LANDSCAPE PAINTING:
ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES FOR PLEIN AIR AND STUDIO PRACTICE

Introduction

I have always been fascinated by the challenge of painting the landscape, not simply out of a pure love of nature, but because of the benefits it affords me as a painter. When nature is my inspiration and subject, I am witness to an extraordinary range of color and every imaginable atmospheric condition. I find a wealth of interesting shapes, patterns and textures, and above all, an ideal opportunity to play with the inherent abstraction within nature.

These qualities are what make the landscape such an alluring subject. However, they are also the qualities that make painting the landscape so challenging. Because nature is so extreme in its expansiveness and complexity, so varied in its range of light, landscape painters often have to look farther and more deeply to find what all artists seek — form and structure, value patterns, and an organized arrangement of shapes.

When I first began to work from the landscape, my efforts were met with frustration. I had studied art in college and could draw and paint reasonably well; yet, when I made my first forays into the "field" (Central Park in New York City), nothing seemed to work as it had in the college studios. It was as though I needed to learn painting all over again. Landscape was more variable and more complex than other subjects. It seemed disorganized and rambling, and I couldn’t arrange my subjects or control the lighting as I had in the studio. Over time, I cultivated a set of practices to deal with these challenges. When I organized these practices into a coherent system, that I applied every time I approached the landscape, I got consistently better results. Those concepts and practices are the subject of this book.

After many years, the landscape still continues to inspire and challenge me. I see more than rivers and skies, water and trees. I see visual opportunity, a chance to explorethe kinds of aesthetic experiences that excite me most. This is as it should be. Artists, in whatever their chosen genre, should be excited by its particular challenges and be inspired to see the world in new ways.

In any book such as this, there are certain fundamental precepts that underlie all the lessons, and they are outlined here.

Direct observation. The foundation lessons of landscape can only be learned through a direct observation and experience of nature. Even when creating paintings in the studio, painters can do so competently only by calling upon a practiced interpretation of nature, in all its many moods and colors.

Representational orientation. Lessons in this book are based on a representational goal: what is seen in nature is the basis for creating the illusion of a three-dimensional space. This is not to say that modern traditions that abstract or flatten the pictorial space don't come into play (abstraction is addressed in Chapter 11); rather, that the fundamental lessons of painting the landscape are more easily demonstrated through an interpretation of reality.

Multiple masters. Approaches to landscape are so varied that no single style could ever demonstrate everything one needs to learn. The works of different painters, therefore, are used to best demonstrate particular lessons, providing greater inspiration and exposure to a wide variety of styles.

Oil painting. Because I am an oil painter, many of the techniques and demonstrations in the book are oil-based; however, the theories and principles are universal, and can be applied to any medium.

Photography. Photographs are used in some lessons. Completed paintings tell a lot about how the artist solved a visual problem, but a photograph, so allied with reality, is sometimes a better way to reference the place from which you will need to start making your choices.

By necessity, this book presents specific ideas and practices. My hope is that they are not seen as strict rules or formulas to be followed to the letter, but instead stimulate an observation-based attitude that helps you think like a landscape painter. Then, when you are standing amidst the mystery and vastness of nature, with brushes and colors at the ready, you are able to apply what you've learned on your own.

No matter how important knowledge gleaned from books and lectures may be, there are no words or pictures that can ever substitute for the hard work of actually doing it. As the motto of Seattle's Gage Academy of Art says, "Artist's are made, not born." It is my sincere hope that the essential concepts and practices offered in these pages will speed you on your journey and make the trip more enjoyable. And, if along the way, you are also inspired, then I will have been successful.

Mitchell Albala
Seattle, 2008