Watercolor Landscape Tips

By Mary Ann Boysen

My attraction to watercolor landscape painting has its ties to the local landscapes available in Ohio. From the porches and and scenes of Lakeside, OH, to the nearby Amish communities, to the winter wonderland our area becomes the local landscapes are appealing and challenging to paint.

This is where I started watercolor painting, but since then I have traveled the world and painted landscapes in many places. I've compiled a selection of my watercolor landscapes on this page along with my thoughts on the subject.

Winter Feeding Ground

40" x 60" watercolor canvas

Looking out my studio kitchen window this winter, I discovered that inspite of the severe cold, there was still water at the bottom of the hill, and the geese found a way to feed. In late afternoon the sun lit up the pockets in the snow on the hill, and I found the scene very serene.

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Botswana Lagoon

40" x 50" watercolor canvas

This was a real challenge! I began very loosely, painting the sky and water....at such a slant that most of the paint slid off the canvas onto towels on the floor! I ended up having to work more opaquely and less of a slant to hold the paint on the canvas. This proved to be the best, as then I could just add a yellow over the blue to allow the two colors to mix into green. Of course, to intensify the green, I did use some green paint....cool and warm for variation. It is a very calm and serene scene and I am enjoying looking at it before it goes to a gallery.

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Going with the Flow

20" x 24" watercolor canvas

Utilizing the advantages of the watercolor canvas, I could create the counterpoint movement in the water by painting in one direction and lifting in the opposite direction. The lily pads are painted with more opaque pigments to bring them to the surface, appearing to float on the more transparent water.

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Hughes Street, Cape May, New Jersey (Plein Air Painting)

8" x 10" watercolor canvas panel

This is a plein aire watercolor landscape painting that was done in 105º hear. Fortunately I had a friend painting along side, and misery loves company. Our clothes were dripping wet and sticking to our bodies when we finished...and we were painting in the shade!

Hughes Street - Watercolor Landscape

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Colorful Green Summer Landscapes - It is well known by watercolorists that green can be a difficult color to deal with. Often it turns to mud right in front of your eyes as you paint. That is because the colors that you add to it can be the ones that will turn it to grey or brown or just plain YUK!

Using Large Brushes to Create the Proper Detail - I'd like to share how not using large brushes can lead to big mistakes when painting detailed areas of your painting.