Stuart Loughridge guides you through the ins and outs of painting a landscape with watercolors on toned paper. He discusses everything you’ll need out in the field, including brushes, paint colors, pencils and erasers, and water containers for the paints. But before he begins painting, he creates a color chart to demonstrate how to mix various greens for a landscape scene while also understanding how to use muted colors and more chromatic colors alongside varying opacity and transparency.
But he can’t start painting quite yet — the drawing needs to be on the paper. Stuart walks you through how he starts out with large shapes and gestures to create the composition, adjusting as necessary, before he moves onto smaller, more precise shapes and lines. He creates depth by thoroughly understanding how the elements of the landscape layer on top of each other and shows how he describes that within the drawing. Because the drawing is the base of the painting, he wants to make sure that he has enough information on there as accurately as possible without building up too much graphite which inhibits the refraction of the watercolors.
Now Stuart moves onto the next stage. He sets the drawing with a light wash of pigment so that the pencil doesn’t get brought up in subsequent layers of paint. Then he moves onto big, general washes of color, covering the painting with a strong base on which to work. Once that dries, he can be more specific with the colors, while keeping things very muted in tone. He works the shapes of the features of the landscape carefully, always looking for how to create more depth within the piece and uses the topography as a guide on how to lay down the paint strokes. After allowing the painting to dry he can begin to finish the painting. Creating textures, voluminous shapes, and highly chromatic moments within the piece are the focus in the final session of this five-part class.
Before we dive into painting the landscape, we need to know what supplies we’ll need. Stuart works out of a travel painting kit that has various brushes, his palette of colors, his pencils and eraser, and his water for the colors. With the sized and toned paper in hand he’s ready to take us with him as he dives into creating his painting.
Let’s discuss color theory before we begin. Stuart likes to work from muted colors to high chroma through the process of the painting, so understanding how the colors work together and how chromatic they are is imperative. Stuart discusses his colors while doing some color charts to demonstrate how to create the color and opacity that works best for the painting.
Stuart draws out his landscape composition on the toned paper, showing how to use big masses, working from the background to foreground, and creating depth within the scene. He works from general, large shapes to specific notes within the drawing. Once you have a strong drawing it’s time to pull out the paints!
Let’s get some pigment on top of the drawing. Stuart demonstrates how he quickly lays down the initial washes and underpainting of the landscape painting. Once that’s dry, he builds up the paint and works in some textures to create interest making sure that every stroke really counts.
Now that the painting is well on its way, it’s time to think about finishing touches. Stuart demonstrates how he glazes highly chromatic paint over opaque white. He continues to build the textures throughout the painting, creating accents and edges as he works on finishing the painting.
Stuart Loughridge
Stuart is an artist based in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a studio painter, he works with oil paint and watercolors, primarily painting landscapes. In addition, he is a devoted printmaker and is well-known for his etchings.
Landscape Watercolor on Toned Paper - Materials List
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