Share to XHere’s one fresh off the easel: New Zealand, Autumn Colors.
New Zealand really is a landscape painter’s dream. I do a trip every few years there to stock up on reference photos and inspiration. If you live there, make sure to take advantage of it!
This was a tricky subject. There’s a lot of information, with all the leaves, twigs, branches, the detail of the bark, and the overlapping parts. Impressionist techniques such as broken color and multicoloured strokes came in handy for creating the illusion of all this information.
My strategy was to work from back to front, slowly building up more and more detail. I find this to be the most logical and effective strategy for subjects with many overlapping parts. Start with the most distant areas, then slowly march forward.
Overall I’m pretty satisfied. The tree does look a bit stiff but it’s close enough.
Here are a few close-ups:
I’ll share more detailed insights when I get a chance. For now, I just wanted to put it out there. Now, on to the next one!
Regards
Dan Scott
Draw Paint Academy
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Most of what I put out is completely free, but if you ever want to dive deeper, check out the following:
Tree Workshop: Our latest workshop. Join me and hundreds of other students as we paint trees from around the world.
Painting Academy: Get up to speed on the fundamentals.
Landscape Painting Masterclass: A deep dive into landscape painting and how to capture nature’s beauty in a painting.
