Land & Sky:
Principles of Atmosphere in Oil
Thursdays, 2-4pm
May 23rd - June 27th, 2024
6 Week Landscape Painting Class
By popular demand, I am offering a class focused on my newest love: Painting landscapes and skyscapes!
Establish Depth First
We'll begin by learning how to establish the feeling of distance between different landmasses before adding texture and detail. This will be balanced by adding form to select features in the painting through the use of light logic and form painting.
Explore Varied Terrain
Principles of atmospheric perspective apply not just to green foliage, but also to rock, desert, cityscapes: Anywhere that you can see distance! Photos from a large variety of landscapes will be available as reference.
Revel in the Magic of Skies
We'll cover the way hues shift in the open sky at various times of day, as well as how to paint clouds with convincing volume and luminosity. Often this is just an afterthought in landscape painting, but we'll cover it as a primary topic.
Is this course good for beginners?
YES! While this course is not as comprehensive as Foundations of Oil Painting, it is structured to begin with basic concepts before progressing to more challenging techniques.
Lesson 1: Showing Distance with Values
Start with the basics. Getting the Values right is 90% of the challenge! In fact, you can change the colors so long as you keep the Values in check.
Lesson 2: Showing Distance with Color
Now that you can control Value in paint, learn how Hue and Chroma change with distance. This part is fascinating! Learn how both green and orange can appear blue or purple in the distance, and why.
Lesson 3: Painting Skies
Do the rules from lessons 1 & 2 apply to skies? You'll learn the reliable pattern that sky colors follow at various times of day, as well as an intriguing situation where those rules can be broken.
Lesson 4: The Colors & Form of Clouds
Clouds are often doing the opposite thing as the sky, and they're tricky because they have form, yet light can also pass through them. Learn what to look for when painting these abstract forms!
Lesson 5: Atmospheric Perspective in Water
Will water follow the rules that we apply to land, to skies, or does water have its own set of rules entirely? In this lesson you'll get the dl on the different ways water can show up in a painting.
Lesson 6: Form & Distance in Composition
Let's bring together your favorite elements in a project where you marry the concepts from this course with principles of design to create a more thought-out painting.