Thanks again for joining my Painting the Landscape workshop. Here are links to all the lessons in case you missed any:
Lesson 1: The Idea and Reference Photo
Lesson 2: Planning and Strategy
Lesson 3: Painting and Technique
At the end of the workshop, I invited you to paint your own interpretation of the reference photo. We received many wonderful submissions; thank you!
It’s interesting to see all the different interpretations of the same scene. It also give me a few ideas for how I could approach my work differently.
Below is a showcase of student works (those who agreed for their work to be shared). I have also provided some brief commentary on each.
Hi Arnaud. Love the dabs of color and the distinct style. It has a van Gogh feel to it.
Hi Teresa. Interesting and moody take. The darker, less saturated colors make the flowers appear more stunning by contrast. Well done!
Hi Sue. Beautiful purples and blues. I like how you changed the composition and painted with landscape dimentions rather than portrait dimentions. Not easy to do. It has a more open feel to it, particularly with the changes you made to the sky.
Hi Robert. Great use of texture and use of red around the bottom. The red adds a burst of warmth to the painting and plays well against the sea of greens. Also, good use of technique variance to convey the different areas.
Hi Priscilla. Interesting take. I like how you changed the composition and made the flowers and plants in the foreground more spread out. It looks like you stained the canvas then painted over the top. It works well. The stained surface plays into the idea of dirt, rocks, insects, etc.
Hi Phil. The colors pack a punch! Good directional brushwork to match the different areas.
Hi Paula. Energetic painting with the broken color. Colors almost appear to vibrate. Love it. I’m a big fan of this approach, as you can probably tell from my work. And good use of temperature contrast, with the warm lights cool shadows.
Hi Olga. Great brushwork variance. With the grass and plants on the bottom right-hand side, it looks like you scraped these details into wet paint. Great idea.
Hi Lorna. You have a clean and intricate style. Love it, particularly the detailing around the bottom. You should try watercolors if you haven’t already; I think your style and technique would work particularly well with that medium.
Hi Linda. Love the wild, untamed nature of this and the play between muted greens and bursts of saturation.
Hi Linda. It’s a moody, atmospheric take. I like it. Good work with the soft and hard edges to direct attention. And strong use of value.
Hi Frank. Interesting detailing in the foreground and use of a dark color theme. I like how you have woven the trees and sky together and the dark tree trunks which act as dark accents.
Hi Etelka. Strong color harmony. There’s a sense of warmth about it. The blue flowers at the bottom look interesting and natural. And nice brushwork variance.
Hi Connie. Good directional brushwork that follows the contours of the land and love the rich, cool greens. The dark accents help anchor the painting.
Hi Bodh. Interesting take! Almost a completely different scene. Not easy to do this. Love the yellow grass and the patches of detail on the ground.
Hi Beena. Lovethe brushwork and flower patterns. It’s pleasing on the eyes. Interesting play between muted colors and the bursts of bright, saturated colors.
Well done everyone! As more paintings are sent through from students that participate in the exercise, I will add them below.
Dan Scott
Draw Paint Academy
PS. If you want to invite any friends to the workshop, you can send them to the following link:
https://drawpaintacademy.com/free-art-tools/painting-the-landscape/
Beautiful work from all of them!
This is very incredible. Beautiful painting with much work. I learned a lot from their paintings and from the comments that Dan gave them. Everybody has his own style, which very interesting. Congratulation to everyone.
Oh, boy! And I’m still working on the petals of my first flower!
Love all of them. Everyone has their on take of how they want the painting to look. I am not in your league by far but you are all pros to me.
Absolutely an amazing mix of styles and uniqueness. Love them.
I loved every single one and learned from each one just by studying the colors and style of each one, thank you for sharing ❤
Wow! These are all beautiful and each had such a unique take.. I really liked them all.
Such beautiful paintings, every single one of them. Congratulations to all of you and thank you Dan.
Really enjoyed this collection! How interesting that each painter made the theme their very own. Good luck to all of you!
I loved seeing each painting- what a great job everyone did! I learned so much from the paintings and your comments Dan and I really hope that you will do this again! Thank you!
Wonderful brush work and colour palette. Each one stands out for its style!
How FANTASTIC! I so wish I had this kind of talent— if you do it again, and I know about it, i will DEFINITELY participate. What wonderful art!
This is very incredible. Beautiful painting with much work. I learned a lot from their paintings and from the comments that Dan gave them. Everybody has his own style, which very interesting. Congratulation to everyone.
I enjoy the different interpretations of the subject. The varying brush strokes are an interesting study.
Not only was this a learning exercise in painting the scene but looking at the individual paintings and reading your comments on each of them adds a whole other learning opportunity. Thanks for doing this. I find it most helpful. Teresa
So interesting to see the different techniques, and colour. combinations .
They gave me encouragement.
Thank you for doing this.
Iris
They are all so different but wonderful. Each with their own style. I enjoyed looking through them and seeing your comments.
Thanks for posting. Always interesting to see different styles/interpretations of the same reference and to read your positive comments for all.
They are all so beautiful. No way can I pick a fave. Well done.
Congratulations to all of you!
Wonderful to see the variety in the interpretation, color palette, brushstrokes and styles. Would love to participate in this project the next time you do it Scott!
I really enjoyed reading this and seeing the many different takes of the same scene. It made me realize even more how hard I am on myself when I paint. I tend to think if mine is different than the original or other painters then it must be wrong but this shows me that everyone’s brush strokes are their own and everyone sees the same scene uniquely in their mind. This really makes me smile. I’ve stopped painting for about a year now but this so encourages me to pick up my brushes and paint and give it another try.
Thank you for sharing this!!
Carie
Dan,
This was a great exercise. Would like to do it again, maybe the next time we can try it even before we see your work, Dan.
The variety of interpretations was fantastic!
The only other thing I can say about this exercise was, “MAN, there was a lot of green and greens are tough!!!”
Frank
I liked this approach also, at appropriate timings this could be a really nice feature to be anticipated by many of your viewers. Thanks Dan, I am sure all who participated in this little exhibition are greatly encouraged, and should be pleased indeed. Enjoyed everyone’s efforts as this was a challenging scene indeed in my opinion.
You gave encouragement to everyone. It also gave everyone something to look for to try in their own work. No doubt you are a good instructor!
Thank you for posting these paintings, Very interesting to see the various styles and contrasts. A lot to take in and observe.
I also enjoyed the variety of techniques, the work and talent involved and Dan’s take on the results.
I admired his valuable encouragement tailored to each student. Dan is an excellent teacher and I’m grateful for all his posts.
Dan, your students did their own style, something I admire. So many teachers show their work first which may intimidate students. Also, your positive reinforcement of each one’s attempts to conquer the scene is a wonderful example for anyone critiquing art to support students to keep painting. They should all feel appreciated for the incredible work. Well done, all of you.
Love them all, fantastic way of showing the different approaches and the impressive results – to all of you: very well done
How intriguing to see so many different yet beautiful renderings of the same photograph of a far away land. It was a great exercise in seeing how it could be interpreted. Each person taught me how to paint better. Would love to do something like this again.
Kudos to you all for your beautiful works! Thanks Dan for such a fun and comprehensive learning opportunity. Everyone inspired me to explore the painting arena and try new things.
Love seeing the amazing variety of view. So fascinating!
Wow! These are ALL amazing paintings. I took your comments on each to heart and then studied what each had done. It’s on my list of things to do & I am even More eager to try now. Great job All!
The paintings were wonderful. The students inspires the artist in me.
You are very generous and open about your painting. There are so many variations on how different people can take ownership of a simple representation. It’s all about feeling isn’t it.
Your comments on the technical aspects were very useful.
All very beautiful paintings well done everyone
don’t quite know where to begin but.
How brave of everyone to offer their work up for comment.
it’s interesting to see how everyone has painted the whole scene with emphasis on the foreground.
and no one appears to have got bogged down with over detailing
The techniques are wonderful and all make a wonderful presentation.
Dann your observations and comments will be/are encouraging to each artist.
congratulations to everyone
Ted S-O
These are all beautiful! #goals
Thank you all for sharing your work. I was so inspired by each of your takes on the reference material I finally had a breakthrough. An artist does not copy, they create! I have been trying just to recreate and it mostly ends in my work being disappointing. Time to find my own style.
Loved being able to see so many interpretations of this lovely scene and I am sure it was a freeing experience for many of us learning to paint! Thank you all so much.
So very encouraging to see this MYRIAD of styles. I’m now motivated to plunge into painting. Like Brenda, ‘the light has dawned’! Technique can be learned and practiced, but the unique ‘spark’ of each artist is given. Thank you so much for this exercise and show!
Always learn from your emails. Love this one especially your comments on each painting.
Dear Dan:
I have not been participating in this class due to illness in the family but I,have been following and learning by all the comments and different styles. I am saving all the information and intent to go back and do all the exercises.
I found Linda Ray’s particularly interesting because of the affect of the raw canvas.
These paintings are awesome. I like the way the instructor was able to give them positive feedback.
Seeing these is a great learning experience. I first picked my favourites, but upon reading Dan’s comments, I started appreciating the other pictures also. Each artist has a unique style, and I am encouraged to be one of them.
I think that all should be extremely proud of their creations. A good teacher goes a long way… 😘
What a lovely way of demonstrating how much there is to learn in your course. All the paintings were lovely and each artist interpreted the scene with their own style. And Dann’s constructive comments made for a good illustration of different techniques. I learned a lot and congratulations to all and thank you for the pleasure of seeing and understanding such individual diversity
All of these artists are to be commended for their effort and execution. As a novice this was an eye opener showing individual creativity, diversity and interpretation. But what was just as rewarding as viewing their work were the constructive and encouraging words you provided to each artist. This isn’t like grading math papers; for an instructor, a teacher, or a mentor, it’s extremely personal and the obvious sensitivity and respect you extended to each artist was oh so constructive, insightful and refreshing.