MATERIALS
• Canvas 1000x1500mm
• Disposable rubber gloves
• Lead pencil
• Eraser
• Brushes: Round head – small medium and large, Detail Sabre brushes 0000 and 0 sizes
• Low odour gum turpentine
• Paints: Art Spectrum ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, medium yellow, brilliant red, titanium white.
STEP ONE
You can first start by doing a light cobalt blue wash over the canvas. In this instance I haven’t used the wash. Secondly start by constructing a grid which will help you accurately draw the landscape scene. Try to minimise the grid as much as possible, as the more square the more complex the drawing becomes, the more errors can be made. Typical landscape scenes without buildings or structures do not require intensive grids. Once the canvas has been broken into grids, draw the prominent features of the background, middle ground and foreground. Use a light pencil or very light pen depending on how confident you are.
STEP TWO
Paint the sky in. This is a simple mix of titanium white, cobalt blue and a hint of medium yellow. Where the light is more intense to the top left use more and more white. As the light moves to the right add slightly more cobalt blue. Use a large round brush and streak liberally top left to bottom right, giving some notion of light. Paint in the darkest tones you can see of each element. The further away you are the lighter the tones. Tones to the background have large amounts of blues and as you move forward they become darker shades of blue, then you start to add greens, red and yellows to warm them up as they get closer. In this instance the tones are simple cobalt blue, a hint of red and a hint of yellow. Use your white to slightly adjust. These covered tone areas will form the base for your mountains and hills. Let these tones dry to about 90 percent. You want them a tiny bit wet so there is some merging when you paint features over them.
STEP THREE
Add more dark tones to the mountains in the foreground. Make sure you start adding more reds. You will also start to see slight elements of greens and yellows coming through as the hills get closer. To paint mountains you don’t have to be perfect – that is the great thing. You also do three layers to details, dark highlight, medium highlight and highlight. In this instance paint the dark snow elements, using a medium round brush to do this. After you cover the major elements, use a Sabre 0 brush to start to add more details dark lines to define rocks, ridges and cliffs.
Always start with the largest snow elements, paint them, and then the smaller elements will feed off them. If you don’t this you can become lost and things won’t seem in place. Cover it roughly to get the elements. Repeat this with the next layer of highlight which will be slightly lighter. Once again use the larger brush where possible then use the 0 Sabre brush to define and sharpen the varying elements. Continue this process as required, adding detail and layers. To get the sharpness and brightness of the snow, add almost pure titanium white to the sunny areas. Also use a 0000 brush with titanium white to really define those sunlit edges.
STEP FOUR
Paint the trees in the far middle ground. These have a blue green tone, cobalt blue, yellow and red, with white as required. Once again for trees do a darker layer and medium layer and then use the Sabre brush for a well define highlight on the sunlit side. Paint the remaining tree and grass in dark tones and let them dry, remembering more reds. The foreground tones should be the darkest otherwise the space won’t work. Paint the middle ground mountains in. Use the same process as before, painting the darkest snow elements in and then continue to lighten. As these middle ground hills are closer they have more yellows and reds in them, forming brownish tones.
After painting in the foreground tones and letting it dry, I have started painting in the grass and bushes to the right hand bank. Again use a medium to small round brush and rough brush the main elements; don’t be scared, just cover it. Once again you simply go from light to dark adding a defining highlight to the sunlit side.
I have also put a wash of cobalt blue over the creek area to cover the white. This is a similar but darker tone of the sky
STEP FIVE
Use a darker tone of cobalt blue with a dash of red and cover the lighter blue. Let this dry. Then use darker tones of cobalt blue with more grey/brown tones and paint in simple rocks which will appear under water, varying the rock colours and tones as required. Like everything else give them a couple of lighter more defined tones.
Grass is added to the foreground, painted in rough using red, yellow, a hint of blue and white as required. The first layer of trees in the foreground to be painted in. Paint them in roughly and like before use three layers on them dark, medium and highlight. Let each layer dry before moving to the next. These trees have more green with greyish/red tones to them.
STEP SIX
Trees to foreground have received multiple layers to achieve tones and highlights. Rocks have started in the foreground. These rocks are simply and rough painted at the start using a 0 Sabre brush or a small round brush. Once again there are three layers; dark, medium and light. Add highlight where the light is, if in shadow keep the one layer. Use your small brush to define edges with highlights. Water is treated the same, dark, medium and highlight. Use larger sweeping curving lines that somewhat overlap to the foreground as they get further away they become smaller and more linear. Where the sun is most intense use your white to create very intense highlights. Once again let each layer dry before doing the next.
FINAL STEP
Continue to paint in the grass, bushes and water to the foreground. Use your technique of layering highlights to create trees, rocks and water. Paint your bridge in using dark tones, and then use a small brush to add colour and highlight to it. Once everything is covered and looking pretty good, spend some time with your small brushes and highlights. Really define things by creating sharp lines of your highlights. On your grass use the small brush and highlight doing very sharp flicking lines to create grass blades. Like everything detail is larger and more prominent in the foreground so really define it, and as it moves further into the painting, do less, as your eye won’t notice.
ARTIST’S HINTS AND TIPS
• Try to stay fresh throughout Don’t be limited by other people’s ideas on painting, composition and technique, if you are inspired by something paint it! By doing this you will always be inspired to paint and this will mean your output and technique will develop faster. Art is subjective, be proud of what you are doing and where you are heading, so long as you are happy with your progress that is the main thing.
• Don’t be scared, have a go, you can always paint over it! Although a lot of my paintings seem quite detailed, most of it is quickly and roughly painted in. Be patient and continue to layer and refine. By doing this the painting will lift and begin to sharpen dramatically.
• Remember your tones, lighter in the distance and darker in the foreground. Get your tones down and then paint your detail over the top.
• Layer your details, a dark layer, a medium layer and a highlight. By doing this you can define light and dark and give things a 3D quality.
• Use a simple palette of colours. I always had trouble with colours because I purchased multitudes of pre-mixed colours. Go back to basics with your red, blue, yellow and white and learn to create all your colours.It takes time but it is worth it.
• Have a painting space with multiple easels. By having everything set up and ready to go you can jump straight in when you are inspired. It is also important to have this space that can be messy and creative and that you can shut the door on it when required.
