Landscape painting an introduction

Landscape art, also known as landscape painting, is the are of depicting landscapes – natural scenes such as valleys, mountains, trees, forests, and rivers, especially where the main subject is a wide view – with its parts placed in a coherent composition. In some works, landscape backgrounds for figure paintings can still form an important part of the canvas. Sky is almost always included in the work, and weather is often a large part of the composition. Detailed landscapes as a specific subject are not found in all artistic traditions, and develop when there is already a sophisticated tradition of representing other subjects. The two main traditions come from Chinese painting and western art, going back well over a millennium in both cases. The realisation of a spiritual element in landscape art is present from its beginnings in East Asian artwork, drawing on Daoism and other philosophical traditional thoughts, but in the West only becomes explicit with Romanticism

An example of a landscape painting by Van Gogh

An example of a modern landscape painting by Stuart Wright see more on https://wrightsonarts.com

The title “landscape” entered the modern English language as landskip (variously spelt), an anglicization of the Dutch landschap , around the beginning of the 17th century, purely as a term for pieces of art, with its first use as a word for a painting in 1598. Within 30 years it was used to describe vistas in poetry, and eventually as a term for real views. However the cognate term landscaef or landskipe for a cleared patch of land had existed in Old English, though it is not recorded from Middle English. Landscape views in art may be entirely imaginary, or copied from reality with varying degrees of accuracy. If the primary purpose of a picture is to depict an actual, specific place, especially including buildings prominently, it is called a topographical view. Such views, extremely common as prints in the West, are often seen as inferior to fine art landscapes, although the distinction is not always clear; similar prejudices existed in Chinese art, where literati painting usually depicted imaginary views, while professional court artists painted real views, often including palaces and cities.
Modern landscape painting can use a lot of texture or use a lot of metallic paint, or even be so abstract as to be almost unrecognisable as a landscape painting.

An example of a modern abstract landscape painting available on my website

An example of a cherry tree painting 

abstract painting an introduction

Abstract painting uses a visuals of shape, form, color and line to create a painting which can exist with a degree of independence from visual realities in nature.. It can be called modern art or contemporary art art had been. The arts of different cultures can be show using abstract painting or it can be a form of expression of emotion…one could say that red paint can visualise anger.
Abstract art can be created in many ways, using anything from the curve of a wheel to ruler to help create it. plaster , rubber, cloth, fabric, wood, even mud has been used to create abstract art.

An Example of an abstract painting

for more photos see abstract painting

To the abstract painter, abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. Many people get a sense of satisfaction from creating something from nothing, paint can be thrown, sprayed, splattered into any form you wish, acrylic paint is especially useful for abstract pieces as it allows work to dry quickly and new layers can be painted on top or previous, it also allows for very thick layers of paint, though this can take longer to dry ,but can be speeded up using a hair dryer or radiator for instance.

Abstract art representation can be slight, partial, or complete. Even art that aims for precision of the highest accuracy can be said to be abstract, at least theoretically, since perfect representation is likely to be exceedingly hard to achieve. Artwork which takes liberties, altering for instance color and form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstracted. Totally abstract bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable. In geometric abstraction, for instance, one is unlikely to find references to naturalistic forms.. Figurative art and total abstraction are almost mutually exclusive
Both geometric abstract art and lyrical abstraction can be totally abstract. Among the various art movements that embody semi abstract art would be for instance fauvism in which color is conspicuously and deliberately altered vis-a-vis reality, and cubism, that blatantly changes the forms of the real life entities shown.

Abstract paintings can take many shapes and forms, one popular subject is dramatic abstract art , full of life and spontaneity.   An example of this can be seen here

Valentines Day gift, painting. How to paint tutorial the original “We found love” contemporary art

Last week i decided to start a new painting , and i also decided to video it, to show people how it was done.

valentines day painting art love romance canvas contemporary art

Stage One. Building the background of the painting, cream & prussian blue are mixed to give an undercoating, I find using two coats of paint always works best for creating a background, the colours are stronger & the colours blend more evenly. Always allow the first coat to dry , before painting the second….

background art for valentines day

Stage Two. Building the clouds, you can use your hands for this, don’t try too hard, just let your hands be loose & experiment a bit.

painting clouds for valentine art

Stage Three Tracing and painting the silhouettes.  This really is easier done with tracing paper, I used to spend time trying to copy from photos , but this is faster & easier. but remember whatever you trace will appear on your painting in reverse, I used a 2b pencil for this stage.  I was unsure whether to paint the silhouettes in black or brown, but in the end i do think brown worked best.

A small brush is need for the detail on the painting

Stage Four Adding the shadows, this is done using a brown colour pencil. Build the colour up gently , until you are pleased with the way it looks, you don’t need to make it too detailed.

And lastly the edges need to be painted…I hope this is of some use to people !

See the final product here