How To Paint Landscapes: EPISODE SIX - New Zealand Mountain Scenes

hi there and welcome to another episode of the great art adventure this week we've got a jam-packed episode for you and we're going to focus on a favorite subject of mine painting landscapes but we're not just painting any landscape we're going to one of the most spectacular places on the planet the South Island of New Zealand we have three demos for you today and we're going to cover a lot of information enjoy [Music] anyway [Music] [Music] you so we're going to focus on three things primarily some really fundamental aspects to landscape painting compositional planning atmospheric perspective at brushwork the paintings that I'm going to be doing in this episode are going to be quite small so those key areas of focus are going to be really important to the process let's take a quick look at the palette and the medium that I'm going to be using for these paintings I'm using language handmade oils and language olio gel my palette consists of burnt umber burnt sienna yellow oxide titanium white cadmium yellow cadmium red light quinacridone magenta ultramarine blue cobalt blue cobalt teal and phthalo green I lay them out on my palette in this way to try and keep some sort of chromatic order the pattern helps me stay organized in the studio olio gel is one of my favorite mediums to work with it's also great for those of us who are a little bit sensitive to really toxic smells now that we're all set with our materials let's get into painting and visit one of New Zealand's most spectacular scenes milford sound absolutely defies belief it's tucked away in a corner of the south island known as Fiordland this is a really magical spot and I've been wanting to paint it for years there's a lot going on within this landscape whenever I get the opportunity I like to paint on plein air and study my subjects from life the light and weather is constantly shifting and with the scene like milford sound you've got to get your own plein air study in before the weather hits milford sound boasts over 200 days of rainfall each year it's one of the wettest places in new zealand but all of that weather only adds to the magic i'm inspired by the sheer topography of milford sound and extreme angles in the mountains when there's a parting in the clouds and the light makes its way through amazing things start to happen and the colors become alive the painting i'm working on is going to be quite small so it's going to be a challenge to capture all of this epic beauty within such a small canvas in order to tackle a subject like this we're going to need to get our faults in order so i start off with a sketch book and plan out my composition one of the most critical factors and landscape painting is design i always take the time out to make sure i carefully plan my composition with a seam like milford sound there's a lot going on so if i don't design this it carefully as possible and make sure I get the right relationship and balance of my shapes and masses then this could look like a very awkward scene it all starts in the sketchbook I don't spend very long on these little thumbnail studies but it makes all the difference in the world with planning a composition like this once I've made a few thumbnail sketches I'm ready to get onto the bigger version I'm happy with all of the relationships through the shapes and tones so I'm going to begin with my sky and some light shading in this area I want these mountains to emerge out of the atmosphere so I subtly adjust the tones and make the mountain areas slightly darker bring these forward finally I reserved the darkest shapes and tones for the foreground I'm hoping this will bring the foreground right towards the viewer I could happily spend a few hours on this drawing but I'm eager to get into painting so I'm just looking for a plan or a map that will guide me along the way through the process I don't want to get too bogged down in detail with graphite I just some of the shapes and the mountains in the area behind and then rub back some highlights coming through the storm with composition I'm thinking in terms of vectors here I'm trying to open up a pathway in the foreground that leads directly to my central focus my sure peak I then used the sky to redirect the attention back down into the same over at the edge of mount Pembroke in the background through the open water and back to the foreground this is what I call a cyclic vector it allows the viewers attention to be held within the same and keeps them looking at our painting for longer I'm working on a small Belgian linen panel it's about eight inches by 17 inches long this has been pre primed with a little bit of burnt sienna and a little bit of alkyd resin to provide a background tent for the painting to go over I start off with my lines which have been drafted in with a synthetic round and burnt umber once I have my major lines in place it's time to start with the painting I always begin with the background first whatever is furthest away from the viewer this is a very simple combination of tones and colors I begin with titanium white burnt umber and ultramarine blue with a little bit of cobalt teal and quinacridone magenta these are my sky colors and that's a palette that's going to carry through the rest of the painting and help me get coordination across the entire scene working in this progression the next area are the mountains in the background I dropped the tone here and adjust my levels of ultramarine blue and burnt umber to increase my saturation I use a little bit more cobalt peel and quinacridone magenta as I bring these mountains forward I get gradually more saturated and darker this creates the illusion of depth and space all of this first layer of paint is part of what I call blocking in I've also modeled the paint somewhat in this initial step and gone for some moderate level of detail it's just going to save me time down the track my trees and foreground elements have become a little bit darker and more saturated still more burnt umber and ultramarine blue is added to the mix and it with some of the greenery in the foreground I've increased the saturation with phthalo green and cadmium yellow at the final stages of my block end I just increased the tone in the water in the foreground I want this area to burn out later on in the process with a bright high light from the Sun above accordingly I adjust my sky tones and have a little bit more bright light coming out of the sky above this is pure titanium white with a little bit of language olio gel as my medium let's take a closer look at olio gel to fix a tropic fatty medium meaning it's got a really high oil content this work right and subsequent layers with the fat on lean principle it's the only medium that I'm using in this painting it'll take about 4 to 5 days to dry now that the olia gel is dry it's time to go on with the next layer building up the painting layer by layer allows me to manipulate my tones and colors it also allows me to increase the complexity with the brushwork and it's a really good way to add tiny details as the painting progresses the weather and milford sound is always changing on a cloudy day the light can filter down and highlight little details I might put some of this into the painting with this side of the mountain I want just a little bit of sunlight to filter through the clouds which will illuminate some of the trees on this forested slope as the painting progresses my brushes get smaller and smaller here I'm using a synthetic round number two this allows me to add tiny little marks and create fine detail I'm using a number two round again to paint this tree in the foreground this color has gone quite dark indeed and is pretty much a combination of straight ultramarine blue at burnt umber I carry the same color across to the left and get the dark Bank of trees established I then increased the tone towards the top with a little bit of yellow oxide of course trees aren't solid shapes so I want to have some of the background colors through I match this best I can and then add tiny little marks to break up the mass this allows the trees to seem a little bit more natural and sit better within the setting I apply a little bit more detail before moving forward this is just a little bit of bright light shining off the flax leaves as it moves into the wind I deepen my tone that also increased the saturation of grayned bringing the grass forward I first apply my shadows which is burnt umber ultramarine blue and fellow grain and then feather in from the top with some of the highlight colors here this grass is taken on a really rusty red color this is the combination of burnt sienna and yellow oxide the shores of Milford Sound are absolutely littered with driftwood to paint this in I'm using a fine number one round working over a dark base I apply some highlight this is pretty far from titanium white I'm preserving my tones at the end with a number two synthetic round I apply the shadows of the rocks on the shore these colors are combinations of phthalo green quinacridone magenta and burnt umber still water will reflect and so this tree needs to be drugged down into the foreground gradually I build up the trees reflection with a series of horizontal strokes now I move on to final detail and this is where I adjust all of my tones and highlights and add a bit of fine brushwork the tops to the TOI TOI grass is added next with a fine number one synthetic round as I mentioned previously I'm preserving my tone for the very last here I'm adding sparkles which is just pure titanium white with a little bit of oleo gel by saving my tonal best for last it allows me to create the illusion of light [Music] finally my tribute to milford sound is finished i could happily paint this scene over and over again but i'm eager to explore more of new zealand countryside a short distance away from Queenstown New Zealand is a little place called glenorchy the area here is absolutely spectacular and there's some beautiful rolling landscapes I could spend months in this area just watching the weather change and the light shift across the mountains it's breathtaking and the potential here for paintings is endless I found a scene along the side of the road that I thought I might like to capture let's have a look I found this little shed that I thought would make a fantastic subject for a painting I really enjoyed the shifting light in the scene but also the different materials within the shed itself the trees throughout the landscape provided enough depth and visual interest there's a lot of elements here to work through so I'm going to begin in the studio with a sketch book and solidify my idea this time I'm eager to get straight into painting so I'm only going to do a very quick rough sketch I'm drawing in a little four by five cartridge paper sketchbook I'm marking where the poplars are going to go as well as the location of the shed and just try to get the right balance and arrangement of shapes I'm not going to spend very long in this drawing at all I just want to establish my major lines and tones and see how the composition is going to pan out I'm trying to keep this drawing loose and gestural and just provide the basic information for the painting that's yet to come however I'm not quite satisfied with my composition so I give it another rough sketch my main concern was the position of the poplars and I thought I'd do better with three rather than two by opening up the space between the trees I'm hoping that the landscape will be a feature rolling behind again working on the ground that's Belgian linen adhered to a Ford I begin to map out the major lines of the composition using a synthetic round at burnt umber I'm mapping out my major zones and then I begin to apply color from the back for this most regions and work my way forward distant mountains will start to approach violet and the base for this color is ultramarine blue and quinacridone magenta using a bristle dagger brush I'm able to block in large areas quickly I begin to bring my colors forward from the background and increase the saturation of green greens are an incredibly tricky color to allow for any sense of atmospheric perspective far too often we get too heavy-handed with our color but more saturated the green the further for this color will come I hold my greens back by mixing a subtle combination of yellow oxide and ultramarine blue and then adjust in my tone with titanium white as I bring the green Ford I increase the saturation by adding a little bit more phthalo green and cadmium yellow I'm keeping my brushwork loose this is going to provide a really nice base to layer the detail over before moving on to the final stages it just wouldn't be a scene as New Zealand without some sheep I mark these in very loosely with a series of small brushwork adjust some of the colors and tones around the shed and the blocking is finished the same approach applies with detail as we applied to blocking in I'm going to move from the background areas first and work my way forward so of course I'm going to start with the sky I adjust my colors and tones in some of the cloud shadows this is a combination of ultramarine blue cobalt teal and burnt umber I maintain the violet and the cloud shadows with varying amounts of corn acridine magenta some snow is falling in the distant mountains I'm applying this with titanium white olio gel and a filbert number two bristle brush I use bristle brushes quite a bit with detail here with this tree I'm able to apply small fine marks detail is an illusion that something appears real and this is given by an accumulation of small brushwork I increase the saturation of the trees yet again with a little bit more cadmium yellow and transparent yellow oxide this allows heat from the Sun to come back out of these green leaves some leaves turned just right to allow bright highlight this allows the tree to shimmer this is nearly pure titanium white with just a touch of cadmium yellow I'd like to achieve some wooden texture on the side of the shed I'm using a very fine number1 bristle brush to first establish where the boards are going to go then with a number 1 synthetic round I can apply highlights intermittently between the shadows some of these shadows are really deep purple so I'm using ultramarine blue and quinacridone magenta the rusty roof can be laid down with a bristle brush I'm just allowing the ends of the bristles to brush the surface leaving gaps between this will provide a really nice rusty texture for that corrugated iron we find details like this we can't be in a rush it's just adding one tiny piece at a time and gradually the illusion built I'm going to leave the shed where it is and then work more into the foreground with some of this grass that's coming towards the viewer the saturation here has been increased yet again with more transparent yellow oxide and cadmium yellow with just a hint of salò grain with some of these posts again I'm using a synthetic round number one this allows me to get some fine controlled lines and I'm alternating the dark shadows of the posts with bright highlights the trick with atmospheric perspective is to allow for a point of difference there must be some sort of difference with the foreground as compared with the background I'm preserving all of my brightest color and finest line work for the immediate foreground this allows a contrast not only in color and tone but also line as well which provides an illusion of space and depth the fine detail like here with these sheep I'm trying to avoid refining it too much and holding back just a bit this will allow the viewers mind to fill in the missing detail with a few final marks in the foreground of yellow which naturally comes forward the paintings finished now if I've applied all the techniques correctly hopefully we've achieved a sense of atmospheric perspective and depth within their tiny here's my top three tips for creating a sense of atmospheric perspective always start with the background first and work your way forward that way you can increase saturation as you go also preserve your final detail for right at the very end and only in the immediate foreground and finally reserve your most saturated colors for the immediate foreground having this point of difference between the subdued background and the rich foreground will create an enormous sense of space critical to any painters process are the brushes they're using I use a wide range of shapes and sizes to get the right kind of mark let's have a look at a demo with Mount Albert and the different brushes I use this is the same that's going to have plenty of bold color I'm aiming for a simple composition one where Mount Talbot will dominate the scene there's going to be plenty of color in the same but what's critical are the shapes and sizes of the brushes I'm using I'm using linen adhered to a board once again the size of this painting is 10 by 12 I'm starting off with my lines as usual with the synthetic round burnt umber and olio job again I'm starting with the sky but the sky here is nice and bright a combination of cobalt blue ultramarine blue and cobalt teal plenty of titanium white is in this mix which will lighten the tone but also desaturate in a really nice delicate way closer to the edge of the mountains i desaturate the sky color slightly with burnt umber I increase the color of the mountains yet again and adjust my saturation by adding more ultramarine blue and quinacridone magenta I'm working with the furthest regions first and bringing the mountains forward one mountain at a time starting in the distance like this allows me to control my depth and my color the highlights and the shadows are starting to approach the similar mid-tone the difference then between my shadows and my highlights gets a little bit more extreme as I bring the image forward this again allows me to create an illusion of depth and atmosphere I'm preserving my darkest darks for the immediate foreground and the shadows cast by these large rocks in the stream are going to be the darkest shapes within the composition you would have noticed with my palette of colors there's no black I can mix this color pretty well with ultramarine blue and burnt umber this forms the base of the shadows you see here I'm using the number 2 bristle dagger brush which allows me to build up the block in for the image really quickly again after about 4 to 5 days the OEO gel has totally dried and I'm able to layer on top of this block in I refined some of my brushwork with more thick paint but being sure not to create too much texture I went to move this back out with a bristle flat brush I apply the clouds directly into this wet surface this is nearly pure titanium white once I apply a mark to show where the cloud is going to go then I go back and rework this stroke as well I'm trying to keep the sky as smooth as possible to preserve all of my detail and texture in the foreground I'm using a synthetic flat number two which holds an edge very well and can apply these chisel like marks these are the little rocky ridge lines that are sticking up and catching the sun's right simultaneously I'm working the highlight and the shadow deepening the violet color in the mountains this is a combination of ultramarine blue burnt umber and quinacridone magenta I create a muted gray with titanium white ultramarine blue quinacridone magenta burnt sienna and burnt umber I adjust the level of titanium white to make sure I keep my tones in check once I apply this rocky highlight color I can go back and add little patches of snow with a synthetic round number one or here this number one bristle filbert brush using this small bristle brush allows me to break up and fragment the rocky surfaces catching the light this can create a lot of texture and interest for the background mountain on this degree slope plants can get a foothold so this area has a little bit more vegetation again I'm trying to create a green that will recede the more saturated it is the further forward it comes so I'm creating this washed out green using yellow oxide ultramarine blue and titanium white to cancel out some of the yellowness using just a touch of quinacridone magenta moving forward I increase the depth of my shadows with more burnt umber and ultramarine blue this allows one mountain to come forward ahead of the other I increase the saturation of my greens by allowing a little bit more yellow oxide to come through using around synthetic number one allows me to create sharper details this will allow these areas to come forward slightly I apply some very fine highlights to the front of some big boulders that have fallen down the slope working my way forward I increase the depth of the shadows more ultramarine a numbers coming through which allows these shadows to go quite dark I alternate this with some grassy highlights more green is coming through and I'm starting to introduce a little more cadmium yellow and say hello green even the rocky highlights have gotten brighter with more titanium white coming from these reflected rock surfaces the water is a major feature within this composition I'm going to start with the base color that's going to show between bright areas of sparkle so this I'm using cobalt teal ultramarine blue and titanium white once I've laid in my base tone I apply a little bit of attentive brushwork to the distant shore I'll get back to the water in just a moment the first I need to establish a deeper shadow in some of these rocks this will allow the highlights and rich reds to come through with the synthetic number 1 I'm applying some bright highlights these have a sharp edge and will communicate that jagged texture of the rock with these smooth River stones in the foreground I'm holding back from pure titanium white by using a little bit of burnt sienna and burnt umber to knock the edge off back to the water and I bring the depth of the color all the way to the foreground the saturation increases as I get closer to the viewer and apply a little bit more phthalo green and cobalt teal once the base of the water has been established I can apply fine highlights which will allow this area to sparkle and shimmer in the light this is pure titanium white and just a touch of oleo gel the base of the water is still wet so there's only so far I can travel before I have to reload my brush with more highlight color I'm trying to keep these marks pretty random there's a lot of them to go through so without creating a distracting pattern I do the best I can with random assortment of white marks as always I'm saving my tonal best for last and these are the final marks to go on the painting maybe use a lot of different brushes in this demo and every brush leaves a unique mark finally I'm finished with this painting amount Talbot there's so many more scenes in the South Island left to paint this is an amazing place for any painter to visit you're sure to find inspiration here this is the kind of landscape that lingers in your imagination and stays with you long after you've experienced [Music] I'm constantly seeking out what really moves me as an artist if I had to pick one subject I could happily spend my days painting South Island personally I feel we need to pay attention to what really inspires us and create authentic work from this inspiration [Music] I was told an art school that landscape painting was dead clearly they didn't visit revealing [Music] well guys thank you so much for watching if you enjoyed this video please hit the like button if you want to come back for more make sure you subscribe and as always you can find me at WWE sure calm or follow me on Instagram or Facebook we'll see you soon [Music]

Channel: Andrew Tischler

Views: 531,739

Keywords: oil painting, painting with oils, how to paint landscapes, how to paint a landscape painting, New Zealand, New Zealand landscape, landscape painting, how to paint with oils, painting video, painting tutorial, landscape oil painting, New Zealand Mountain scene, snowcap mountain, how paint snow

Id: F0tl9ZJNRvA

Length: 28min 5sec (1685 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 18 2017