How To Paint Bushes In Acrylic

How to Paint Trees and Foliage

Poplar Trees and the Remarkables Mountains - oil painting - landscape - Samuel Earp - New Zealand landscape artist.jpg

Poplar Trees and The Remarkables Mountains, New Zealand, 40cm 10 50cm, oil on sail.

Inspiration for This Painting

This painting was inspired past an area called Dalefield which is located in the Wakatipu Basin, only outside of Queenstown, New Zealand. I frequently come up to this area to paint equally at that place are so many subjects to capture on sheet including trees, fields, mountains and animals.

I came hither to paint in March the day after nosotros'd had a cold spell of weather that left snow on the mountains. Given that New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere the seasons are reversed and and then Feb is a summer month. Anyway I thought information technology would make for an interesting painting with copse and fields juxtaposed against some snowy mountains.

This was the view I painted.

When I painted this scene outdoors I made the stand up of trees the focal point and I kept the road in at that place to add some rhythm to the painting, I likewise removed the HV power lines from the scene equally I felt these human being fabricated objects would have spoiled the painting.

I was very happy with my plein air painting and that's when I decided I would create a larger studio painting of this view, likewise I could use my plein air painting as a colour study to refer to for the studio painting.

The Pattern Process and Sketching

Now, whilst I was pretty happy with my plein air painting I felt I could improve the limerick a little and and then before I got into my studio painting I sat downward with my sketch book and did some quick five minute thumbnail sketches. So once I was sure of an thought for the limerick I did a final sketch.

The sketch is purely for planning the composition and to requite me an idea of the tonality of the scene, i.e. where my lights and darks will exist when I come to paint this scene and I utilize a range of pencils from 4H to 4B.

Don't worry if your pencil sketches aren't perfect or amazing works of art, and so long equally they are good enough for you to transfer your composition onto the canvas thats all that matters.

Limerick

The aim of a the composition is to create unity and a feature that should exist the main interest in the paintings, information technology should boss all the other forms and masses in the painting. In this case I have made the stand of trees the area of involvement in the painting.

This limerick in this painting is known as a pyramid or triangle limerick and it suggests permanence and stability considering of its structure, perfect for copse. I have placed the stand of trees to the left of the centre, remember that you should never take your focal area in the middle of the painting as it'southward anticipated and forms a displeasing static.

I have added supporting elements to create some flow in the compositions, subtle props thats leads the middle towards the focal area, the stand of trees. In this case the dirt track clearly leads the towards the copse as well as the expressionless grass clumps in the foreground. The hills and mountains in the altitude gradient downwardly in a manner that subtly redirects the middle dorsum towards the copse.

Poplar Trees and The Remarkables Mountains - Composition.jpg

Colours

I painted this art piece of work in oils merely you can also use acrylics if you prefer. Here is a listing of colours you will need for this painting:

Titanium white
Cadmium yellowish deep
Yellow oxide
Burnt sienna
Quinacridone magenta
Ultramarine blue
Cobalt bluish
Cobalt teal
Pthalo green

Brushes

Y'all won't need a whole range of fancy brushes and I always thing it'southward best to keep it uncomplicated. Now, given that my painting way is that of a plein air painter, my studio paintings aren't massively detailed either and for good reason. I experience that excessive detail tends to ruin the composition every bit the optics and brain are having to decode too much information. Oft the proffer of item is more effective as the encephalon fills in the gaps, it as well makes the paintings look more alive.

With more gestural castor strokes in mind I have opted for using mostly flat brushes, filberts and daggers.

Hither is a listing of the brushes I used in this painting:

No.6 apartment
No.4 flat
No.two flat
No.ii filbert
No.one round
1/2" dagger
3/8" dagger
ane/four" dagger

Tonal Values

Before starting the painting and even in the blueprint process itself I establish where my light and nighttime values are and this will assist to establish the overall tonality of the painting. The primary elements of the tonal scale is light, dark and half tones. Values refer to how low-cal or how night and object is.

In a landscape painting, objects in the distance such as the mountains will take a narrower tonal scale where darks are not quite dark and lights are not quite low-cal. As we come forrad in the painting the tonal scale increases so darks go darker and lights get lighter.

The concept of light and dark values is all-time illustrated when we switch our reference photos from color to black and white. The shadows of the trees are the darkest values merely as we look at the shadows in the distance such as the copse in the mid ground and the mountains in the distance, the shadows become lighter.

The lightest values in the photo is the track, grass, clouds and the snow on the mountains. Keeping in mind of where the lights and darks are in the photo will help with colour mixing every bit well equally achieving a harmonious painting.

Trees and Mountains - Tonality - Darks and Lights.jpg

Blocking-In

I'm painting on a 40cm x 50cm canvas. I have applied a thin layer of burnt sienna to the canvass and allowed information technology to dry out, this helps to warm up the painting as it comes through the paint layers and gives it a more traditional look. It also helps with establishing colour and tone as at that place is less of a distorting effect which can occur from painting on a white surface.

I sketch out the composition with burnt umber mixed with liquin which is a medium that not only thins the paint and improves the flow simply also speeds up the drying time.

Once I accept sketched out the composition I determine where my darkest tones are in the painting, in this example information technology's the shadows in the poplar and sycamore trees in the foreground. Once I accept figured out what my darkest values are I can use it to gauge the rest of my tones in the painting.

I'yard using a No.6 apartment brush as I commencement blocking in, I want to proceed my brush strokes loose and gestural so I will exist pretty much using No.6 apartment brushes throughout the unabridged blocking in stage.

I mix the shadows of the trees using burnt umber, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and a very small corporeality of phthalo green. I utilize this same colour combination with the willow copse in the mid ground but adding a little titanium white to the mix.

I so get-go marking in the shadows in the mountains using a combination of burnt umber, ultramarine blue, quinacridone magenta and titanium white.

Having established my darks I move onto the sky. I mix the deject highlights with titanium white and burnt umber knowing full well that it will mix in nicely with the deject shadows I'yard nearly to add together. I mix the colours of the cloud shadows with the exact same colours as I used for the mountain shadows, burnt umber, ultramarine blue, quinacridone magenta and titanium white. Using this same colour combination for shadows throughout the painting will create more colour harmony. Even the shadows in the foreground trees comprise burnt umber and ultramarine blue.

I mix the blue in the heaven with ultramarine blueish, cobalt blueish, cobalt teal a very tiny amount of quinacridone magenta and titanium white. I vary the amounts of the blues in club to add texture and involvement to the sky.

I cake-in the areas in low-cal on the mountain, the colour results from lots of jagged rocks and tussock grass that grows on the mount and I mix this again with the aforementioned colour combination I used in the sky with the accent on more than burnt umber, I also add I small-scale amount of xanthous oxide into the mix. You can also apply yellow ochre every bit well.

I paint the snow in the mountain with titanium white and burnt umber. The burnt umber helps the snowfall to recede in the painting.

Next I work on the greens in the grass and I'yard sure y'all are wondering, how do you get green to recede in a painting, well the respond lies in desaturating colours. The more desaturated the colour the more it volition recede in the painting.

I mix the colours of the distant fields with yellow oxide, ultramarine bluish and titanium white as a base, and then I add varying amounts cobalt teal, quinacridone magenta and burnt sienna to vary the texture. If the green is likewise saturated I can reduce the blush by adding a color containing its opposite on the colour bike, red, which could include burnt sienna or quinacridone magenta.

I mix the grass in the foreground by starting with cadmium yellow deep, ultramarine blue and titanium white. I then add a trivial burnt sienna, yellow oxide and I kicking up the saturation with phthalo green. Be careful when using phthalo green as information technology'southward a very strong colour and tin can quickly overpower your mixture. I add a piffling cobalt teal in places to vary the texture and color of the grass.

Now to paint the main focal area of the painting and once more using a No.6 apartment brush I start blocking-in the foliage of the trees. Again, I am keeping my castor strokes loose and gestural.

The tone of the foliage is darker than the grass so I must go on this in listen, merely I am basically using the same colour combination for the leafage as I used in the grass, however I volition vary the amounts of the colours in the mix. I darken the leaf from the get become by add more ultramarine blue. The foliage contains more bawdy siennas in the dark-green so I increase then amount of burnt sienna into the mix. Yous might demand to play around with these colours a piffling until yous get the correct ane.

I mix the colour of the path with ultramarine blue, burnt umber and titanium white.

I'm getting near to completion of the block in phase and I add some mud to the grass by mixing burnt umber, ultramarine bluish and a pocket-sized amount of quinacridone magenta with titanium white. I also add the clumps of dead yellowish grass.

I paint the shadows in the dirt track past mixing the same colours I used in the mountain and clouds shadows, burnt umber, ultramarine blue, quinacridone magenta and titanium white. This is a useful colour combination and a adept default color mix to use in a painting.

I complete the blocking-in stage by tidying upwardly the clouds in the sky and merely refining the overall forms in the painting. Once the blocking-in stage is complete I allow the painting to dry so then I can start edifice up the detail.

Building Upwards The Particular

So now that the blocking in process is complete and I have allowed the painting to dry I tin start building up the item. I start by refining the clouds and I am using the same colours that I used in the blocking in phase which include ultramarine blue, burnt umber, quinacridone magenta and titanium white.

I practise want the clouds to be tonally besides light every bit they will jump forward in the painting and distract the viewer from the chief focal area then I darken the tone a little. I also refine the sky and using a No.6 flat I too refine the form of the clouds.

Next I start working on the mountains and again I am using the aforementioned colours as I used in the blocking in phase but I am adding lighter tone in places to refine the shape of the mountains. I don't want to add loads of fine item to the mountains as this will be confusing to the eye and will zap some of the life out of the painting.

Now for the master part of the painting which is adding the detail of the leaf in the stand of trees. I start with the sycamore tree and I am using a filbert castor to pigment the foliage. I am still using the aforementioned colours to mix the greens every bit I did with the blocking in phase which include cadmium xanthous deep, ultramarine blue, phthalo greenish to increase the chroma and titanium white. I am besides adding in places yellow oxide, burnt sienna and quinacridone magenta in guild to make the greens expect more organic.

For the poplar tree backside the sycamore and the other smaller copse I apply a iii/8" dagger brush to give the illusion of different shape leaves. I also vary the colour of the leaf between the trees. I'm edifice up lighter tone each time to give the illusion of solid forms inside the trees.

I refine the trees in the mid ground just I desaturate my greens so the recede in the painting, I'grand still using the same dark-green color combinations simply adding more than yellow oxide and burnt sienna in gild to reduce the saturation of these colours.

I piece of work on the grass in the foreground using a No.half dozen flat brush. The grass is tonally lighter than the foliage in the trees fifty-fifty though I am nevertheless using the same colour combinations, only also adding a footling cobalt teal to the mix hither and there. I need to add more titanium white to my light-green mixes but not so much that the colour becomes chalky. If you find you greens becoming chalky, add more cadmium yellow deep, phthalo green and burnt sienna to the mix. Y'all may have to play around with colour mixture until you get information technology right.

I add more particular to the foliage in the stand up of trees and again applying lighter to than the previous layer.

Next I work on the particular of the dirt track and I am using mostly burnt umber, burnt sienna, ultramarine bluish, a tiny amount of quinacridone magenta and titanium white. I wanted to break the line of the path so I've add clumps of grass to the path border and mud patches in grass.

Last Details

I consummate the painting by adding some more spots of lighter green in the foliage of the stand of trees. I then add together the branches in the poplar and sycamore trees which I mix using a combination of burnt umber, ultramarine blue, a tiny amount of quinacridone magenta and titanium white. For the highlights in the branches I mix titanium white with a little burnt umber and yellowish oxide.

I paint some suggestions of branches in the willow trees in the mid ground.

Overall I refine the stand of trees and the grass in the foreground, it's always quite difficult to know when a painting is finished!

YOUTUBE VIDEO

Check out the painting video that accompanies this blog.

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