Paint Landscapes in Watercolor Part 1

Skies play such an important part in any landscape. They can be the main theme, with stormy clouds and great drama, or they can be just the backdrop for the main theme. But always they provide the light and atmosphere for the scene.

Here I´ll show you how to paint different types of sky, from the bright blue of a summer’s day to a rainstorm. 

Sunny skies are created by painting clean washes of color. I´ll show you how to lay down a flat wash without streaks or blemishes to create your sunny sky, how to paint around complicated objects, and we'll see how you can use colors other than blue for the sky.

Adding clouds to a sky will increase it's interest. In fact they can become the main focus of the painting. I'll show you how to paint realistic clouds in a variety of ways.

Stormy skies can add a lot of atmosphere to a painting. in this lecture you'll find out how to paint the effect of rain and dark skies, full of drama.

We start off with learning how we keep the background at the back, and how we can give our paintings that feeling of recession into the distance. 

I’ll then show you how to paint simple hills that stay in the background, and finally how to make the background the star of the picture, by painting a sunlit snowy mountain scene.

Find out how color, detail, tonal value and edges all play a part in keeping backgrounds where they should be, at the back!

Simple backgrounds can add a lot to a painting. They needn't be hard to paint, and I'll show you some quick ideas for creating hills and mountains as a backdrop for your landscape.

Sometimes the background can be the focus of the painting, and here I'll show you how to create that effect by painting sunlight on a snowy mountain.

Many people find foregrounds quite hard to paint, but that is usually because they make them to fussy and complicated. In most paintings, the foreground is only there to support the man centre of interest or the focal point of the painting. I’ll show you how to paint foregrounds that are interesting, but which don’t distract from the focus of your painting. 

Learn how to paint foregrounds that are interesting but do not become dominant. Find out how to lead your viewer into the picture.

Foregrounds can be the subject themselves of a painting. Here I'll show you how to make the foreground the star!

Trees play a big part in many landscapes. They can be the focal part, or the backdrop, or just features of interest. But almost every landscape has them.

I’ll show you here how to paint trees, from those way back in the distance, to trees up close. I’ll show you how to paint them simply and easily, and how to make them fit into the landscape and feel a part of it. 

It's easy to add a line of trees or bushes to the background of a painting. I'll show you how to do this here.

Trees in winter can have lovely shapes that can add so much to a painting. In this video you will learn how to paint realistic looking winter trees.

There are various ways of painting trees covered in foliage, but here I'll teach you a simple and effective way to paint all those leaves.

Trees come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and in this video you will find out how to capture some of these in watercolor. I'll also show you how to paint different types of tree trunks.

Here's how to paint a woodland scene by simplifying down what you see.