Painting a Rocky Creek in the Upper Portals

Below is my most recent painting, featuring a rocky creek in the Upper Portals of Mount Barney, Australia. I hiked to this spot with two friends back in December 2025. We camped around the corner for one night. I’ll walk you through how I painted it.

Reference Photo

Here’s the reference photo I painted from:

Feel free to paint it yourself. You can download a high-resolution version here. If you need more reference photos to paint from, check out the Reference Photo Library.

What I Used

Here’s what I used:

• Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 18 by 24 inches.
• Main colors: Ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, cadmium red, magenta, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, cadmium yellow deep, cadmium yellow light, yellow ochre, viridian green, raw umber, transparent red oxide, and titanium white.
• Rosemary and Co brushes and palette knives.

Refer to my supplies list for more details.

Step 1: Sketch

I start by applying a three-by-three grid over both the reference photo and the painting’s surface. This is to assist my initial drawing. Then I loosely sketch the composition, focusing on the major shapes.

Step 2: Map Out the Darks

I map out the darks, which represent the water and the trees in the background. Notice the abstract pattern starting to form.

Step 3: Map Out the Rocks and Plants

Then I map out the rocks and plants. I must make the rocks appear solid and structural, whilst capturing all those subtle color shifts you can see in the reference photo. So I constantly adjust the colors whilst staying within a compressed value range (similar lightness). I’m also relaxed with my strokes. I want to be guided mostly by intuition and feel rather than calculated thought at the point in the painting.

Step 4: Map Out the Water

Then I map out the water. These sky reflections provide a burst of clarity and brightness amongst all the dark and earthy tones. I want the edges between these sky reflections and the dark tree reflections to be hard, so I want to avoid blending. But some blending is inevitable when working with a large flat brush and relaxed strokes. I do my best and will tidy it up later.

Step 5: Fill In the Gaps

I fill in the gaps and complete the color block-in. Notice how the painting already shows a lot of realism. That’s the power of putting the right colors in the right spots.

Step 6: Distant Water and Plants

Now I must consolidate and refine what’s on the surface. I start to suggest the individual leaves of the plants scattered between the rocks. I continue to use the same large flat brush for this, but I turn it and use the thin edge.

Tip: You don’t need to constantly change brushes. You can do a lot with just a few. Instead of changing your brush, try varying your strokes by holding it a different way, or using more or less pressure, or going in at different angles.

Step 7: Add Key Details

I add the whitewater at the back and a fallen tree hanging over the ledge. These are subtle but critical parts of the painting.

I also pick up some moss on one of the rocks.

Step 8: Dark Glaze

I apply a dark glaze of linseed oil and raw umber over parts of the water. It was looking a bit weak and timid. This was my first time using glazing in a painting. It’s quite effective. It allows me to change the area’s color without compromising the underlying brushwork and structure.

Step 9. Finishing Touches

I make a few finishing touches to bring the painting home. I suggest some individual tree branches in the background and better define the water’s reflections and ripples.

Below is a close-up of one of the rocks in the reference photo. Notice the highlight around the edge, and the subsequent ring of dark, rich color with the wet part of the rock.

Below is a before and after of adding these details. Little details like this can convey a lot of realism!

Step 10. Sign the Finished Painting

I sign the painting in the bottom right corner using magenta.

Overall Thoughts

I think it turned out great. Of course, many areas for improvement, but I’m happy. My main criticism is that the reflections on the water need to be a bit crisper and sharper, and there needs to be a stronger sense of the water’s movement. I have a long way to go before I get to Frits Thaulow levels!

Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

If you want to learn more, check out our new Ponds and Lakes Workshop.

Regards

Dan Scott

Draw Paint Academy