Additionally, add a little bit of this gray on the edges of the Joshua Tree trunk. Only small amounts of gray are needed/ almost “dry brush” style.
How To Paint “Joshua Trees At Sunset” – Acrylic Painting Tutorial
Joshua trees are beautiful and unique desert trees that can be found in the Southwest United States. They have arms that curve and twist different directions with a spiky ball of leaves at the end of the branches.
We will be painting a beautiful sunset that also has dark blue and stars at the very top. We will also be doing basic shading and tinting techniques in the purple mountains as well as some “back lighting” for the silhouette shapes of the desert plants.
Enjoy and happy painting!
Materials List:
- 11 x 14 Canvas
- Acrylic Paints
- Acrylic Paint Brushes
- Chalk (optional but it helps for drawing the Joshua tree)
- Ruler
- Paint Palette
- Water Cup
- Protected Workspace
- Titanium White
- Mars Black
- Dioxazine Purple
- Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue
- Cadmium Orange Hue
- Prussian Blue
Brushes:
- 1″ Flat Brush
- 12 Bright Brush
- *8 Round Brush
- 4 Round Brush
*You’ll need a brush that has a very fine tip to it. You can also use a liner brush or a tiny detailer brush.
It’s Not Simply White
“Snow really isn’t white. Snow is a collection of colors and the colors can be quite ranging. Just like anything else we paint, the color of snow depends on the lighting, time of day and neighboring objects,” LaSaga explains. “If you have a hard time thinking of snow as anything other than a large white mass, take a few photos and turn them upside down, then crop the image to reveal only the snow. Now study the colors. What do you see,” LaSaga challenges us.
When it’s time to paint snow, the colors LaSaga reaches for reflect his thoughtful study of snow. “I don’t use much, if any, yellow paint in my snow when painting a gray, overcast day.” Instead he uses burnt sienna, dioxazine purple, Mars black, phthalo blue, titanium white and ultramarine blue. When he’s depicting a day that isn’t gray and overcast, he uses yellow as well as any neighboring object’s color reflected in the snow. Finally, any color used in painting the sky is also used in painting the snow.
Seeing Beyond the Surface
Our first glance at any landscape we’re going to paint takes in its entirety—the details of the foreground and the vastness of the far horizon. There is no wrong or right way to see something, and it’s in how we interpret what we see that leads to successful, realist recreations of all the textures of nature, including snow. LaSaga says, “We all perceive things differently, and it’s how we perceive them that dictates the final result.”
The next challenge in recreating realistic snow is understanding its many textures. “Snow is not flat, smooth and white. Snow has great texture created by disturbances from the sun, wind, rain and thawing and freezing cycles,” LaSaga explains. “No matter what I paint, I’m more interested in the structure of my subject and each element in the work. Color is secondary. Detail is useless, or shall I say impossible, without structure and it’s very important to understand foreshortening.”
Painting What We See
“I basically paint what I see from my reference material and photos,” LaSaga says. “I paint in the structure and larger shapes of snow before I ever think about any detail. Snow also lies on top of objects so I paint the snow as if it were land, small mountains, hills and valleys. I’m always thinking in 3D. Like I always say, it’s also about feeling what you paint as well. I spend a lot of time outdoors experiencing nature, even in the dead of winter.”
Now that we have you interested in painting nature, check out this video, and learn how to paint foliage!
