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 series, eight landscape artists from our Year-Long Online Landscape Course 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.
Maggie O’Brien working on Marazion Beach, Cornwall.
"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."
Painting by Maggie O’Brien of Mounts Bay.
"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.
Year-Long Online Landscape Course
The 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, directed and hosted by Anita Reynolds. 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 visit 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 here.