How To Paint Landscapes

Landscape, with its harmonious combination of trees, flowers, lakes, rivers, hills, sunlight, dew drops, shadows, and a host of other elements, is the true essence of nature. To spend a blissful day in the lap of nature, soaking in the warm glow of the sun, and letting the imagination work as a brush on the canvas, is truly a wish that not many see to fruition. One of the joys of painting landscapes is to create a work of art that derives inspiration from nature’s most beautiful work. That is why landscapes were the favorite subject of many 16^th and 17^th century painters, and looking at those paintings now, who can blame them? For anyone with an interest in painting or wishing to cultivate one’s desire into canvas, painting landscapes is a great way to give vent to the creative outpour. For a novice painter, the best is to start with landscapes as it is highly versatile from deserts to rolling hills. One benefit of painting landscapes is that you are not bound by any definite rules, as long as it pleases the eye. You can paint a landscape, giving it an idea and element of your own. Landscape painting is in every way a stimulating and rewarding experience. Read below for some landscape painting tips.

Painting Landscapes

While painting landscapes, do not try to put everything that you see on the canvas. Instead, concentrate on a small area, so that you can include more detail in your landscape.
Before painting, you should select what you want to paint. Determine the elements of the landscape that you wish to paint so that you can include these in your painting.
Focus on the elements of the landscape and use the landscape as a reference so that the elements stand out in detail.
Just because you are painting something that is already there doesn’t mean that you do not use your imagination and follow only your eyes. In landscape painting, imagination lends a stronger composition. A vivid imagination also gives you the freedom to rearrange the elements of the landscape, making the painting a work of art and not merely a painted photograph. With your imagination, you can capture the essence of the landscape.
While painting in detail is good, it doesn’t make sense to paint the whole landscape with the same degree of detail. Too much detailing makes the painting look cluttered. When painting landscapes, include more detail in the foreground and less in the background. This will make the foreground stand out. Since, the foreground is the more important part of the painting, the detail here will attract the eye of the viewer.
In a landscape painting, green is the color you need to look out for, which makes it important for you to learn to mix your own greens. Because of the number of variety and intensity of greens in nature, you may not find the exact shade that you want. As such it is very important that you learn how to bring in the shade by missing two colors.
The intensity of the green color depends upon the proportion of the blue or yellow combination that you use. You can always mix and match the variation of the proportion of blue or green. You may not achieve the perfect color at once, but make sure you keep your patience intact. Only practice would help you master the technique.
Explore your color range and don’t just stick to basics! Try various color combination to get the desired color. For example, if you want muted greens, then you can mix a little black color with the yellow. You might not be right every time, but it doesn’t pay to explore a little.
Landscapes undergo a number of changes in a span of a few hours. So, it is better if you paint the landscape again and again. This will help you to capture the landscape in different lights and seasons. Also, you can do a number of paintings of the same landscape that highlights different moods and tones.

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