Green has always been a troublesome color for beginners. Why that is the case, I’m not sure. It may have something to do with a lack of understanding of how to mix color. Or maybe it has something to do with how we actually perceive green. As Pablo Picasso once said: They’ll sell you thousands … Read more
Water is a challenging subject to paint. There are just so many variables you need to deal with such as reflections, transparency and movement. In this post, I will provide some simple tips for how to paint water with quality of realism. I cover: “How to paint water” is admittedly a bit vague. Water comes … Read more
In this post, I will discuss how you can use a low key to create very dramatic paintings. This post will follow on from my previous post which was all about painting in a high key. Low key paintings utilize colors the lower (darker) end of the value range. So your darks will be around … Read more
In this post, I discuss how you can use a high key to create beautiful displays of color in your paintings. So what is a high key? It means you push all the values in your painting towards the lighter end of the value scale. So your darks will become mid-tones, and your lights will … Read more
Being able to take a great reference photo is an important skill for artists, even if you paint from life. You do not need to be a great photographer to take a great reference photo either. Photography has come a long way in recent years and we can really take advantage of it to improve … Read more
I absolutely love sunset (and sunrise) paintings. During these times of the day, the contrast between light and dark sharpens, the details start to fade and all these beautiful colors start to get involved. As there is generally less clarity in sunset scenes, you need to rely more on color and light to create interest … Read more
Mountains form an interesting component of many landscape paintings. They are large, dominant shapes that you can use to really set the foundation of your composition. But many beginners seem to struggle with how to paint mountains. In this post, I will give you some tips for painting mountains with depth. I cover: Mountains Are … Read more
If you want to learn how to oil paint, here are some of the oil painting techniques which you will need to learn. You will not need to use all these techniques in your paintings, but it is important to at least have an awareness of them. I cover: 1. Scumbling Scumbling is the technique … Read more
Here is another quick painting tutorial based on the beautiful New Zealand landscape. All up the painting took about an hour – it was only a quick study. This is the reference photo I painted from: What I like about this photo is the sharp contrast between the dark elements and the light, distant mountains. … Read more
Complementary colors are basically colors that are on directly opposite sides of the color wheel. So blue is a complement of orange, red is a complement of green, yellow is a complement of violet and so on. Complementary colors provide striking visual effects when paired together. Claude Monet said this about complementary colors in 1888: … Read more