Transcripts
1. Introduction: Painting in nature,
you are exposed to all these changing lighting
conditions and sometimes the amount of information that's out there can be overwhelming. This class aims to break that visual information down
to simple brushstrokes. Hi, I'm Rajat Shanbhag, and I'm an oil painter
based in Victoria, BC. My paintings have
been picked up in many international
exhibitions and recently my work was amongst the finalist in the
Art Renewal Center. I'm constantly
drawing inspiration directly from life when
I'm out paintings. I gravitate towards capturing the light and air in the scene. And I want to get
that feeling of being present amidst that
landscape across my works. Being representational artist, I aim to capture the likeness of my subjects by maintaining an abstract quality
in my brushstrokes. In this class, I'll be
taking you on an adventure in my home city of Brentwood
Bay, on Vancouver Island. I'll be doing two demos of my favorite
scenes in the city. Through these lessons, I highly encourage you to create any
landscape that you love. I'll be sharing my thought
process and you will see exactly how I create a
painting from start to finish. We will discuss the
importance of having a strong idea when you're
starting a painting, by going over important
elements like values, color
relationship, edges, and textures, my goal
is to set you up with all the essentials
without feeling overwhelmed. We will work on a
painting as a whole, as one continuous body rather than discrete
objects in space. We'll be going quite in depth in all these different
techniques and practices. So this class is designed
for beginners and anyone who wants to further improve their skills
in this medium. By the end of this class, you will find a new way
of approaching the scene, curate and design a
strong tumbling piece. Develop confidence
in your brushstrokes and help you envision and
develop your unique style. I'm excited that you're here and I'm glad
you're with me on this journey as we explore art and nature as a
shared experience.
2. Your Project: [MUSIC] Let's dive in. Your project is to create an expressive and energetic
landscape from a photo. I have shared two photos in the Resources tab that I'll be using for this demonstration. Please feel free to use any of your own nature photos
for this project. Now that you have a reference
photo to work with, the next step is to
gather your materials. Please watch the next
lesson where I talk about setting up your workspace
with everything you need. Then watch each video lesson and follow along
at your own pace. I would recommend watching
each lesson first, then practicing the skills that are introduced
in that video. As you begin to paint. I would like you to mark your progress as you
walk through the piece. I have broken down the entire painting
demonstration into simple actionable steps. This will help you
to be on track and avoid getting lost
in your painting, and to remain in
sync with the idea or the vision that you want
to convey through your work. Congratulations, now that
you have a masterpiece, I would love to see it, and I'm sure many other
students would want it too. Feel free to upload a photo of your painting in your
project section. Remember to enjoy every part
of your creative journey. You can document and share a
photo every step of the way. Meaning, you can share your color palette or
your studio setup, your works in progress from
any phases of the project. If you're adventurous, show off your painting setup
and progress outdoors, and finally, your
signed masterpiece. You can use a hashtag, ExpresiveLandscape for
sharing on social media, so we can all see what
you're working on. You can always reach out to
me if you have any questions. See you in the next lesson. [MUSIC]
3. Gather Your Materials: Since I'm working outdoors, I'm using an outdoor easel. But if you're working at home, you can use a Studio
Easel or a Pochade Box, whichever is convenient
and accessible to you. For oil paints, I use a mix of paint brands from Winsor
& Newton and Gamblin. I'll be using the limited
palette of cad yellow light, cad yellow medium,
cad red light, transparent red oxide,
ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cerulean
blue, titanium white. In addition to this,
I have Naples yellow, yellow ocher, and cobalt violet. I'll be using flat hair
brushes from size 2-10. Make sure your brushes have a good spring so
that it's capable of manipulating and transferring the paint smoothly
onto the canvas. I use walnut oil as my medium and gamsol
as my paint thinner. Here I'm using a canvas panel
since it's easy to carry outdoors and they are very accessible at any art
supply store these days. If your canvas is
slightly rough to touch, just use a sanding paper
to smoothen it out. The smooth surface helps to transfer the paint
effectively from the brush onto the canvas instead of getting
soaked in the ridges. Besides this, I'll be using a palette knife and
some paper dots. Also, over time when you do
more and more paintings, you will develop your own unique valid that's more
aligned with your taste. Just be open to experimenting and the right color palette
will naturally come to you. Now that we're all set, let's jump into painting
some landscapes.
4. Demo 1: Concept and Design: In this video,
we're going to talk [MUSIC] about the importance
of having an idea, a concept before you
begin a painting, and what you can do
when you feel stuck or feel unmotivated in
the middle of a painting. Here's what usually happens. You see a beautiful landscape, you want to capture
it and in the middle, something goes wrong
and you're like, I don't know what I'm doing. You can definitely avoid this. Before you start, if you take a moment
and see what's the idea or story that you want to
convey in your painting, things get easier, then you have a roadmap. You clearly know the
direction you need to take and the steps required to
arrive at the destination. Let's be realistic, when you are painting outdoors, you have no control over it. The scene changes every second. One moment it might
be sunny and the next moment you might be
two inches deep in snow, I would know I've
lived in Kansas. Also, there may be so many things that you may
be attracted to in the scene. There is no way you
can include them all. However, if you have an idea, then you can pick and
choose the best subjects in the scene that can
help you bring about that idea in the painting. In the first demo, I'm very much drawn
to the reflection of water and the light falling
on the trees around it. I very much want to show what a gorgeous day it
was on the beach, so I'm just going to
focus on this first, tune out all the
other noise and pick whatever is needed to help
me capture that feeling. So the subject either
it be a landscape, a still-life, or a portrait, they are just tools to help
you communicate your ideas. Once you understood this, if you feel that in your bones, your painting
automatically becomes more expressive and loser and
you will be more confident. Using a reference photo
provided or if you have your own landscape
and you wish to work on ask yourself these questions. What interests you? What do you want to communicate? What elements you can
use best to do so? Without much further
ado, let's begin.
5. Placement and Block In: [MUSIC] At this stage, we are looking for an
overall placement of objects in the scene to
find our best composition. With my eye as a guide, I'm trying to determine
the height of the trees with respect
to one another. Preventive foreground,
roughly blocked in, I now go on to sketch the
mountain in the background. Once I'm happy with
the placement, I apply an average color, slightly darker in value in order to block
in my foreground. This will help me to determine the light and
highlights later on. With a similar idea, I now go to blocking the middle ground
and the background. I would recommend using a bigger brush for
your blockings, as you can cover
the ground a lot quicker and also limit
going into the details. If there are clouds in the sky, I first use white
with a touch of cad yellow to determine
their placement. Now, I cover the sky with a light shade
of ultramarine blue. As you can see, I do not
go into any details of any shapes at this stage as we're only determining
the blockings. Do not worry too much
about your brushstrokes at this point as most of them will get covered over
in later stages.
6. Adding Lights: [MUSIC] Now, that I've
finished blocking in the canvas with
average dark colors, I immediately jump
into adding light. Remember, whenever farm starts, it goes from light to dark. I make sure that my hard edges
are always in the light. Hard edges attract
the viewer's eye. However, soft edges do not
attract as much attention. Notice how I lay down the
paint instead of pushing it. What I have personally
found is that if you hold your brush almost
horizontal to the canvas, you can effectively transfer or lay the paint
on top of another. I now add in abstract
and brushstrokes in the foreground close enough to represent the
shapes of the bushes. At this stage, if I want any values in my
darks to go lower, I go ahead and do it. Darks give solidity to a farm. I try to keep two values low in this region as
much as needed. How light or dark you
want your values to be, is based on your
aesthetic perception and what you want to
convey in your painting. At this stage, I continue
adjusting my shapes, my values, and my edges. That's how I go on adding lights and darks after I've
done a block in. In the next video, we will go over how to create
depth in your painting. [MUSIC]
7. Creating Depth: In depth in a
painting is how far or near the object
is from the viewer. The lighter and
unsaturated your color is, the further the
object appears to be. [MUSIC] As you can see, my mountain in the distance has a lighter shade of
green and violet, indicating its way out in the distance when compared
to the foreground trees. [MUSIC] Since I'd like to create
some farm in the mountains, I go on to add a touch
of warmth to my greens, indicating that the
light is hitting, and then turning
towards the shadow, which has a touch of
cooler violet added to it, therefore, creating
an illusion of farm. [MUSIC] Since the background is not the area I want
my viewers to focus on, I make sure I have the soft
edges throughout that region. [MUSIC] Whenever you are painting
on one particular aspect, in this case the background, try to take a few steps back and learn to see the
painting as a whole. This will help you to identify any objects
that are sticking out, that is incoherent
with the painting. [MUSIC] This was
about creating depth. In the next video, we will move ahead to
adding highlights, which is a very important
piece in the puzzle.
8. Highlights: [MUSIC] This is my favorite
part of the painting. I love adding in the highlights. Before I do that, I just want to make the
far end of the water a bit cooler so that it
appears to be in the distance. Highlights attract the viewer. Make sure your focal
point has a bit of a highlight in the areas of
light where a farm begins. One way to achieve this is adding more texture
and saturation. I'm adding more color to the
water in the middle ground as I want my viewers'
attention to this place. Notice how I'm
using the shapes of water to bring out the shapes
of the foreground trees. I used to get stuck and lost in my paintings and for a very
long time, I didn't know why. What I found was I never
really pushed my highlights. Once I started doing that, I knew exactly where
I wanted to go in terms of how I wanted
the end result to look. Once that is taken care of, I just want to add
some details in the background
indicating some rocks beneath the background mountain. This just makes the background a little bit more interesting. Notice how I lay the
paint on top of another. Try experimenting
highlights in your work and see how you can direct your story by playing
with this concept.
9. Details and Negative Spaces: Now that I have
my lights, darks, and highlights in, I move towards making the
shapes more distinct. [MUSIC] Always remember, you are painting shapes
and not things or objects. Once you understand this, you instinctively move towards always painting abstract shapes. Everything starts to
simplify and you can draw and paint
anything from thereon. [MUSIC] Remember, sharp edges make the shape stronger
and also attracts viewers' attention so make sure you don't have too many sharp
edges in your painting. [MUSIC] You can try using a palette knife to
make interesting textures. I use it all the time to
make any detailed lines. For instance, here from
branches in the tree. Have some fun and experiment what you can do
with the palette knife. [MUSIC] I repeat the process to make some distinct edges
on this tree line as well. If you have any sharp
edges in your darks, just use a big clean brush
to soften the edges. [MUSIC] As you can
see instantly, the eye shifts focus
from the dark and move towards the edges of the
trees, towards the light. As you begin to paint more, you begin to understand the ideas that you
want to express in your work and you will
instinctively get better at budgeting your
hard and soft edges. [MUSIC] I now add in a touch of transparent
ultramarine blue in the dark to get some of that atmospheric
quality in my scene. [MUSIC] Now, to move the
light in the foreground, I lay down the paint
with the brush almost parallel to the canvas
with some saturated color. Since I do not want to
attract any attention here, I am softening the edge between the bushes and the trees. [MUSIC] Small details
like adding in a fence can really make the
scene complete with some human elements in it that give a perspective of
a larger landscape. Try adding details
of your choice which can strengthen your
story in the painting.
10. Painting Skies: For the sake of
this demonstration, I thought I would present
a slide just to make the understanding of the nature
on the skies much easier. Remember, the sky is
the source of light. Hence, it should be
lighter in value compared to anything
else in the scene. Once you know the
direction of light, try to paint the sky closest to the source of
light lighter in value and go a bit darker by adding more color as you
go away from the source. What this does is it
gives an illusion of subtle form to the skies and indicates the
roundness of the earth. You can keep the lit side a bit warmer and the shadow side a bit darker and cooler to
get the illusion of form. While painting
clouds, try to keep the values very close
and edges soft. Try to look at the furthest
object in the painting. In our case, it's the mountains. Then try to keep the
value range of the clouds narrower than the value
range of those mountains. I continue making some
minor adjustments to the lights and darks until I find a form I am looking for. Always remember, try
not to copy the scene, but ask what your painting
needs to make it work. Answers are in the canvas
and not in nature. Because trying to copy
nature is a futile effort. I hope this helped you get a better understanding
of painting skies. Now let's add some
finishing touches and complete the painting.
11. Finishing Touches: [MUSIC] Congratulations
because we're just about to be done
with this painting. To show more perspective
to the landscape, I'm going to try to add
in some boats as well. I love using pallet knives
for forming small object, so here we go. As you see, I'm just adding some very basic shapes
that resemble a boat. After every few minutes, make it a habit to take a step back and learn to see
the painting as a whole. If some shapes are not working, give yourself to complete liberty to go in and
make those changes. As painting evolves, you need to make
decisions that best suit your ideas that you want
to convey in the painting. Always make those decisions based on what you're
painting needs, rather than the reference photo or the scene you
are working from. Painting is just pushing
pieces of paint on the canvas until they look
like a shape or form. This way of thinking
will help you to keep your painting loose and
be filled with energy. Finally, I use a liner
brush or something sharp, like even the
backend of my brush handle to add my signature. I'm so glad you stuck
around till the end. Now let's try to rewind
and use these techniques for another landscape so that we really
understand the process.
12. Demo 2: Introduction: The second demo is really
about instilling the ideas and the concepts from the first so that you can understand
the process better. For this painting,
you can see I've used two references of the same scene as it was changing constantly. As I said earlier, if you have a strong idea, you will be in control of your painting no matter
what happens out in nature. I was really drawn
into the light hitting the hills and the sky
opening up at the same time, almost what it would
look like after a stone. Let's try to work this one out and discover what we can do.
13. Design and Block In: In this stage, we look for an overall placement of
objects in the scene. The tone-down
transparent red oxide, I moved towards sketching
the background. I simplify the scene, considering water to
be in the foreground and hills and clouds
to be my background. Once I have my
background sketched, I immediately go into
blocking in with some darks. Since there is a shadow
falling on the nearest hill, I add a cooler dark to
bring about this effect. As I progress to block
in the distant hill, notice how I increase the
value and make it even cooler to indicate the distance
between the two hills. I also begin to locate the
clouds with some warm white. Again, this is not final and we will be going over to
make changes later. [MUSIC] I also want to lay a brief emphasis on where my lights
are going to be. Starting with the distant hill, I add in pale warm green to the mountain and some
warm white to the clouds. [MUSIC] Once I have roughly placed the clouds, I add some sky color toward
the negative spaces. Here, I use celerio blue and white just to keep my blue
slightly on the cooler side. For the nearest hill, I add in a brighter warmer
green to capture light. With the cooler
green next to it, the combination makes
the whole scene pop. [MUSIC] As you can see here, really going after the
effect of what you want in your painting early on, makes the process very
focused and easy. Now, let's move on to developing this painting and adding
some lights and details.
14. Lights and Details: Once I block in the background, I proceed to block out the foreground water with
an average dark color. I usually keep the water
to be blocked in at the end as it usually reflects what's around it
and in our case, it's the color of the
hills surrounding it. I'm just laying down warm green and cool
green notes that the water is picking up
from the hill behind it. To get some perspective
of the size of the hills, I lay down some abstract
shapes that represent boats; to lay the paint on top of
another and try to keep your brush as flat as
possible to the canvas. Now, I go with the painting for any gaps and add lights
to the areas of interest. As always, with a
big soft brush, I like to soften the
edges in the darks and the areas that I don't want
to draw any attention to. By now, you should be
able to see your idea forming or the story that
you wanted to convey. In the next video, we will work on adding some finishing touches that will help strengthen this piece. [MUSIC]
15. Finishing Touches: [MUSIC] We are almost at the end here. But before calling
this painting done, I wanted to add another board to really get a sense of space. I start by placing some darks. As you can see, I'm not
really painting a boat, but just an abstract image
that looks like a boat. With some really
basic shapes and with correct positioning of
the lights and darks, you can paint any form. To draw lines, you can either use
a palette knife or a sharp end of the brush
as I'm doing here. With just a bit more
refining of the shapes into dark and adding some
reflections on the water, the boat now seems whole
with its surroundings. Here's the product. Adding
in a mast really grabs the attention and your brain processes the image as a boat, so make sure you
add some masts in. Here in some places, I added some darks to get a delineation of the
hill from water. Try to keep the shapes interesting and as
abstract as possible. Here is the final piece. I really hope you enjoyed this demonstration
and we'd love to see your approach of capturing this lovely scene from the reference photos
that are provided. Happy painting. [MUSIC]
16. Conclusion: Congratulations, we are
at the end of our course. I'm so happy you
stuck around as we journey towards painting
some amazing landscapes. We saw how any
complicated outdoor scene can be broken down into
simple and actionable steps. Starting with
developing an idea, we move towards blocking in the scene with large
abstract shapes. We then adjusted the lights, darks and highlights
to help us towards the idea or vision that
you wanted to convey. We also learned to add textures to bring in more
dynamics in our work. If there's one thing I hope you take away from this
class is this, painting is an abstraction. It's all about manipulating
paint on the canvas, simplifying shapes, and seeing the scene as a whole
rather than object. Once you understand this, you will be ready to tackle
any subject or scene, whether it be a landscape or
still-life or a portrait. Do remember to share
your painting in the Your Project
section of this course. You can use the hashtag
expressivelandscape to share your artwork
on social media. If you enjoyed today's class, please leave a review and follow my profile to get updates
on future classes. If you would like to work
with me to jumpstart your creative life and create a thriving body of work
that you can be proud of, follow the link below
and drop me a message. That's it. I hope this class
encouraged you to explore outdoors more and document the beautiful scenes
through your paintings. Create the artwork
that you are proud of. Thanks again and see you next
time, and happy painting.
17. Bonus: Gallery Tour: Congratulations on
completing this course. I hope it was valuable and I can't wait to
see your paintings. I thought I would show some
works around our gallery. ArtVerse Gallery is located in Brentwood Bay on
Vancouver Island. I hope you enjoy the tour and
see you in the next lesson. [MUSIC]
Rajat Shanbhag, Artist | Nature Enthusiast
