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Paint Winter Trees In A Stark Winter Landscape
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
- How to create a simple, strong two value composition
- Practice mixing useful neutral color mixtures to keep the scene lively even though it is a gray winter day
- Use a value composition along with lively neutrals to create a dynamic scene
About This Lesson
This painting is based on a photo of a gloomy early winter scene. The painting is made interesting and dynamic with a simple value composition and lively neutral colors made by mixing ‘earth tones’ with blues. We’ll practice mixing neutral colors for winter scenes
Our painting is a gloomy winter day scene. To pull it off, most of the colors need to be grays and browns. We’ll make sure to avoid monotony by creating a variety of neutrals with subtle color out of three ‘earth tones’ and two blues.
- The Colors Of Winter
- Two-Value Composition Sketches For Winter
- Painting Intro
- Paint & Brushes
- Painting Step 1 - Initial Layers, Foreground Snow and Grasses
- Painting Step 2 - Trees and Finishing Details
Winter is the season of brown and gray it seems. But there can be a surprising amount of subtle, neutralized colors. Getting these into your winter landscape paintings is important for visual variety, movement and for an enhanced sense of reality.
Many “earth tones” are low-intensity versions of yellow-orange, orange and red-orange. This means they are often perfect or near perfect complements to blues. When mixed the result are very nice warm and cool grays that work well for many of the elements found in winter landscapes.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Brushes – Medium and Small Rounds
- Paint – Cadium Red, Quinacridone Rose, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Indanthrene Blue
- Paper – a small piece of watercolor paper. Use a sample of the same paper you plan to use for the finished painting.
You may already be familiar with Value and Value Composition. If so, then you know that most Value Composition Thumbnail Sketches include three values – light, mid-value, and dark. It is possible to create effective and dynamic compositions with only two-values. Two-value composition sketches make it easy to bring focus to the main subject.
This short tutorial steps through the process of creating a two-value composition thumbnail and compares it to a couple typical three value compositions.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Pencil and blank thumbnails from the download sheet
DOWNLOAD : THUMBNAIL LAYOUT AND FINISHED STUDIES
We’ll use the two-value composition created above along with the lively neutrals created in our color mixing practice.
In the reference photo, the trees are simply part of the landscape and seem to melt into the surrounding scenery – our value composition creates a center of interest out of the group of trees in the middle ground.
Although the value sketch is simple, it’s real strength lies in the contrast between light and dark values that create contrast just where we want it. The contrast bring focus and prominence to the group of trees – turning them into to focal point and main subject.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED :
- Watercolor paper – preferably Arches 140lb Cold Press
DOWNLOAD : PHOTO REF, DRAWING LAYOUT, VALUE SKETCH, FINISHED PAINTING
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Brushes – 1 1/2″ Flat, 1/4″ Flat, Large, Medium and Small Rounds, Rigger .
- Colors – Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue, Indanthrene Blue