Mr.Andrew Caxton asked:


Painting landscape has been a popular art form in many cultures for centuries. While most of us cannot afford original masterpieces, modern reproductions and print allow us to bring them into our homes.

Painters of Landscape

While few of us can afford paintings by the greatest landscape artists like Monet and Constable, reproductions give us an affordable access to their works to enhance our decorating schemes.

Amateur painters often chose landscape as a subject matter as they may not have access to decent studio space and therefore can more easily paint in situ. This was not always the case and the first Impressionist to take their easels outside were viewed as rather unconventional, as artists before them would have painted inside from memory or sketches.

Painting landscape is an art tradition common to many cultures, and it goes hand-in-hand with the popularity of the genre. This was especially the case in Japan, North America, the Netherlands, France and Great Britain until the latter part of the twentieth century as other forms of artistic representation, such as Surrealism and Cubism, for example, grabbed the artists and critics’ attention. Nowadays with the advent of video and installations landscape artists are becoming a rare, rather obsolete breed.

With all this being said, let’s note, however, that most people still rather like landscape paintings. They usually convey a sense of emotional connection to the subject matter, which does not necessarily occur when one looks at a portrait or still life. This is particularly the case when the painting in question reminds of times past.

A number of very famous landscape artists became well known for concentrating on specific areas. In some cases it could almost be tantamount to obsession if you consider that Paul Cézanne, for instance, painted around eighty versions of the Sainte-Victoire mountain located near his home in Provence, France. He wanted to represent it as it looked to him throughout the year, with different weather.

In the seventeen century Holland saw the first European painters representing seascapes, Vermeer and Rembrandt. Since this time there has been a noted recurrence of sky and water themes for some landscape painters, like for instance the well-known English artist JMW Turner. Turner was fist noted for his representations of the sea and skies in violent storm conditions. This said his later works point to the future development of abstract painting by blurring the previously clear line between the water and the sky. French artist Claude Monet’s developed his technique for painting landscapes involving water by doing so in close proximity to his subject matter, which would sometimes involve painting from a small boat. American painters Homer and Wyeth, both renowned landscape painters, were also noted for the admirable way they managed to represent the effect of light on water surfaces.



Heather

Julie Shoemaker asked:


Painting landscapes with acrylics is both relaxing and rewarding.  Let your personal style come through and you should find this a great hobby. Acrylic paint is a medium that can look like an oil painting or a watercolor painting when finished.  It depends on the artists’ style and how thick they apply the color.  Either way, starting out by painting landscapes helps to get your feet wet in the world of painting.

You can learn to paint a landscape on canvas paper, canvas board or stretched canvas.  I always suggest practicing your techniques first on an inexpensive canvas or acrylic paper.  I am a sort of perfectionist with my art, and tend to become frustrated easily.  By practicing first, then applying it to the finished piece I feel more comfortable.  You may be satisfied without practicing.  Painting is about what makes you feel good! 

Keep your supplies handy.  Have your spay or mister bottle handy to keep the acrylics moist, keep a water supply handy for the brushes, and always have paper towels handy.  

Let’s create a simple landscape painting.  Lightly sketch in a horizon line with pencil about ¾ of the way down the canvas.  In this case out emphasis will be the sky because only ¼ of the painting is land.

 Wet the sky with white gesso.   Add some color to the same brush and starting at the top, use criss-cross strokes and blend down to the horizon line.  Use any color.  Daytime skies can be blues & purple.  Nighttime skies can be these colors just darkened with reds and oranges near the horizon.  Blend the colors as little or much as you like.  Now your sky is done. 

Now it’s time to create your land or hills.  Chose a medium to light green and with horizontal strokes lay in the distant field or hill.  Keep things interesting by sloping it.  Change the green slightly by darkening it and add a couple of more layers of fields as you work your way forward.  The darkest layer should be in the front of the painting. 

That’s it!  Anything else you add to your painting is a plus.  One or two distant trees would be neat or maybe just a single bird in the sky, low to the horizon. 

I hope this little lesson helps inspire you to have fun painting landscapes with acrylics.



Reginald

Kada asked:


Whats your favorite art form out of these?

- Music What genres?)
- Film (What genres?)
- Photography (what style? Landscape, Macro…?)
- Painting (What period?)
- Sculpture
- Writing (Poetry and alike)
- Other art (you name it, I probably missed something)

And what would you choose if you were an artist? I like poetry (I can write decent poems and modern songs), music (I play the guitar, I am not so good, but I’m a beginner) and photography (before, I stopped).

Michele