Copy other artists to learn how to paint the tricky bits....

8x10 oil on panel

Doing copies is invaluable, but frustrating because I don't want to use my 'good' panels or canvases because these studies are destined for the garbage.  So I use gessoed cardboard, and scraps of chipboard and masonite panels I've picked up here and there.   Funky - but it works.

Above, I did a copy of a portion of a landscape by Mark Boedges, a fine landscape painter who has better control of value than any contemporary artist aside from Jeremy Lipking.  I've spent a substantial amount of time looking at his work trying to figure out the basics: warm or cool, color mixes, etc, and gone over his supply list to get any clues because we all think a particular brush or brand of paint will make a huge difference in our work.  They don't.  The only thing that leads to improvement is practice and studying other, better artists.

I'm not posting the original I painted from because of copyright issues. But if you're curious you can go here to see his work: Mark Boedges

The photo below is a study of another piece by the same artist, to practice mixing realistic greens.  His mixes are more subdued than I thought from first impression.  Gray paint pre-mixed, and a good understanding of using complementary colors to mute colors are necessities.

8 x 12.75 oil on masonite panel

Landscape and portraiture are both difficult subject matter.  I have little interest in painting people, but I'm incredibly fascinated by landscape work.  Water isn't as difficult to paint as I thought, but trees and foliage are a bearcat.  

Figuring out clouds

 

More chipboard scraps used to do cloud studies.  The bottom piece was the first study, but the colors were outside my ability to capture. There was a lot of repainting and at some point you have to quit or you won't be able to look back at a study and remember the lesson. I've done studies of various cloud formations in watercolor because it seems like it would be easier, but it's not. 

The third, top study was a bit easier, but I had a hideous time getting the right gold at the base of the golden sky areas.  It looked to have both orange and green in the mix, which seemed impossible, but I did end up mixing it that way, and got closer.  No banana, but closer to the correct color.  Clouds, trees and rocks in the landscape are all very, very tricky.

  These are all done from photos I've taken around my house.  The sky is always remarkable and always different.  No shortage of inspiration on the Oregon coast!