Landscape defined… • “Landscape” art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests. Sky is almost always included in the view, and weather is often an element of the composition. Danube landscape near Regensburg c. 152
History of Landscapes • Artists have painted landscapes for thousands of years. One of the earliest landscape comes from Rome around 50 B. C.
• The Chinese have a rich tradition of landscape painting. This painting was done around 1000 A. D.
• Here is another example of Chinese landscape from the 1500’s. A Fisher in Autumn, 1523 AD. , China
Perhaps the greatest popular interest for landscapes was during the 1800’s. In America a group of artists called the “Hudson River School” took landscape painting to a new level. Albert Bierstadt, Storm in the Mountains, (1870)
In Europe the Impressionist were also rediscovering “landscape” with a group called the “Impressionists” Claude Monet, Poppies Blooming, 1873
consider the landscape as an important way to express themselves, not just as background for figure painting. Themistokles von Eckenbrecher (German, 1842– 1921) Claude. Monet (France,
Ivan Shishkin, Rain in an Oak Forest, 1891, Russia
Here are some local landscape artists: Frank Magleby
Robert Marshall
Stephen Bartholomew
Jim Jones
John Hughs
Steps for doing your landscape: • First: get your reference photos.
• Next, plan your composition by doing multiple thumbnail sketches and then pick your best one.
• Then, lightly draw you composition onto your canvas and spray with fixative.
Paint a monochromatic value study (under painting).
Paint sky/background over the under painting. Keep the background lighter in value.
You can use a “glaze” (thinned, transparent color) to make subtle changes to color and value.
Continue moving down the painting, painting dark to light