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.
Dip a big brush into liquin and mix ultramarine blue with a tiny touch of burnt sienna to dull the blue. This creates a complementary mixture that is dark and balanced.
Add Yellow Ochre
Introduce yellow ochre to the mixture to push it towards a dark green. Ensure the paint is thick enough to cover the canvas without forming lumps.
Apply Dark Greens
Brush in the dark greens with big gestural strokes, focusing on covering the canvas without worrying about detail at this stage.
Adjust with Blue and White
Add more blue and a tiny touch of burnt sienna, then lighten slightly with white. Use this to paint areas in shadow, like the trees, maintaining a 'light sandwich' effect.
Create Warm Brown
Mix in a little more brown with yellow ochre and burnt sienna to create a warm brown. Add a bit of blue to tone it down and apply with soft edges to maintain obscurity in the shadows.
Pro tipFocus on soft edges in shadow areas to avoid drawing attention away from the focal points.
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.
