There is something about landscape painting that most artists enjoy. Besides pushing beyond the basic concept of capturing different aspects in the form of painting, there is a certain amount of Romanticism to it. There are many ideas that you can explore when it comes to landscape paintings for beginners to look into, other than just the mainstream options such as mountains, valleys, trees, and forests to name a few. The key lies in applying the right amount of composition to the objects that you are planning on capturing and putting together a masterpiece with the perfect mix.
As mentioned earlier, there are many landscape painting ideas that you can choose from. We truly believe that we can list out some really good choices when it comes to turning your passion into capturing intense art, in the easiest manner possible.
9 Perfect Landscape Painting Tips For Beginners
While we have discussed the top ideas when it comes to landscape paintings for beginners above, the following are the top 9 tips to perfect landscape painting as a whole.
- Keep it simple: Avoid getting carried away with capturing minute details in the landscape.
- The best way to capture texture: The secret to capturing texture is by making use of palette knives to do so.
- Don’t stick to numbers: Keep one thing in mind, i.e. you don’t have to mandatorily capture each and every individual object in your scenery.
- Limited colors: You can experiment with different shades of colors, but avoid adding too many different types of colors to your work.
- Imperfection is perfection: The best part about landscape painting is that you can be imperfect with your work and it will still look absolutely gorgeous.
- Go from dark to light: It is always advisable that you go from a darker color to a much lighter color in your work.
- Compare your previous work: Practise till you perfect your flaws when it comes to landscape painting.
- Shapes, lines, and colors: The three main components that will make up your painting are shapes, lines, and colors.
- Choose black and white: If you’re too bored of colors, you can definitely get away with the classic black and white.
Beautiful Landscape Painting Ideas For Beginners
Abstract Landscape Paintings
If you want to attain the ability to travel anywhere in the world, without having to move a single limb – switch to landscape paintings. One can get lost in their own imagination with something like an abstract landscape painting. Among the top landscape painting ideas, abstract landscape painting is among them all. There are many beautiful options that you can choose from. These kinds of paintings involve the use of soft touches, so you will have to equip yourself with a couple of soft-brush options. You are at the disposal of a fantastic range of color schemes with numerous geometric designs and shapes to experiment with. We guarantee you absolute satisfaction after you’re finished painting up your abstract landscape painting masterpiece because the best part about it is that it has to be abstract. It may not necessarily be identical by nature but you can surely get something meaningful out of it, by the end.
Acrylic Landscape Painting
When it comes to acrylic landscape painting, things can get a bit tricky. However, these are a thing of the past. It was a little difficult back in the day when the choice of colors was limited. Times have changed and even the acrylic category offers a range of pigment options that play an important role in shaping up your final product during the entire painting process. Most artists will agree that acrylic is the kind of painting that is innately blurry in nature. It depicts a richer pattern and almost represents an abstract form of a semi-precious stone. It is time that you make use of this magnificent style of painting and make it your own.
Mountain Landscape Painting
If you’re a true artist, you will not limit yourself to only one style of painting. In the contemporary realm of painting styles, there are endless options that artists often dabble with. One style that has been particularly famous in the category of landscape paintings is mountain landscape painting. Every artist who has indulged in a little bit of mountain landscape painting here and there has ended up realizing that they can visualize and demonstrate an ancient art style. In comparison to encapturing something like a forest, which includes several elements, mountain landscape painting might come across as easier but it is not. This is where most individuals are often mistaken. While there are fewer elements to capture in a mountain landscape painting, you have to be able to apply the same amount of effort. It is fun to explore this when it comes to landscape paintings for beginners.
Winter Landscape Painting
There aren’t too many colors that you can involve, especially when you are indulging in winter landscape painting. Most artists enjoy capturing snow in their paintings when speaking about this subject. However, you don’t necessarily have to be resting in the Himalayas, to be able to get the taste of winter. You can depict winter in many different ways. You can use different hues of blue, mostly darker shades, to depict coldness. Amidst the darkness that the color blue will represent, you can also add hints of dimmed lights, which also carry forward a feeling of warmness. Don’t be mistaken again. While you will be using a fewer number of colors, you can definitely experiment with different shades of the same color.
Watercolor Landscape Painting
Not many might be aware of this but there is a deep-rooted connection between watercolor landscape painting and traditional Chinese art. In fact, it is interesting to note that in the Chinese culture, the ancient folks followed something known as the ‘Shan-Shui’ tradition. ‘Shan-Shui’ literally translated to “Water-Pure.” It’s not just the ancient Chinese artists who are obsessed with water landscape painting, history suggests that the Romans are also innately drawn towards showcasing grand panoramas of imaginary landscapes, especially the ones that include large backdrops of water. It’s an especially creative outlay of feelings when you’re trying to capture a distant panoramic vista of large bodies of water. When it comes to landscape paintings for beginners, this is the right choice for you.
Landscape Oil Paintings
Do you want to learn how to paint with oil paints like a pro? Read on more to find some of the best techniques when it comes to landscape oil paintings. The landscape oil painting has been trending in the world of artists in recent times. One of the main reasons that resulted in this trend is the need to bring beauty from the outside, indoors. Before you begin work on your masterpiece, be sure that you are clear about what you’re trying to capture in the work. There are three types of approaches that you can adopt when it comes to landscape oil painting, including the wet-in-wet approach, Plein air painting, and the indirect approach.
Italian Landscape Painting
Among the most popular painters that played a major role in ensuring a separate category for them, i.e. ‘Italian landscape painting’ is established by Aldo Conti, Giovanni Costa, Carlo Cressini, and Michele Cortegiani to name a few. These individuals have managed to capture the beauty that surrounds Italy most aesthetically. Several history books depict that it was the Italian artists that spend most of their career painting out interpretations of popular structure around the place, perfecting their inspiration. In the older times, Italy remained to be the preferred locations for most artists to rest in and draw their inspirations from, as they often traveled to Italy as part of their Grand Tour adventure.
Desert Landscape Painting
As most artists will already be aware, the depiction of natural scenery in the form of art was established as long back as the 16 century. Not only do you capture beautiful works of nature such as mountains, valleys, different bodies of water, forests, and fields but you also take the envelope of landscape painting forward, by capturing a desert in the form of art. Desert landscape painting is the kind that did not emerge until the later part of the 16th century. However, once the movement of desert landscape painting came forward, there was no looking back. Beauty lies in capturing something mundane most aesthetically and we believe that you have it in you to do so.
Chinese Landscape Painting
As per online sources, art critics often find Chinese painters to make landscapes, the main subject in their work. The first signs of landscape paintings in the Chinese culture appeared as a part of figure painting. The Chinese artists began with attempting to provide a natural setting to the figures in their work. They consider a natural setting to provide more depth and emotion to their paintings. One of the early examples in the Chinese culture when it comes to landscape painting is called Nymph of the Luo River. This work was produced by Gu Kaizhi, between ca. 244-406. While it began with this purpose, the tradition of landscape painting ended up advancing within the realms of Chinese artists and more brilliant work was produced by the end of the modern era.
Japanese Landscape Painting
When it comes to Japanese landscape painting, there is a form of painting that is especially popular. It is known as ‘Japanese brush painting’ or ‘Sumi-e.’ For those who might be unaware, this method of painting involves the use of dark liquid inks through natural strokes of hairbrushes that ultimately result in a beautiful and striking monochromatic work of art. To think of it, the Japanese brush painting is so effective while capturing something that you may use it, in any form of landscape paintings for beginners that you may. This style of painting allows the artist to capture even the minute details in the landscape that otherwise would not be possible to capture.
Contemporary Landscape Painting
Are you considering landscape paintings for beginners? This is the right choice for you. No other landscape painting idea is as beatable an idea as the contemporary kind. If you want to get your story more fertile, more of a kind that depicts innovation, then you might want to consider dabbling in contemporary landscape painting. It makes even the most boring and dried story into something magnificent. You can describe contemporary landscape painting to be able to suggest mood and atmosphere through the simple use of color only. This form of painting allows you the freedom to express and interpret objects in your background, the way you see them.
Dutch Landscape Painting
Yes, we have already established that landscape painting as a whole, had ended up enrapturing artists from different countries back during the 16th century. Similar is the case with the Dutch as well. Landscape painting began flourishing among the Dutch artists in the 16th century, especially after the artists began traveling around Netherland as well as Spain. Some of the greatest examples for you to check out when it comes to dutch landscape painting is the work of Pieter Bruegel The Elder from back in 1525 as well as The Harvesters. Among the most unique parts about dutch landscape paintings is the fact that they didn’t limit themselves when it came to using a basis for their work, it could be a canvas, or wood-cuts, or even etchings.
Autumn Landscape Painting
When we speak about autumn landscape painting, we do have to refer to among the greatest work produced in this realm. We have the very own ‘Autumn Landscape’ work of art which was specially painted for the Festival of Britain by the President of the Royal Academy, Sir Alfred Munnings. Specifically, the word autumn is used because artists are often trying to depict the season over everything else through their work. This can be done through the use of different shades of brown and black. It is the easiest landscape painting for beginner’s ideas you can explore.
Pastel Landscape Painting
If you’ve decided to indulge in pastel landscape painting, then before you go ahead, please ensure that you’re picking the right pastels. While carefully choosing the right pastels, you may want to keep in mind that the more rich and pure they are, the more depth you will be able to provide to your landscape painting idea. You should be able to prepare a tonal sketch and keep it ready for painting, as is applicable in any other form of painting. Make sure that you start at a distance first and work your way around the mid-ground section and it can get quite tricky when it comes to pastel paints. Most of all, please enjoy the art of creating maximum intensity.
Beach Landscape Painting
One of the key pointers to keep in mind while painting a beach landscape is to be able to capture the ocean well. Be sure that you can capture the water in the most convincing manner possible. The beach is the easier bit to capture. The ocean happens to be a defining factor in this case, because it is represented through lighter colors, in comparison to the beach colors that might include hues of yellow and brown. When you perfect the art of capturing the ocean, you will be able to depict the beach perfectly too, in your quest to accomplish work when it comes to landscape paintings for beginners.
Night Landscape Painting
How can one master the art of capturing the colors of the night? The answer lies ahead. It is highly recommended that you indulge in painting at night, as it is both therapeutic wells as the work produced in the final stages, is epic. The thing about night landscape painting is that it leads the artist to choose between focusing on the large masses that lie as a form of subject in front of them or capturing the darkness more prominently. What’s more? It is also believed that if you end up painting at night, you end up improving your clarity towards day-time art in your work. You can encapsulate compositions in an ideal manner.
Monochromatic Landscape Painting
The best part about monochromatic landscape painting is that you don’t have a lot of room to commit errors. Not only do you have the opportunity to mix tints and shades in the most unimaginable manner possible, but you will also learn to work your way from the foreground of light shade to a much darker shade. For landscape paintings for beginners, the key lies in conducting a considerable amount of research into what it is that you wish to capture. You will need to create a sketch that depicts the subject in the most monochromatic manner, setting a solid foundation for your painting.
Conclusion
As has been established multiple times in the article above, the art of landscape painting remains to be thriving even today’s day and time, since its inception in the 16th century. As a result of the many magnificent works that have been produced over the past, it has ended up gaining sporadic attention at the hands of critics.
So what are you waiting for? Choose among the top ideas in the list of landscape paintings for beginners mentioned above and get on an artistic journey of enrapturing the grandeur nature. There is no looking back from the time you try your hands at this. Once you do, there are many different forms of landscape painting ideas that you can grow yourself into.
FAQs
Q: What materials do I need for easy landscape painting?
A: To get started with an easy landscape painting, you will need acrylic paint, a palette, brushes, a canvas, and some basic sketching materials. These will help you in your painting process.
Q: What are some tips for painting a landscape using acrylics?
A: When you paint a landscape, consider establishing a focal point to draw attention. Use colors such as burnt sienna and yellow ochre for depth in your painting. Experiment with different painting techniques to find what works for you.
Q: Can I learn to paint landscapes if I’m an absolute beginner?
A: Absolutely! Many painting tutorials are designed specifically for beginners. They provide step-by-step instructions on how to paint landscapes, making it easy to start painting even if you have no prior experience.
Q: What is a good starting point for an easy landscape painting?
A: A good starting point is to choose a simple landscape scene and sketch it lightly on your canvas. Then, use easy acrylic techniques to fill in the colors. This will help you understand the basics of landscape painting.
Q: How do I create depth in my landscape painting?
A: To create depth in your painting, use lighter colors for elements in the background and darker shades for those in the foreground. This layering technique helps enhance the three-dimensionality of your landscape.