
A brief introduction to what we will do in this course.
A list of the materials that you will need.
We are warming up our skills with some easy and fast paintings first. Big Lake is a small lake near my studio and I have painted it every season.
This is a field near Big Lake, near St. Albert, Alberta.
Practice makes perfect and painting a similar scene in different seasons is a good way to hone your skills.
British painter, Peter Wileman, is a major inspiration. He says: My painting is all about light and how we see it and react to it. It is what drives artists on. It is why most of us paint. Yet light can be as elusive as a wisp of smoke as we try to capture it in all its many moods. My brush is never still. From him, we will learn to add light.
Louise Fletcher is a Yorkshire, England Fine Artist and Artist Educator specializing in fearless abstract art and educational courses for artists. From her we will learn about blending paint and letting paint do its own magic.
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA (23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter. He is known for imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings. From him, we will learn expressive brushstrokes.
April Gornik is an American artist who paints American landscapes. Her realist yet dreamlike paintings embody her conflicted relationship with nature. From her we will learn color combinations and simplifying.
Tips on how you can loosen up in your painting.
A dramatic storm all in pink. The goal of this painting is to work quickly.
This storm is on a lake near my studio. You can create your own storm outside your window if you wish. Create DRAMA. That is the goal.
The goal is to paint this painting in less than one hour. Get all your colors in a row and start!
A very quick review of what to do when collating papers.
A different way to create an abstracted landscape - Paint on top of collage.
I use these crayons a lot too so I decided to give you an overview of them.
I use these pencils a lot so I thought I would give you an overview of them.
A short checklist to help you when you are painting on your own.
Level 2 on Abstracting the landscape.
As you found out, landscape painting can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Nature is a fantastic subject for those just starting out with painting. However, the challenge is the abundance of detail as you found out in Part 1. In this course, we will try more challenging compositions, more challenging scenes, and more complex painting surfaces like collage.
The goal of the course is still to simplify the abundant amount of detail that we see. In this course, you will learn to simplify and make paintings that capture the essence of what we see rather than the detail. Texture and complementary colors will be emphasized. Using simple tools that you can take anywhere is also emphasized.
You will need two more important things for this course. One is courage - the courage to leave behind the beautiful detail nature gives us again but input your own twist on what you see. The second is using texture materials - this is the key to creating paintings unique to you.
You will come away from this course with a greater understanding of nature, a manner to simplify what you see and the ability to work quickly - even more quickly than before because now you are moving towards advanced levels. I also include a checklist that you can use to work on your own. These are important points to use when creating a painting.
Join me in painting some easy simplified landscapes and have some fun splashing some paint around while adding some new interesting textures.