
Discover how impressionism uses light to convey mood and extract forest landscape essence with three value studies by analyzing a reference photo; beginners can watch the tips for beginners lesson.
Prepare a 40×30 cm canvas with essential brushes and a palette knife; underpaint with burnt sienna in acrylic, and gather titanium white, ultramarine blue, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre.
An underpainting lays down a burnt sienna toned first layer in acrylic to build depth and unity, while revealing color contrasts through thinner layers.
Coat the entire canvas with burnt sienna as underpainting using an acrylic, apply with a two-inch brush, and allow it to dry quickly.
Perform a three value study to map dark, middle, and light values and define composition for balance. Squint to simplify the photo, see value distribution, and block in the painting.
Create a three value study for a forest landscape. Start with a black marker to define bushes and trees, then add a gray value to shape mountains and refine composition.
Block in color from sky to ground, using thin to thick layers and solvent to establish soft and hard edges, then lock in the darkest values.
Block in thicker paint with a three quarter inch brush to build a loose forest landscape, fading white to saturated blue in the sky and adding color variations and shadows.
Mix ultramarine blue and sunburned sienna to shape the foliage, block color with a half-inch brush and palette knife, and build depth with shadows and contrast.
Rebuild the darks with thicker paint to create a gradient from deepest shadows around trees to lighter parts, highlighting contrast in the forest landscape.
Focus on the sun as the focal point by laying pure white at the center and applying warm color streaks around it to create radiant light and cohesive texture.
Detail the left side by adding lighter greens with smaller brush strokes to define trees, balance darker lines, and build sky texture and a strong focal point guiding the eye.
Learn to reshape highlights and form in forest landscape painting, using light and dark values, selective edges, and soft and hard contrasts to emphasize the focal trees.
Learn to add highlights with cadmium yellow to make trees glow, blend sky holes, and use knife strokes to balance darkest and lightest tones toward the focal point.
Apply strong color streaks with a careful palette to create impressions of different bushes, foliage, and sky around the focal point, while enhancing light reflections, shadows, and road texture.
Enjoy the loose vibrant forest landscape painting and learn a few things as you share your own result, tag me on platforms, and receive friendly replies to keep thinking.
Description
This is a paint along course also covering tips and tricks on how to create a loose and vibrant painting in the modern impressionist style.
Trees are a great subject to paint because they give you so much freedom to experiment and explore while building your own style. The size of your brush matters and we’ll be using a few in painting this subject to get that painterly feel everywhere we look.
The whole course is in real time so you will be able to see each and every brushstroke while I’ll take you step-by-step through the whole painting process.
You will learn the importance of edges, how to prepare for a painting and how to manipulate light to give the painting maximum impact.
As a beginner:
You will learn 6 important tips that most don’t get right when they start out. You will learn the importance of these tips and will see their benefits immediately. Getting these right will help you paint with a lot more confidence.
As an intermediate or advanced student:
It will be a fun project, a great painting where I’m sure you will pick up a few ideas along the way. And if you haven’t experimented with modern impressionism, some trees alongside a road with the sun showing through the branches is a perfect starting point with a lot of flexibility throughout the process, leaving you to create textures in however way you see fit.
Hope you enjoy the course and don’t forget to post a photo of your work :). I am really excited to see what your finished painting will look like.
Also don’t forget to follow me for more courses in the future.
Cheers!