Oil Landscape Painting Demonstration

In this short oil landscape painting demonstration, I hope to highlight a general procedure that I use in all my work whether it’s highly detailed or more painterly.

The first step is to sketch my scene onto canvas using thinned down ultramarine blue and a small brush. The ultramarine blue color is easy to wipe off and over paint without it showing through. My first marks of color is generally going to be my darkest mass area. In this case the large tree.

Generally I will paint the areas directly adjacent to the big tree to compare my values, but I departed from this by going to the next largest mass putting in the water. Notice how the color becomes lighter in the back and darker towards the front. The lighter blue color in the back has some Phthalo Blue and white with increasing Ultramrine towards the front and with the addition of Permanent Rose for more of a deep violet cast.

Now colors of the land are put in. Again notice how the color intensity diminishes off into the distance to create depth. This is called atmospheric perspective.

Now the colors can be compared to the darks in the larger tree.

Now the sky is started. In this case the color was first applied nearest the horizon with a pinkish cast. The sky color Phthalo blue and Ultramarine. More Ultramarine at top and more Phthalo blue and white. Over all value is also lighter than the water, as water has a tendency to reflect the sky darker and it’s influenced by the depth of the water and what lies underneath.

With the sky completed, it’s time to let the painting dry. Once dry details and refinements are added to all areas.

It becomes a matter of personal decision on how much or how little detail you desire, whether you want it more impressionistic or more detailed. Under my Byron Signature I opt somewhere in between, depending on my mood.