Tips for Landscape Painting on Location

Landscape painting on location can be a very rewarding practice, though it can also present some challenges due to the ever-changing nature of the landscape and the elements. In this article, eight landscape artists from Newlyn School of Art share their methods and top tips for landscape painting on location; from navigating colour to experimenting with composition, as well as tips on how to prepare your materials in advance for portability. Plus, read through to find out about the new Year-Long Online Landscape Course from Newlyn School of Art.

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Eight Landscape Artists Share Their Tips for Landscape Painting on Location

 

Paul Lewin: You Don’t Have to Fit All of the Landscape in

“When gathering information in the landscape I travel light. I walk with just a sketchbook and a couple of soft B grade pencils. When something grabs my attention, I stop and make a drawing. I keep my drawings simple and the marks fresh by not overworking them. By looking and making drawings, I will get a feel for the area, and this introduces me to the landscape.”

 

 

“When you are outside, the landscape is so huge it’s sometimes hard to know where to start. So I recommend spending some time sitting and thinking about what you are interested in, and what you want to portray before you start. Once you have warmed up with a few sketches, and have the compositions worked out, you can start painting.”

 

Paul’s Tips

• Decide on a focal point and where the edges of your drawing are going to be.
• You don’t have to fit all of the landscape in, select a smaller section of it.
• Rough out the big compositional shapes.
• Put in the main tonal values, where the light and dark areas are. Try squinting to eliminate the details.
• Use a range of different directional marks to describe the different areas such as soft and flowing for the sea and hard and linear for the cliffs.
• Keep the energy in your marks.
• Try not to overdo the drawings, less is more.

 

 

Imogen Bone: Be Selective About What You Are Recording

“I make a series of thumbnail sketches when on location. I use loose sheets of cartridge paper taped to a lightweight board. If you are encumbered by carrying too much equipment, you tend not to explore and move around. I take a simple kit made up of small pots of pre-mixed acrylic paint, a couple of different sized flat brushes, and a range of Caran d’Ache Neocolour crayons. Once the main body of the painting is laid down, I can tap in some directional marks, and indicate movement and light using the crayons on top. They are lightweight and easy to use. As well as making studies, I also take photographs of the viewpoints I’ve been working on. I print these out as thumbnails to use as reference, particularly for geographical accuracy. It is very important to get to know your subject, understanding how your chosen landscape is put together will help you to portray it in the language you wish to.”

 

 

Imogen’s Tips:

• Make several studies of the same view but vary the compositions and focus for each study.
• Try using a limited palette to create a harmonious body of work that sits well together.
• When scaling up, remember to scale up your tools and marks, as well as the paper size.
• Be selective about what you are recording.
• Simplify your marks to one or two bold considered marks rather than lots of smaller indecisive ones.

 

 

Sam Boughton: Select Colours That Evoke the Seasons

“When I select landscapes to visit I look for places that are layered. Locations with foregrounds that have movement in them such as grasslands, and interesting features in the distance such as trees and cloudy skies.

When I first arrive, I set my materials out directly on the ground and then take time to feel what is happening around me. Is it warm, cool, or windy? Is there any movement, such as birds? I try to absorb the landscape, and that will give me an idea of how I will begin to paint.

I take a variety of different sized sketchbooks to provide a range of compositional choices. I also carry loose sheets of paper in a variety of formats, Daler FW acrylic inks, and a box of Unison Colour chalk pastels and brushes. The inks are delicate and fluid and I love the way they move across the paper and how I can use them to build up layers of colour and tone. The pastels sit on the dried inks beautifully and give a dynamic contrast to the softer ink layers.”

 

 

Sam’s Tips:

• Leave a page gap between studies in your sketchbook, this helps to keep the paintings clean and it also means you can remove the sketches from the book to work from, and put up, back in the studio.
• Try using different coloured papers such as cream, grey or white, this creates another dynamic to the paintings.
• Work on several sketches simultaneously, you can then use the ink mixes on each piece.
• Try using the inks in a diluted form as well as straight from the bottle.
• Experiment with combining colours, select colours that evoke the seasons and weather conditions.
• Select the right tools for the marks you want to make. A large dry stiff brush will make scratchy marks that would be ideal for grasses whereas a soft wide wetter brush would be ideal for the sky.
• Look for contrasts in marks, for example, large solid marks against small delicate ones.

 

 

Anita Reynolds: Collect Dead Materials From the Landscape

“When I am visiting and researching a location I take time to look more closely at the minutiae of the landscape rather than only focussing on the broader, larger view. I visit locations at different times of the year and in different weather conditions. These intimate studies of a place help me to gain a deeper understanding of the landscape, it encourages me to slow down and learn more about the geology, flora and history of my chosen location.

I take a sketchbook for noting down colours that I see when out and about. I find that recording the colours using words is often more useful: “the fern was a zesty yellow green with rusty red tips on the fronds”. I also take a small bag for collecting any materials I find on the ground, a camera and a pair of binoculars for any animal sightings.

I use the macro setting on my camera to take close up landscape shots and store them according to the place and season, I also print them out to refer to in the studio. These minute details of the landscape are one of the ways I create colour palettes for my paintings and monotype prints. I use the foraged materials to create collage papers and monoprints that are incorporated into my mixed media works. To make these I use lightweight papers, a Gelli plate, acrylics and printing inks.”

 

 

Anita’s Tips

• Note the colours you see when walking, record the location and date and any words and memories of the day.
• Use these colour studies to create your larger landscape artworks.
• As well as looking at colour you can also look for repeating patterns, textures and forms that can be used to find an abstracted approach to representing the landscape.
• Collect dead materials from the landscape such as plant forms, sticks, feathers and leaves. These can be used to make drawings and to use as home made tools or to print from.
• To create collage papers use papers that are lightweight such as tracing paper, tissue or Japanese papers.

 

 

Debbie Mackinnon: Explore Mark-making With a Variety of Tools

“When I arrive in a new country with very different landscapes to my home in Australia I spend the first couple of days just walking and thinking. I walk in a mindful way and only start making work once I have connected to the place.

Drawing is very important to me, I work in sketchbooks when travelling. If I haven’t drawn it, I haven’t seen it. I work very fast, I find this stops me from over complicating the drawings and it helps me to simplify the landscape. I ask myself ‘What can I leave out?’ and if I can edit more out I will.

I use collage in my work, I make my own papers and also use old drawings and paintings. These can be used to edit out areas that are not working in a composition or as a random background to draw back onto. I use a wide variety of materials including acrylics, Dewent Inktense sticks, inks, and gouache.”

 

 

Debbie’s Tips

• Keep to a restricted colour palette to prevent the work getting muddy and confused.
• Explore mark-making with a variety of tools. For example marks made with the Inktense pencils are different from the marks made with a stick and ink.
• Try using old drawings and paintings as backgrounds for new work. Carry a few with you and then select one that connects with your landscape in some way, such as the colour or the marks in it.
• Try making your own tools such as sticks and other materials found in the landscape to make marks with rather than just brushes.
• Work fast and don’t ‘overwork’ it.

 

 

Mike Staniford: Colours Don’t Have to Be True to Life

“I spend a lot of time travelling, both at home in Australia and abroad, and I return to landscapes that I have made a connection with. I have become fascinated with trees and they frequently feature in my work. They all have their own characteristics that are unique to each species and location.

When I first arrive on location I will usually start by making a series of black and white charcoal drawings either in a sketchbook or on sheets of paper. I use these to warm up and re-familiarise myself with the place. The purpose of these studies is to capture information and then process and represent that information; changing elements and adding components to suit the composition. Putting things in and taking them out is all part of the editing process. Once back in the studio I use these charcoal studies and memory to make paintings. Working from memory is a wonderful thing, it’s amazing how a simple quick drawing can conjure up the time spent in a landscape. Colour is an entity itself, I use colour to present my own vision of the world.

I use watercolour or heavyweight paper sketchbooks, pencils, charcoal and rubber, acrylics with mediums, gouache, inks and pastels and Posca pens.”

 

 

Mike’s Tips

• Try drawing with your non-dominant hand, the marks you get are less controlled and have a free and playful nature to them.
• Use a rubber to draw with when making charcoal studies, you are not “rubbing out” you are adding light.
• Take licence with colour. Be fearless and bold with it to capture the imagination of the viewer. Colours don’t have to be true to life.
• Try working on a brightly coloured background and leave some of it visible in your finished paintings.

 

 

Maggie O’Brien: Let the Painting Talk to You

“My landscape painting hovers somewhere between figuration and abstraction. I spend most of my time in remote coastal locations in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. I rarely do finished work outside, I have many bits and pieces, loose half-finished studies, drawings in pen, pastel or watercolour. For me, drawing in the landscape is a kind of deep seeing; it cements things, commits them to memory. I try to paint the feel and emotional stirring of the landscape, its atmosphere and weather, rather than the look of it.

I take out a selection of small boards of different shapes, sizes and colours to choose from. The supports have already been primed with two to three layers of acrylic gesso and coloured with a wash of acrylic. I use Alkyd Oil paints on location and traditional oils back in the studio. I take a variety of flat, round and sash brushes with me plus my favourite tool, which is a square ended palette knife. I take a hot and cool of each primary colour plus a few earth colours, and white, I know I can mix what I need with this combination of colours.”

 

 

Maggie’s Tips

• Spend time colour mixing at home before working outside.
• Take a limited palette with you, this will make colour mixing on location easier and create a harmonious painting.
• Allow yourself space in your compositions, you need to let the painting breathe.
• Let the painting talk to you, make changes and adjustments as you paint and don’t worry if you make a mistake or lose your way. You can easily take oil paint off and put it back on again.

 

 

Anthony Garratt: Keep Your Lines and Marks Fluid

“When visiting a new landscape I do some research before I go. I need to understand what has led me there and why it is of interest to me. I can then decide what materials are appropriate to take out with me. For quick oil paint studies I use Arches Oil paper. For a more durable surface I use primed canvasses and plywood panels. Materials I use include acrylics, oils, inks and spray paints with a wide range of brushes, plus more unusual tools such as tar brushes and shower squeegees.

On arrival I take time to walk and think, in a notebook I make a list of simple words and reactions to the place. I then select one or two of these “drivers” to inspire my painting route. Next I make a series of rapid continuous line drawings and paint studies, these are the marks that might form the base of a painting or be the completion of it. I rarely use sketchbooks, I make my first marks directly onto the supports. The purpose of working on site for me is to get the marks and impulse of the place down to an extent which is not possible in the studio. There is plenty of time to make a painting.”

 

 

Anthony’s Tips

• Use old paintings or drawings and prime over them to create an interesting textured surface.
• Go for quantity and diversity. These onsite studies are not meant to be beautiful, they are a collection of ingredients for a potential painting.
• Keep your lines and marks fluid and responsive whilst thinking of what the landscape is saying to you.
• Make lots of starts, don’t hurry to ‘finish’ your work at this stage. Let them rest for a while before making a decision on what to do next.

 

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Year-Long Online Landscape Course

The new year-long online course has contributions from 16 respected landscape painters, each sharing filmed demonstrations. The artists have devised over 80 exercises for participants to complete alongside studio visits, professional development, and interviews. The pre-recorded course is delivered online over six sessions. Anita Reynolds is the lead for the creation of the filmed course. The course is designed to be experienced from the comfort of your own studio/home, and with 18 months of access you can really make the most of the wealth of information, exercises and tips from all of these respected landscape artists

Uniquely, the course also includes over 40 looped films of the locations these artists often go to, for participants to paint from, of the coastline and moorland around Cornwall and Devon. There’s amazing drone footage, guidance, and countless tips on how to energise and improve your landscape painting practice.

View the Year-Long Online Landscape Course from Newlyn School of Art here.

 

 

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Further Reading

Tips for Painting While Travelling

Inside the Sketchbook of Louise Balaam

Tips for Watercolour Glazing

Preparatory Drawing Methods for Painting

 

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