Isaac Levitan, Clouds, 1895 Clouds are a staple of landscape painting. You can use them as the key feature or idea of your painting (see Issac Levitan’s Clouds above); to create a sense of moody atmosphere; or simply as a composition tool for their dynamic shapes. Many artists struggle to paint them. That’s perhaps due…
How to Paint Trees (Detailed Guide)
“As the woods are the same, the trees standing in their places, the rocks and the earth… they are always different too, as lights and shadows and seasons and moods pass through them.” Emily Carr Trees are an endless source of inspiration for me. So many unique combinations of color, light, shadow, form, and other…
How to Paint This New Zealand Landscape Scene
Bonus Download: Before diving into this post, make sure you grab my free Landscape Painting Starter Kit. In this post, I walk you step-by-step through my New Zealand Reflections painting. This was done in oils on a 20×24 inch canvas. For those of you who paint in acrylics or watercolors, many of the fundamental concepts…
How to Use Grid Drawing to Improve Your Accuracy
Dan Scott, New Zealand Reflections, 2019 Grid drawing is a technique that will help improve your accuracy without compromising the development of your freehand drawing in the long-term. It basically involves placing a grid over your reference photo and canvas, then using that grid to assist with the placement of your drawing. The grid provides…
How to Paint Mist, Fog, Smoke, and Other Transient Effects
Bonus Download: Before diving into this post, make sure you grab my free Landscape Painting Starter Kit. In this post, I provide you with some guidance on how to paint mist, fog, smoke, and other transient effects. These effects are typically challenging to capture on a flat surface due to their elusive and fleeting nature. Many…
Color Saturation – The Ultimate Guide for Artists
Bonus Download: Grab my free Color Theory Cheat Sheet. What is Color Saturation? Color saturation refers to how vivid, rich, or intense a color is. It is one of the three elements of color, with the other two being hue and value. Below is a saturation scale showing what happens when you take a vivid red…
Fundamentals of Art – The Building Blocks of an Artwork
Bonus Download: New to painting? Start with my free Beginner’s Guide to Painting. The fundamentals of art are what I consider to be the building blocks of an artwork. They are color, composition, value, form, brushwork, and perspective. The fundamentals are generally universal across different mediums and styles. Learning them will help you become a well-rounded…
Emphasis in Art
Bonus Download: New to painting? Start with my free Beginner’s Guide to Painting. What is Emphasis in Art? Emphasis is a principle of art which refers to the use of visual elements to draw attention to a certain area, usually a focal point, in an artwork. There are many ways you could go about using…
Harmony in Art – What It Is Plus Master Painting Examples
Bonus Download: New to painting? Start with my free Beginner’s Guide to Painting. What Is Harmony in Art? Harmony is a principle of art which refers to how well all the visual elements work together. Elements which are in harmony should have some kind of logical progression or relationship. It should just look like it…
How to Paint Waterfalls
Bonus Download: Before diving into this post, make sure you grab my free Landscape Painting Starter Kit. Waterfalls are a fantastic subject to paint, particularly as a study of edges, color, and movement. But they can be challenging, with all the twists, turns, breaks, reflections, and turbulence as the water crashes down through the rocks.…
