- Sketch quickly because the light and weather change fast at this time of the year
- Focus on feeling the landscape rather than accuracy – paint intuitively
- Use brush strokes and pen mark to describe the texture in the foreground and middle ground
- Exaggerate colours a little
- Keep your sketches loose and lively
- Practice, practice and practice some more
- Finally have fun!
Vincent van Gogh
The autumn landscape from Otterlo provides striking evidence, when compared to Vincent’s earlier work, of his increased skill in composition. This was not a new theme for him; in the spring of 1884 the artist had made a very detailed pen sketch in brown, entitled ‘Behind the Hedges’, which features, in a more modest role, the four trees behind the parsonage which form the subject of the canvas – the topographic similarity with the painting is striking. However, Van Gogh showed with this simple but powerful composition how much progress he had made in the intervening year and a half.
There can be no doubt that Vincent consciously wished to develop this motif more fully. This was already the fourth version of the group of trees, and he spent three days on it, a long time for an artist who worked so quickly. The canvas, he wrote to Theo, was moreover ‘about the same size, for example, as that cottage and the country churchyard’, the two prestigious canvases dating from May of that year. As he worked on this study in colour and tone he must have become increasingly conscious of its promise, because once it was finished he wanted, as he had done before with his Potato Eaters, to try out its effect in the elegant drawing room of his friend, the amateur painter Anton Kerssemakers. This autumnal study, too, he hung against the grey wallpaper and above the black and gilded furniture. ‘Well, I never was so convinced that I shall make things which will do well, that I shall succeed in so calculating my colours that I shall command the desired effect’, Van Gogh wrote subsequently with satisfaction. The study might not yet have been a painting fully fit for the art market, but he was on the right track. Kerssemakers, at any rate, was impressed by ‘the soft, melancholy peacefulness of the combination of colours’. This in turn touched Van Gogh so that he could not sell the work, giving it instead to Kerssemakers, who had said: ‘the thing is damned good’. Van Gogh did not share this view. He felt that he could learn more from the Old Masters using less paint to achieve a more ‘vigorous’ effect.
Painting “Autumn Landscape with Birch Trees”
Edgars Vinters has mostly painted nature – at the beginning in watercolor and later oil technique. During the 1950s and 1960s, he emphasized the illustration of seasons in nature, cityscapes, and the river Daugava. During the 1970s he turned to the houses and memorials of painters, writers, actors, and singers and continued to paint cityscapes. During the end of the 1990s Edgars shortly turned to different watercolor techniques. At the end of his life, Vinters painted mostly his garden in Purvciems and still lives with flowers.
In the work of Edgars Vinters, one can find lights and shadows during the daytime and the changes of seasons. The artist has pictured the diversity of clouds in different weather conditions, the freshness of the color during the spring, the saturated color tones of the summer and the autumn as well as the colors and harshness of the winter landscape.
Edgars Vinters learned painting from Voldemars Irbe (1893–1944) and Hugo Karlis Grotuss (1884–1951). In 1940. Vinters entered the Art Academy of Latvia, Still life department, directed by Leo Svemps (1897–1975). During study time, he attended drawing lessons (led by Janis Cielavs, Augusts Annuss, and Karlis Miesnieks) and masterclasses by Janis Kuga (1878–1969). Then Vinters also began to paint plein air and use cardboard as a base for his paintings. Due to the start of the Second World War, Vinters had to stop his studies at the Art Academy of Latvia. Later he graduated program of pedagogy at J.Rosenthal Art School and worked as an art and drawing teacher until 1979, using his spare time to paint.
Edgars Vinters arranged his first solo exhibition in 1969. Since 1993, his works were exhibited in England. He was a member of the “Creative senior” house of the Latvian Artists’ Union since 1999. During his time at the Art Academy of Latvia, Vinters was close to artists Konrads Ubans (1893–1981) and Karlis Miesnieks (1887–1977). He has learned also from Indrikis Zeberins (1882–1969) and Aleksandrs Petrovs (1874–1956) art. He showed interest in German impressionists, particularly landscape painters.
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Painting Autumn Scenes
A few of my Autumn landscape sketches and tips on painting Autumn scenes.
At the end of last year I had a lot of fun painting Autumn scenes. Autumn brings glorious colours, moody skies and dramatic lighting, there’s also interesting textures of leaves, branches and grasses. It’s lots of fun to capture the changing landscape in Autumn. Because it’s not too cold, you can venture out without freezing on the spot!
Capturing the changing landscape
While painting Autumn scenes on location you can almost see the leaves turning red and yellow under your very eyes. The weather is moody and changeable and the low afternoon sun creates long shadows.
I try to communicate these emotions in my sketches. I used colour, paint splashes in addition to pen and pencils mark to create quick sketches.
Painting Autumn scenes successfully
If you fancy painting Autumn scenes yourself, here are a few tips to help you make a success of it:
- Sketch quickly because the light and weather change fast at this time of the year
- Focus on feeling the landscape rather than accuracy – paint intuitively
- Use brush strokes and pen mark to describe the texture in the foreground and middle ground
- Exaggerate colours a little
- Keep your sketches loose and lively
- Practice, practice and practice some more
- Finally have fun!
Sophie Peanut
Sophie Peanut is a sketch artist and illustrator based in Halifax UK. She works in pen and watercolour. Sophie loves urban sketching, drawing people and landscapes and likes to illustrate recipes. She also teaches drawing and painting online.
