Painting Landscapes Outside Can Be A Challenge!...
February 22, 2009
By Anna Meenaghan
It is always good when you are in your home, as you can take as much time as is needed to paint. However, it can be more enjoyable and challenging to go to a location outside.
As I may have mentioned in my other articles, you need to be both comfortable and warm. At all costs you need to keep your feet warm and wear old clothes with plenty of pockets. I also carry a hat that will fold up in my pocket.
When you are out and about, there are quite a few differences you will meet. Firstly, I think you need some confidence to go outdoors and paint in all weathers to suit your current mood
So, here goes. Really, what you need to decide to do, is to work fairly quickly and not waste valuable time as the elements can be very changeable. I think most artists would probably have already put a fairly thin undercoat on their canvas before they left home, to give them a quite strong base to work on.
What I personally find helpful, is to carry with me, like a cardboard frame border. I can then, after I have spent time looking at my subject, look through this and choose which bits I will draw.
You don't necessarily have to put in everything you see before you. This can be a big mistake, as then your painting can look busy and overcrowded. Personally, I look for the parts which basically shout out at me. Sometimes the subjects are strong and other times pretty non-nondescript.
Do not hang about to long, get your pencil on the canvas and do some of your preliminary sketches. Then make some principal guide lines with thin paint, but there is little point in trying to fill in all your white spaces as you want your paint to dry.
Using a few definite colours I would try and fill in the majority of the painting. You need to get some of your colours on your work before the weather takes a different turn, or the light changes.
It is hard when you look at the picture you currently see to decide what colours to use. You need light and shade in your work, so this is something to bear in mind. So make sure you have both dark and light in your paintwork to give you good effects, shadows for example.
Like I said, do not spend much time filling in unnecessary details. The rule is just to do the basics. I am never afraid to put in strong details or not to do the actual same colours. After all, if the light changes you can hope it may change back again. You have to make a decision whether to stay or pack up and go home and complete it from memory.
Painting out of doors can give you such satisfaction, with interesting realistic dramatic results!
As I may have mentioned in my other articles, you need to be both comfortable and warm. At all costs you need to keep your feet warm and wear old clothes with plenty of pockets. I also carry a hat that will fold up in my pocket.
When you are out and about, there are quite a few differences you will meet. Firstly, I think you need some confidence to go outdoors and paint in all weathers to suit your current mood
So, here goes. Really, what you need to decide to do, is to work fairly quickly and not waste valuable time as the elements can be very changeable. I think most artists would probably have already put a fairly thin undercoat on their canvas before they left home, to give them a quite strong base to work on.
What I personally find helpful, is to carry with me, like a cardboard frame border. I can then, after I have spent time looking at my subject, look through this and choose which bits I will draw.
You don't necessarily have to put in everything you see before you. This can be a big mistake, as then your painting can look busy and overcrowded. Personally, I look for the parts which basically shout out at me. Sometimes the subjects are strong and other times pretty non-nondescript.
Do not hang about to long, get your pencil on the canvas and do some of your preliminary sketches. Then make some principal guide lines with thin paint, but there is little point in trying to fill in all your white spaces as you want your paint to dry.
Using a few definite colours I would try and fill in the majority of the painting. You need to get some of your colours on your work before the weather takes a different turn, or the light changes.
It is hard when you look at the picture you currently see to decide what colours to use. You need light and shade in your work, so this is something to bear in mind. So make sure you have both dark and light in your paintwork to give you good effects, shadows for example.
Like I said, do not spend much time filling in unnecessary details. The rule is just to do the basics. I am never afraid to put in strong details or not to do the actual same colours. After all, if the light changes you can hope it may change back again. You have to make a decision whether to stay or pack up and go home and complete it from memory.
Painting out of doors can give you such satisfaction, with interesting realistic dramatic results!
About the Author:
This guide was written by contemporary artist Anna Meenaghan. If you would need to find more guides about painting, then why not visit her interactive, online art gallery where all her guides are in one place? As a contemporary painter I have hugely benefited from her advice & my own art is also showcased there. Footnote by Michael Bruckner.
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