Drawing & Painting Trees in the Landscape

More about the book

Bestselling author and naturalist Claudia Nice presents an essential guide for landscape artists focused on painting trees in their natural settings. With her inspiring style and detailed visual instruction, Claudia begins with the basics, teaching you to simplify reference photos and outdoor vistas into manageable shapes, colors, and textures. She guides you through creating vibrant compositions featuring majestic trees and foliage, covering techniques for mapping out successful compositions, and providing a variety of basic tree shapes to reference, including over 40 conifers, hardwoods, and deciduous trees. You'll discover proven color mixes for a spectrum of vibrant hues, from the diverse greens of foliage to the soft pastels of spring blossoms, using various mediums like watercolor, oil, acrylics, or mixed media. Step-by-step instructions help you capture essential details, such as the textures of bark, the sculptural forms of bare branches in winter, and the character of aged mossy trunks. Claudia also shares smart techniques for any medium, including simple watercolor washes for distant foliage and "knife painting" in oils for added dimension. Whether you're aiming to create field sketches, paint on your travels, or capture views in your backyard, Claudia makes the process enjoyable and rewarding. Each step is like a walk in the woods, allowing you to relax, enjoy, and learn something new.