quality set of materials can be assembled without the need for great expense, making watercolour easily accessible to many. Keen observation and the endless colour opportunities that are available on a skilful watercolour painter’s palette allows the seemingly dull to become dynamic. Even on a grey winter’s day there is a wonderful spectrum of hues to be found in a leaden grey sky or in the apparent tedium of a brown hedgerow. It is a subtle and delicate medium and its ability to create passages of softly blended colours is perfect for the cool northern light that we experience in the UK for most of the year. Occasionally complemented with pen and ink, I use watercolour for all my work. Watercolor landscape painting is so much more than making nice pictures of the countryside – it’s an opportunity to share the sense and atmosphere of a place at a moment in time.

40 simple and easy landscape painting ideas professional#

As a professional landscape painter, my passion for the subject comes from the connection that I feel with the landscape and the process of painting it allows me to communicate and share my experience of it with those that view and purchase my work. For many of us, the desire to draw and paint the landscape arises from the pleasure and memories of our outdoor experiences, and the challenge in capturing them on canvas or paper.