I Spent 100 Hours on This Painting... Now I'm Giving it Away!

Welcome back to another video. In this video we're going to be painting this landscape painting but hang around to the very end because I'm actually going to be giving this away. I'm going to let you know how you might be able to win this painting. The size of the linen that I'm working on here is 24 by 36 inches. It's stretched around a wooden frame. I cover this with an imprimatura so that is a wash of color. Burnt umber and burnt sienna thoroughly rubbed back and this is dry by the time I make the initial drawing. Now my mix for the drawing is my usual burnt umber deep and quinacridone magenta. This makes a really nice warm note and I'm going to sketch this up with a filbert synthetic brush. I love to use the synthetics for my drawing because I get a bit of precision there with the mark making but it makes a nice thin stroke with that paint and I'm sketching up freehand following along with my color study but also my digital design where I took that color study and just tweaked the composition. Now there are three things that I was thinking about primarily when making this painting that I want to share with you here in this video. One of those is some of the historic examples of works that really inspire me. Painters who tackled this sort of subject with just amazing mastery. Also this idea of how to make marks and you're catching me here in this demonstration at a bit of a crossroads where I'm getting away from making strokes of paint with the brush and thinking more about mark making. Anyway we'll unpack that with a bit more detail in this video and the other thing I've been thinking about is this concept which you might have heard originally popularized by Aesop's fables which is leave well enough alone and then a twist on that which was attributed to designer Raymond Lowy which was never leave well enough alone. It's an interesting idea something I think we need to discuss. Anyway you can see here where I've knocked in some of that deeper tone. I've added to my mix a touch of the ultramarine blue to darken up some of those trees and now I'm going in with a blue note ultramarine cobalt teal and a touch of quinacridone magenta mixing it into the edge of that drawing combination that I've made previously. I've got a violetish blue note. I'm going to bring this into the background. You can see where I've laid out those groupings of leaves on our oak trees and I want this blue to just allow that space that depth to be pushed into the background. Then I come in with some muted greens. Recently I've been playing a lot with the raw sienna red shade made by Blue Ridge handmade oil colors. I've been really enjoying that for creating some earthy green notes. It's beautiful when mixed with cobalt teal. Increase the saturation with Hansa yellow and the trick here with the block-in is to keep things muted. Now as I'm building up my layers and working primarily in three layers block-in, modeling, then detail. As I layer over this I'm extending my range of values so my darks are getting darker and my lights are getting lighter and I'm also extending that chromatic range. So some areas with intense light where it's shining through leaves they're going to be incredibly saturated and also some of these notes here in the immediate foreground they too are going to be incredibly saturated pulling the scene forward. But then I want there to be this fall off so that it encourages us to follow that path into the depth within the scene. In case you've missed some of my other video tutorials here on YouTube, I use Liquin Original predominantly in the studio. This is an alkyd resin allowing those layers to rapidly dry between painting sessions. I wait until that surface is touch dry and it only takes 12 to 24 hours if I'm one part medium in with three parts paint and I try not to go over that ratio. But this just allows one layer to stick to another and the Liquin allows the paint film to be permanently flexible which is really good for something that's on a stretched canvas. Now I'm often talking to my students, my members over on Tissue Academy about art heroes and I'm always looking at the old masters for inspiration. Not only am I inspired by the actual landscape, here this scene can be found just outside of Lawrence in the South Island of New Zealand, but I'm looking at those old masters continually and they help me hone my eye when it comes to choosing subjects but they often really influence me in how I depict them. I'm thinking about artists in particular like Hans Heysen. In many of my favorite Hans Heysen paintings he was dealing with groupings of three predominantly where you had these enormous gum trees bathed in light but there was so much depth and atmosphere within his work. Not only a beautiful rendering of form but there was something incredible going on with the composition in the arrangement of three. Anyway he painted lots of different things but it's those big tree paintings with those main groupings of three trees that I was particularly inspired by. Another artist that I absolutely love is Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, a Russian painter. I had the great fortune of seeing this painting here, Oaks, in person at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 2005 and it made a lasting impression. Both Heysen and Shishkin had an eye. They created designs and compositions that felt effortless, so easy to look at. They told a story, there was a sense of narrative and they were masters at creating form, depth, light and a sense of material and the thing that blows my mind is how they could do this with paint just pushed around with a brush. I mean when you really think about it it's quite an odd thing to be doing isn't it? But that's exactly what I'm trying to do here is to also create that sense of form, depth, light and material. So I hope this video is a bit of an encouragement to you to open up a folder on your desktop and just cram that full of some of your favorite old master paintings. I highly recommend the works of Hans Heysen and Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. These two in particular have really influenced my work over the years. But with this painting in particular, I was thinking about Heysen with my arrangement of trees trying to create that relationship between these big oaks, all whilst being bathed with light of course. And as a little tip of the hat to Heysen, I decided to even add some sheep to the scene. Now even though this is a parkland and you won't find sheep here in reality, I thought that they would just help me complete the story and give the viewer something to ponder out there in the distance. Now that said, as I'm working on this relationship between those trees, that grouping of three, I actually made a few changes during the course of the block-in and then working into the modeling. One such change is not only shifting the main tree that's over on the left further to the left, but it was also shifting the light angle. And that ties into the last point I want to talk to you about, which I'll bring to you at the end of this video, which is never leave well enough alone, but we'll get to that. Now where I was taking a leaf from Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin's book, no pun intended, I was really thinking about how he made marks and the interest that he had in his surfaces. Now one can be forgiven for thinking his work is incredibly detailed because often we only see these paintings in reproductions or on a tiny little phone screen. But when I stood in front of his originals, one thing that shocked me was how he pushed paint and how much paint he was actually using. But the command that he had over that paint and creating that sense of form, depth, light, and material, that was something that was truly awe-inspiring and it really helped inform my process. Not that I'm anything at Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin's level, but that goal has always remained for me, is how do I get paint to look and feel like the material that I'm trying to communicate? How do I get grass to feel like grass, bark to feel like bark, and leaves to feel like leaves? Asking that question there intensely has really pushed me to explore this. I'm continually working on my techniques and really trying to push the surface of the painting, capturing the sense of material. Anyway, that's the goal. There's something I talk about a bit more detail in the full version of this demonstration, which you can find right now over on Tisch Academy. In fact, why don't we just take a quick minute and let me tell you more about that. Hey, I hope you're enjoying the video so far. If you want to take your painting techniques even further, then you got to check this out. It's called Tisch Academy. It's an art school, unlike anything you've experienced before. We're talking over 450 hours of premium painting content, and I go live from the studio here every week. Oh, and just a side note, if you're enjoying this video so far, there's a full version over on Tisch Academy. So if you want to create work that you're truly proud of, something that you feel is frame worthy, then check it out. So what are you waiting for? Click that link down below and join us on Tisch Academy. Now, back to the video. In an effort to try and capture that sense of material, I'm thinking about so many different things at once. But one thing that I've been slowly shifting away from with a lot of my work, and maybe you've noticed, I know some of my Tisch Academy members certainly have. So I'm starting to focus more on making marks rather than brush strokes. Now, what on earth does that mean? Well, when we have a brush, when we're thinking about the brush, particularly the size, shape, and type of fiber of that brush, we start thinking about marks and mark making in a very linear fashion. You see, you're holding a brush, so you're no doubt thinking about making brush strokes. Whereas I try to get in my mind now, as guilty as I was of falling into this trap of making individual marks, and I certainly did a lot of that here in this painting. But now, you see, what I'm trying to do is think about the brush as a unique applicator. I try to hold the brush in interesting ways, twisting the handle and changing the way it impacts that surface. I even trim some of my brushes to create textured effects, and I'm continually changing those brushes, alternating between bristles and synthetics of various sizes to just make more interesting marks. At the end of the day, it's about the material that we're trying to communicate, whether it's a leaf texture, or bark, or grass. Whatever it is, whatever's going to give me that type of mark, I start thinking about it not in terms of brush strokes, but in terms of interesting marks. I want the mark making here to feel unpredictable, not formulaic, something that feels almost chaotic when you view it up close. From a distance, I want everything to gel together so you feel that sense of reality. But up close, I want that chaos to be present, of marks moving in all kinds of different directions, but fractured, fragmented surfaces, showing so many different colors and values. Where one's got to take a guess as to how the whole thing was even put together. Now I'm just going to say that's my goal. I don't always achieve it, and there are some areas in this painting that I really enjoyed, and other areas where I fall short of that idea, but that is the goal nonetheless. So my friend, as you're watching this, you've caught me at an interesting time, where I'm getting away from microscopic minute details and starting to explore more with that mark making. Just watch this space, there's some pretty gnarly textural paintings coming your way very soon, all while trying to maintain that realism. So I've been asking myself quite a bit as I paint this painting, how could I do this in a more graceful way, holding back a little bit more. As I said before, there's some areas in this where I fall short of that idea, and other areas where I feel it's working a little bit better, but it's this constant push that I feel is moving me in the right direction. Now as a part of this process of blocking, modeling, detail, I'm thinking in terms of general. So my big shapes, my big areas of color and value, and then I'm slowly honing in on specifics. It's only after blocking everything in, applying a degree of modeling, that I'll start to focus on areas of detail, such as what you're seeing here. Little bits of light that are making their way through those groupings of leaves, striking the tree here in a broken fashion. This is one of my favorite areas in the painting. Here I'm using some pretty small 1 eighth of an inch ivory dagger brushes. Now I've got a few of these brushes on the go, one for some of these highlights, another for the shadows, and another for some of those mid-tones. And here I'm trying to create that sense of gnarly bark texture. So there's some gaps and some breaks in some of those marks, just to capture the texture of the tree. Now I've also been using these ivory riggers for individual blades of grass, and it was during this painting process here, this project, where I ended up playing a lot more with some texture brushes, just to get me a sense of that grassy, weedy texture. But I still apply a few accents and highlights with those very fine synthetics. Now I've got to shout out one of my artist pals, Mr. Joe Paquette. In a recent podcast episode, we were talking about this, about how the mark should be in service of subject. Now that's a terrible misquote of the elegant way that Joe puts it, but this is something I've been thinking about. So whatever the subject is, whatever that element is in your painting that you're trying to communicate, the mark should be in service to that. Communicating that, not just with an effective mark, but with some feeling. Laying that paint down with sensitivity, thinking continually about what it is you're trying to communicate, what is that material? Those are the thoughts that are racing through my mind as I paint this grass here in the shade of this oak tree. And so part of that thought process does inform the way that you start to lay down paint. And one thing that it's opened me up to is a new dimension when it comes to edge quality, the way one stroke meets another, the way one value is contrasted with another value, or color relationships within a particular area in the painting, or within the whole picture, how one thing relates to something else. I'm thinking about it all, but where it's really showing up for me is with that paint texture and those relationships of thick versus thin. As I look back to some of Shishkin's work, one thing that I noticed was thicker applications of paint in the highlights to the mid-tones and thinner applications in deep shadows. This textured surface created so much dimension within his work. And it's something that I'm endeavoring to do here with this painting. You'll notice that there's quite a bit of texture in some of these areas, from the leaves to the bark. And other areas, like darker branches or deeper shadows, which are crevices within those tree trunks, are somewhat thinner. But whatever it is, whatever that material is that I'm trying to communicate, I'm thinking about that paint surface and the type of mark that I'm making. So it's causing me to veer away from making brush strokes, but rather think about that brush as a paint applicator and how to make interesting marks. Now, as we watch this painting unfold and the details here, bringing this into more of a sense of reality, I wanted to share another concept with you, something that I've been thinking quite a bit about. And it's this idea of leave well enough alone, or maybe you've heard it in its form popularized by Raymond Lowy, never leave well enough alone. Well, the original form of that idea came from an Aesop's fable. In fact, it's older than that. The story goes that a fox that was covered with ticks refused a hedgehog's offer to remove those ticks because the bare skin on the fox might only invite more ticks to come along and feast on his blood. Now, I know it sounds a little gross, right? But how does it relate to art and art making? Well, if the idea or the painting is working okay, if it's looking fine, then taking that risk to try to improve the painting, well, one could be a little bit fearful because maybe in the process of trying to improve it, more mistakes might be made. But I like Raymond Lowy's version so much better, which is never leave well enough alone. Now, he was a designer and he took that old saying, twisted it to mean that good design was never truly finished. That one must constantly, relentlessly try to improve upon that design, making it better and better. That it needed to be re-engineered, thought out, re-innovated to stay modern and functional. Now, whilst I'm not a designer, I'm thinking about this in terms of art. I love that idea of continually working on the craft, but continually pouring over the painting where you can see that improvement might be made. You should grab that opportunity with both hands and just go for it. So here in this painting, you're not just looking at a one shot from the hip, work the first time, perfect composition or painting. In fact, it's far from it. This thing went through so many changes. I shifted trees. I moved shadows. I introduced new ideas, all trying to capture that scene, a feeling. It's something that I felt would ultimately invite the viewer into a story. And it's something I'm continually trying with my work, but constantly pushing myself to create better and better pictures. Now, it's not a race. It's not a competition. I'm not comparing myself to anybody else. I'm just trying to be the best that I can be. Trying to capture that elusive sense of form, depth, light and material. And I'm trying to capture some sense of what I really enjoy in my art hero's paintings. Artists like Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin and Hans Heysen. Now, don't get it twisted. I'm not comparing myself to them, but I'm just so insanely inspired by the greats. And I want to be as good as I can be. Let me know in the comments down below if that idea resonates with you. Now, here you'll see I'm using a string fixed to a point on my wall easel. The location of that screw, I'm thinking is going to be where the sun would be if we were to see it within the scene. It falls just outside the bounds of the stretched canvas here, but I'm able to get my light angles just right for some of that gentle streaming light through the leaves and through that grouping of trees beyond the sheep. Now, because I've added this puddle here, which you won't see in my photographic reference, hopefully just adding another dimension to this painting, but I figured what would a puddle be without a little bit of reflection floated over the top. I pulled down into this water some of those greens that we see in those oak trees. And then I add just a few little pinpoints of skylight, these little brighter pops of a lighter blue. And I fray those marks slightly around the edges by blending slightly with the synthetic brush. There was a lot of work that went into this painting, a lot of trial and error, a lot of experimentation, a lot of thinking about mark making, and a whole bunch of looking at my master heroes from the past getting thoroughly inspired by some of their amazing artworks. Now, if you enjoyed this video, you want to hear more explanation on the process for how I put this together. It's part of our tree course. You can watch that right now over on Tisch Academy. But now that I've finished this painting, I think I'm going to give it away. Who knows? It could even go to you. Click that link down below to enter the giveaway. Thanks for watching. Well, I really hope you've enjoyed this video and you've come away with some techniques on how to paint trees from the bark to the leaves to the foreground. I'm going to actually be giving this painting away. That's right. I'm actually giving this painting away. It's valued at over US$10,000. Now, to enter, all you've got to do is, as of the release of this video, if you're watching shortly after I've uploaded, is click that link, fill in your details, and we're going to be announcing the winner on the 30th of September, 2026. All right? So click that link. It's going to be random. There's no purchase necessary to enter this giveaway. All you've got to do is click in that link and enter your details. It's as simple as that. Best of luck to you. Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again in another video.