Landscapes in Gouache

I was very excited to take my second gouache class at the Gage Academy this winter. But after the first week it was cancelled!

I was determined to continue with my practice, so conducted my own painting exercises.

Following the approach of the class, I used MapCrunch.com to find subject photos. MapCrunch is basically a database of images from Google Maps. But it’s neat because you can filter the images by country.

One of the goals of these exercises was to get more experience with color palettes. I started painting with black and white.

Then I moved to a complimentary triad.

One realization that I had while painting landscapes was that I did not understand linear perspective. A few YouTube videos later, I had a general idea. But I think more practice is needed to gain a firmer grasp.

Here are a few exercises for drawing/painting with linear perspective:

•Draw a horizon and a vanishing point. Then draw a grid of lines passing through the vanishing point and equidistantly-spaced points below the horizon (orthogonal lines). Identify a point on each of the orthogonal lines that is directly above or below one of the other points (a vertical line of points). Draw horizontal lines each intersecting one of the points (the plane).

•Take an image and identify the vanishing point. Then draw lines from the different surfaces to the vanishing point.

•Draw a horizon with a vanishing point. Draw different size boxes in different orientations in 1-point perspective. Then try the same thing in 2-point perspective and 3-point perspective.