Acrylic Landscape Oil Painting Techniques Step by Step
2014-04-26 04:37:50 Author:admin Source: Size of the characters:[big][middle][small]
Acrylic Landscape Oil Painting Techniques Step by Step:
There’s something about a spectacular landscape that makes my fingers itch to capture its essence on canvas, to be able to create a acrylic landscape oil painting that generates the same intense emotion in someone who views the painting as the landscape did in me.
Here are acrylic landcape painting techniques step by step for your next acrylic landscape painting:
No. 1: Don't Put Everything Into painting: You're not obliged to include everything that you see in the landscape you're painting simply because it is there in real life. (In fact, I’d go as far as to say that if you do this, then you might as well take a photo and have it printed on canvas.) Be selective, include the strong elements that characterise that particular landscape. Use the landscape as a reference, to provide you with the information you need to paint the elements, but don't slavishly follow it.
No. 2: Use Your Imagination to paint: If it makes for a stronger painting composition, don't hesitate to rearrange the elements in the landscape. Or take things from different landscapes and put them together in one painting. (Obviously this doesn't apply if you're painting a famous, readily identifiable scene, but the majority of landscape paintings are not of postcard scenes, but rather to capture the essence of a landscape.)
No. 3: Give the Foreground Preference Don't paint the whole landscape to the same degree of detail: paint less detail in the background of the landscape than you do in the foreground. It's less important there and gives more 'authority' to what's in the foreground. The difference in detail also helps draw the viewer's eye into the main focus of the landscape painting.
No.4: It's Not Cheating to Buy Green Paints You're not 'cheating' if you buy green paints in a tube rather than mixing your own. One of the main benefits of doing this is that it means you always have instant access to particular greens. But don't limit yourself; extend the range of 'ready-made' greens by adding blue or yellow to it.
No. 5: Get to Know How to Mix Greens To quote Picasso: "They'll sell you thousands of greens. Veronese green and emerald green and cadmium green and any sort of green you like; but that particular green, never." The variety and intensity of greens that occur in nature is quite awesome. When mixing a green, use the fact that green have either a blue or a yellow bias as the starting point in determining the proportions you mix. (But remember the shade of green something is in a landscape does change depending on the time of day and what was a bluish green this morning may well be a yellowish green this evening.)
Each different blue/yellow combination will give a different green, plus the variations from the proportions of each you mix. With practice it becomes instinctive to mix the shade of green you're after. Take an afternoon to practice mixing your own greens, making a color chart to record which paints gave you what results. Also experiment mixing with two blues and two yellows; and mixing blue or yellow to a 'ready-made' green.
No. 6: Instant Muted Greens Mix a little black with various yellows and you’ll see that it produces a range of muted greens and khakis. (Remember to add the black to the yellow, not yellow to black; you need mix in only a little black paint to darken a yellow, but it will take a comparatively large amount of yellow paint to lighten a black.)
No. 7: Do a Series Don't think that because you've painted a particular landscape painting once, you're now done with it. Be like the Impressionist Claude Monet and paint it again and again, in different lights, seasons, and moods. You won't get bored with the scene, but instead you start to see more in it. For example, the way a tree's shadow tracks around it through the day, and how the different the light of the harsh midday sun is to that of sunrise and sunset. For further inspiration for painting the same scene again, take a look at the photos of landscape artist Andy Goldsworthy of a particular scene taken through a range of light conditions and seasons.
Two Acrylic Landscape Painting Tips:
1. Imagine Where, When, and How You Will Paint:
John Singer Sargent may have been able to start painting landscapes in any location or during any hour of the day, but the rest of us need to select a contemporary landscape painting location based on the time of day, season of the year, and conditions that prevail. One spot might be inspiring in the morning and boring in the afternoon; or the location may require more time to paint than is available. It is therefore important to take into account what the landscape painting conditions are likely to be at the various locations you are considering. Most professionals take note of the locations they pass and try to remember the best vantage point and the optimal time for returning.
2.Considering the Direction of Light:
Most landscape paintings take several hours to finish, so it helps to consider what will happen to the angle and intensity of the light while you are painting at a particular site. Will the sunlight cross the painting surface and create unwanted glare? Will the clouds clear away and create a sharp contrast in the pattern of sunlight and shadow? Will the distinction between warm and cool colors become more pronounced as the sun begins to set?
Edited by Kevin from Xiamen Romandy Art Limited. Founded in 2001, Xiamen Romandy Art Co., Ltd. is one of the leading oil painting galleries engaged in the production of handmade oil paintings in China. Our high quality products and excellence in service have helped us to enjoy a high reputation among our clients. Our overall goal is to continue to improve the quality of our products and service in the future.
