For the water, I used the same type of blue as the sky but just a value darker. As a general rule for painting accurate reflections, you should paint light colors slightly darker, and dark colors slightly lighter in the reflections. I wrote about this in my post about painting water.
Step by Step: Painting a Scene from the Greys River
There are many ways to execute a landscape painting, and all do not follow the same procedure from start to finish. Sometimes an artist may choose to use a massed in approach, or an impressionistic block-in. One could choose to do a monochromatic start, or jump right into the painting with color.
The approach is often dictated by such things as the needs of the painting, how much time you have to paint (like right before sunset), or even your mood on a particular day. In a sense, one could say that the final result should dictate the type of approach you use, and that may be true, but I also find that the process itself has its own set of rewards.
For this demonstration I have chosen to use a direct application of paint with very little preparatory drawing and no initial tone on the canvas. Using this approach I am able to go directly into color choices that I perceive in the scene, while building texture as I go.
Come with me as I paint a scene of the Greys River in Wyoming on a semi-sunny October day.
Landscape Painting Step 1: Preliminary Lines
I will often draw preliminary lines using Yellow Ochre, but today I decide on some Ultramarine Blue, which shows up nicely on the linen canvas and won’t overpower additional paint applications as the work proceeds. Keep in mind that these early marks only serve the purpose of delineating the overall placement of the various design elements in the scene, while also indicating some of the major darks.
As you can see here the paint is thinned down a bit using mineral spirits, which is not too runny and will evaporate quickly. The scene itself needs little by way of alteration (a situation which doesn’t often present itself, but is a huge plus when it does happen!). Needless to say though, slight alterations will happen as the painting progresses. Once the drawing is to my liking I can move right into color.
Step 2:
In step 2, I place the major darks of the scene (which sets up the overall design), as well as put down a beginning (value key) in the dark pines to get the process going. Since painting is a series of comparisons, of one color next to another, it’s important to set the stage right from the beginning in order to get off to a good start right out of the shoot!
Materials List
Ultramarine Blue: Winsor & Newton | Daniel Smith
Prussian Blue: Winsor & Newton | Daniel Smith
Pthalo Blue: Winsor & Newton | Daniel Smith
Dioxazine Purple: Winsor & Newton | Daniel Smith
New Gamboge: Winsor & Newton | Daniel Smith
Burnt Umber : Winsor & Newton | Daniel Smith
Paynes Gray: Winsor & Newton | Daniel Smith
Winsor & Newton Series 150 Bamboo Round #6 Buy From Amazon
Rigger Brush (For thin tree branches etc) Buy from Amazon
1″ Hake Brush Buy from Amazon
Princeton Synthetic Kolinsky Mop Brush Buy from Amazon
Paper
Arches watercolor paper block, cold press, 9″ x 12″, 140 pound Buy from Amazon
Easy release painters masking tape Buy from Amazon
Adjustable desktop easel Buy From Amazon
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Easy Watercolor River: Composition & Lead In
Putting a river into a landscape scene is a great way of giving your paintings a sense of depth. A river can be used as a perfect “Lead-in” for your painting. What’s a “Lead-in”? A lead-in is a visual device that draws and directs the viewers eye into the picture. In the examples below, I’ve shown some of the ways I’ve seen paintings of rivers composed. In the first example, the river runs parallel with the horizon line. The problem here is that the composition is split into a boring series of parallel lines. This leads the eye horizontally across the picture and right out of the frame. Also, there’s no sense of depth.
In the second example there is some perspective but the viewers eye is led in from one corner and straight out of the frame again.
In the third example, we have a problem that is similar to the first example. This time though, we have straight vertical lines meeting a horizontal and no perspective at all.
The fourth example, in my opinion works best. The viewers eye is led into the painting but not along a straight path, there is also perspective creating a sense of depth.
Add Detail
With all the colors blocked in, I started refining and adding detail to what was already on the canvas.
For the sky, I picked up the light clouds and added a bit more lightness around the edge of the mountains. I also created some texture with my brush to add a bit more variance.
Tip For Using Stretched Canvas: As you are painting, you may want to extend the colors over the edges of your stretched canvas. This makes your finished painting look presentable even without a frame.
I actually made a mistake at this stage of the painting by adding too much color saturation in the greenish-yellows. This made the painting look slightly jarring.
I reduced the saturation by adding some more grayish-yellows. At this stage I also started adding a bit more variance to the reflections in the water. This was a tricky part as I needed to create the illusion of all the different colors being reflected, but I also had to make it appear calm and tranquil (so I needed to be careful with adding too much texture).
Here I just added some finishing touches in the water and some more details in the foreground.
Sign and Photograph the Finished Painting
Here is what I did after finishing the painting:
- Signed it
- Cleaned up the edges of the canvas
- Took high-quality photos
- Recorded the details and updated the gallery
I discuss what I usually do after finishing a painting in more detail in this post.
Here is the finished painting. It looks slightly different to the other photos as I used a different camera. I also provide some close-ups below so you can see my brushwork.
You can see some of my palette knife work below, along the edge of the shoreline. The palette knife can be fantastic for creating these sharp, rigid strokes of broken color. You can also break up edges by dragging one color into another to create some interesting results.
I also used the palette knife to add some of the tiny details, like the branch sticking out of the water below.
Additional Readings
You might be interested in my Painting Academy course. I’ll walk you through the time-tested fundamentals of painting. It’s perfect for absolute beginner to intermediate painters.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I hope you found it helpful. Feel free to share it with friends.
