Acrylic Landscape Painting Step by Step

About the Artist

I’m Will Kemp, I’m an award-winning professional artist and teacher.

Prior to painting full time I’ve worked in Museums, taught in schools, set up and ran my own gallery for 5 years and have taught hundreds of people to paint and draw.

I’ve studied Classical atelier techniques in Italy alongside conceptual art at the Tate Gallery, London.

I’ve painted in watercolours, acrylics and oils and my styles have ranged from abstract; impressionistic to realistic portraiture in order to realise my own personal style.

I’ll teach you to become selective with composition, demystify colour mixing, achieve perfect perspective, and see the benefits of dramatic use of contra
st.

I’m looking forward to you joining me on your creative journey of discovery

www.willkempartschool.com

Acrylic Landscape Painting Step by Step

The following is a 4 part video series created by Artist Will Kemp of Will Kemp Art School.  This video series will demonstrate how to paint a beautiful landscape painting in acrylics.

You can download a copy of the photograph Will uses in this demo from his Website here.  The same page will also list the materials that you need to paint along with Will.

Part 1

Will begins the demonstration by first toning his canvas with a warm colored ground.  Toning your canvas covers the bright white of the canvas and makes it easier to judge colors. It also gives your painting a warm glow that can show through to the final painting.  Will is using a bright yellow ground for this painting.  Will has a free video lesson on how he tones a canvas here if you would like to learn more. 

Next, using a 3b pencil, he draws out the basic shapes of the composition.  He uses this pencil as its dark enough, doesn’t smudge all that much and is fairly easy to erase.

When he is happy with his drawing, he then begins to paint in his lights and darks.  Before you begin painting along, you might be interested in watching Will’s other free video on how he chose the right brushes for this particular landscape painting. 

For the darkest dark of the block in he is using straight burnt umber.  You will notice that in certain spots  his paint application is thinner than others.  This is done purposely to allow the warm glow of the underpainting to shine through.  Now, for the brightest areas of the painting where the sun is shining through the clouds, he uses titanium white.  (See Will’s article on The Importance of Contrast in Painting)

Part 2

Will now begins to block in the sky of the painting using color.  He is blocking in colors that were pre mixed.  For more information on how he mixed these colors, watch his free video on How to Mix and Match Colors for a  landscape painting. 

You will notice that Will has a very fast and loose approach to painting during this stage.  Its important to just let go, relax and have fun. Do not become preoccupied with details or making things look perfect.

You will notice that as Will is blocking in the sky and clouds he is frequently using his finger and brush to blend the two together in certain spots and to remove some of the hard edges.

In certain areas of the sky Will applies a thinner more watery mix of paint to allow the Yellow Ochre under painting to shine through, giving the sky a beautiful glow.

Part 3

Will begins by blocking in the creamy pinkish color that was mixed previously. He applies this mostly toward the horizon of the picture and a bit at the top of the clouds.  Again, he is using his brush and finger to blend and soften edges as he goes along.

He then takes a mixture of White and Ultramarine Blue and begins to block in the sea. He takes some of the creamy pink color and paints over the still wet sea to create the reflections in the water.

He then takes some of the pre mixed purple, adds a bit of white to cool it and paints in the reflections on the sand of the beach. Again, he is not covering the yellow ground completely here, allowing some of it to shine through.

 Part 4

This is the final part of this series on creating an Acrylic Landscape Painting Step by Step.  Will now introduces pure Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue in order to create those rich colors that really make this landscape sing.

He mixes a dark blue to indicate the breaking waves in the sea and a beautiful bright pink made up of Alizarin Crimson and White to brighten up the sky.

Watch the video to see how Will brings the final picture together.  Enjoy!

If you’d like to learn more about Will’s painting techniques, follow this link  to visit his Website.  There you will find a variety of awesome resources including more step by step lessons.