Welcome to the studio! Today, we're diving into the enchanting world of a mountain stream from New Zealand's South Island. This scene, captured from photographs I took during my plein air painting trip, offers a wonderful opportunity to explore the art of orchestrating light and shade. Whether painting from life or a photograph, our goal is to present the scene in its best light, idealizing it to capture its essence. In this chapter, we'll focus on identifying the elements you love most about the scene and using them to guide your artistic decisions. By concentrating on these key elements, you'll learn to enhance your focal point through thoughtful shape and light design, ensuring other areas remain subdued and non-competitive. This approach not only highlights the beauty of the scene but also teaches you to create paintings with depth and focus. Together, we'll navigate this process step by step, allowing you to apply these techniques to all your future works, transforming each painting into a masterpiece of light and shade.
This guide accompanies the full video lesson. The lesson includes the complete narrated video, the printable PDF chapter, and personalised critique support.
Leave space for the reflections of the grasses and the bank in the water. Brush down into the dark area to suggest the presence of grasses.
Darken the Base
Add a little more blue to darken the area slightly. This creates a base for the mid-ground and foreground details.
Apply Mid-Tone Grasses
Switch to a slightly smaller 10 flat brush. Mix ochre with a little burnt sienna and blue to tone it down. Apply these mid-tones to create a soft transition between the dark and light areas, brushing out to paint the tops of the grasses.
Add Reflections
Mix a little dark with blue to begin painting the reflections. Use horizontal and vertical strokes to suggest reflection in the water.
Introduce Light Highlights
Add a little white and bright yellow to your mix. Brush up and down to create soft edges, focusing on maintaining clean transitions between the darks and lights.
Pro tipUse mid-tones to build a soft transition between dark and light areas, ensuring clean color transitions in your painting.
Embark on your painting journey by identifying the key elements of your mountain stream scene that captivate you the most. Use shape and light design to enhance these focal points, ensuring they draw the viewer's eye. Subdue other areas to maintain focus and create a harmonious composition.
Capture the essence of changing light by photographing your scene over time, allowing you to select the most compelling lighting effects. Use these references to orchestrate a balanced play of light and shadow, guiding the viewer's eye through your painting with alternating areas of light and shadow.
As you build your painting, focus on creating a variety of shapes and textures to maintain interest. Use an S-curve to lead the eye deeper into the scene and incorporate dynamic shapes in both light and shadow. Prepare your canvas with a warm base tone and select versatile colors and brushes to bring your vision to life. As you refine your painting, pay attention to the interplay of sharp and soft edges, ensuring your composition remains engaging and cohesive.
Points to remember
Focus on key elements and subdue others to maintain focal points.
Use alternating shadow and light areas to guide the viewer's eye.
Ensure each shape is slightly different to maintain interest.
Use a big synthetic brush to evenly apply the base tone.
Select a variety of brush sizes for both broad strokes and detailed work.
Use gestural, big brushstrokes with soft edges for shadowed areas.
Use down strokes or side strokes to create realistic reflections in water.
Use contrast between sharp and soft edges to add variety and interest.
