The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting: Techniques for Rendering Sky, Terrain, Trees, and Water
Language: English
Pages: 208
ISBN: 0804137552
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A landscape painting guide for oil painters that breaks landscapes down into component elements from nature, and showcases tools and techniques used by classic and modern oil painters for bringing these scenes to life.
Landscape painting is one of the most popular subjects for painters working in the medium of oils--from classic masters to contemporary artists. In The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting, established Watson-Guptill author and noted instructor/painter Suzanne Brooker presents the fundamentals necessary for mastering landscape oil painting, breaking landscapes down into component parts: sky, terrain, trees, and water. Each featured element builds off the previous, with additional lessons on the latest brushes, paints, and other tools used by artists. Key methods like observation, rendering, and color mixing are supported by demonstration paintings and samples from a variety of the best landscape oil painters of all time. With The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting, oil painters looking to break into landscape painting or enhance their work will find all the necessary ingredients for success.
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up and down the slopes. Are they moving up the slopes toward the light side or tilted away from the sun? Only a few dashed lines are needed to map out surface contours. You’ll notice right away if they give you positive information. If not, erase them and try again. Studying the ground plane may be dull in and of itself, but when you consider that everything—trees, water, stones—is anchored to the ground, then it becomes essential to an understanding of the landscape. CHRISTINE GEDYE, TRACKS,
direction of each branch in space is the most difficult part of rendering trees. Branches that are parallel to the artist’s point of view create the silhouette contour or outline of a tree. But what about branches that retreat behind the trunk, or ones that advance toward you? In the photographs of a tilting cylinder shown next, a simple paper tube provides a model for considering the issues with foreshortening. You can also try holding out a pencil and imagine it’s a branch of your tree. Tilt it
and refresh any of the pigments that may have sunk into the canvas. Block in the sky to define the tree’s shape. Begin pattern of foliage with dappled brush marks. Apply background foliage with thick to thin paint. Block in the grass texture with vertical strokes. Develop the foliage and sky with additional layers of paint. Apply foliage middle values and glaze darks. Add light values and build up foreground grass texture. Adjust values and final details. SUZANNE BROOKER, YOUNG ASH TREE,
contrast with the light value of the sky—pulling it forward rather than receding into space. I define the distant watercourse using a dark gray from the sky mixtures. The cattails on the right side are further developed using a lighter value of raw umber and yellow ocher (Daniel Smith). Now that the background is taking shape, I begin blocking in the water values using the same gray values as the sky (which takes on a blue color note over the orange ground). This is the time to consider the
mineral spirits before the thinned paint has dried. Not every painting will demand these steps for measuring to determine the composition and proportions. You can transfer simpler images directly with freehand drawing or by wiping out in a wet toned ground. In these instances, you employ your intuitive response and experience to locate and adjust the major elements in the image. Digitally print a one-inch grid drawn with white pastel pencil. Using a grid transfer system entails two steps: