LAKES, PONDS, AND TARN PAINTING LESSONS

Alpine lakes have always held a special place in my heart, and they are so much fun to paint!  From high mountain tarns to marshy ponds and glassy lakes reflecting jagged peaks, this page shows all of the Adventure Painting lessons that feature still-water landscapes.

To learn more about each class (colors used, location details, lesson length, and primary techniques) and navigate to the lesson, click the images below or scroll down. 

Tracy Arm (September 2024)

Location: Tracy Arm (Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska)

Video Time: 2 hrs 9 min (Bonus sections add one hour)  - Go to this lesson -

I am so excited to share one of my favorite paintings from the North Cascades. We explore a landscape of snow, rock, and ice floating in an alpine tarn.

Colors Used: The paintings in this lesson use a variety of colors, which are listed in the downloads for each painting. The main colors in the primary painting are sodalite, phthalo blue green shade, indanthrone blue, burnt sienna/transparent oxide, Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Umber, Cobalt Blue

Primary Techniques:

  • Simplifying a very complex scene into more simple shape and color zones
  • Creating patterns for rock and snow
  • Wet next to wet techniques for painting rocks with beautiful patterns and color
  • How to paint ice filled water
  • Simplifying a jumbled icefall of a glacier

Icy Tarn (July 2024)

Location: Ptarmigan Ridge Trail, North Cascades

Video Time: 2 hrs 8 min   - Go to this lesson -

I am so excited to share one of my favorite paintings from the North Cascades. We explore a landscape of snow, rock, and ice floating in an alpine tarn.

Colors Used: Cobalt Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Indanthrone Blue, Burnt Umber, Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Sodalite, Indian Red, Quinacridone Gold, White Gouache (optional)

Primary Techniques:

  •  Strategies for creating patterns of rock and snow
  • Painting water with ice on it! 
  • How to paint shadows on snow
  • Painting haze and atmosphere in peaks and skies
  • Using colors to create a subtle reflection 

Wetlands Sketches (June 2024)

Location: Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Plas Newydd Farm

Video Time: 2 hrs + three bonus sketches   - Go to this lesson -

Choose your own wetlands watercolor adventure with FIVE shorter and smaller paintings to choose from as we explore the Ridgefield Refuge and a local farm. 

Colors Used: Hansa Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Gold, Cobalt Blue, Indanthrone Blue, Cerulean Blue, White Gouache, Perylene Red or Quinacridone Rose (optional - Burnt Orange)

Primary Techniques:

  • How to mix all the greens for spring!
  • Using a flat angle shader brush to create interesting texturs and patterns for foliage
  • Simplifying the layers of a landscape and differentiating foliage with color 
  • Three approaches to skies with clouds
  • Creating the patterns of water, especially still water in wetlands with lots of reflected green

Glaciers, Tarns, & Trees at Mt. Baker (Mar. 2023)

Location: North Cascades, WA

Video Time: 3.5 hours   - Go to this lesson

Paint at an incredible alpine tarn reflecting the patterns of blue iced glaciers, alpine meadows, and the steep cliffs of Mt. Baker. This is our longest & most complex class, so if you are new to watercolor I recommend checking out a few prior lessons (such as the first Crater Lake or Thunder Mountain Lessons). 

Colors Used: Perylene Red, New Gamboge, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade (and red shade in the sky only)

Primary Techniques:

  • Wet-in-wet techniques for creating impressionistic reflections 
  • Layering colors to create three dimensional rocks
  • Foliage layering
  • Distant rocky cliffs and glacier patterns

Winter at Crater Lake (Jan. 2023)

Location: Crater Lake National Park

Video Time: 2 hours 20 min  - Go to this lesson - 

This month, we go back to Crater Lake for a wintery landscape of brilliant white snowfields and adorable pine trees framed by peaks perfectly reflected in the lake.

Colors Used: Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Indanthrone Blue, Cobalt Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade

Primary Techniques:

  • Using transparent layers of paint to build the delicate patterns of snow
  • Painting foliage the easy way with a splayed brush
  • Simplifying the very complex patterns of the crater rim and the reflections in the water

Thunder Lake: Ink & Watercolor (Dec. 2022)

Location: Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Video Time: 2 hours 30 min   - Go to this lesson -

In this very unique lesson we head to an incredible lake cradled between granite cliffs and header meadows. This class is unlike any others I've created so far because I invite you into the process of learning from a "failed" field painting and integrating that experience into a new painting. There is also an optional ink sketch, too! 

Colors Used: Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Hansa Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Burt Orange, Quinacridone Rose

Primary Techniques:

  • Ink Sketching to study shapes
  • Exploring what went wrong the first time, and how to fix it 
  • Vibrant water, and how to use glazing to add more saturation 
  • Creating rock patterns with pen and watercolor
  • Simplifying a scene into a cohesive composition
  • Layered foliage 

Ridgeline Layers & Distant Alpine Lakes (Sept. 2022)

Location: Mt. Daniel via Peggy's Pond, Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Video Time: 1 hr 44 min   - Go to this lesson -

This two-part lesson explores how to create layers of ridgelines, alpine lakes glittering in the sun, and mountains that have depth and a sense of atmosphere. 

Colors Used: 

Indanthrone Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Hansa Yellow Medium, Neutral Tint, Perylene Red, Quinacridone Gold, A little Monte Amiata Sienna and Phthalo Blue Red Shade

Primary Techniques:

  • Using color and value shifts to create depth
  • Quick stretegies for making atmosphere in ridgelines
  • How to let watercolor do the hard work for gradients
  • Creating mountain patterns with blooms and subtle white spaces
  • Painting wet-on-wet to facilitate unique patterns, color mixes, and textures

Mt. Rainier Reflections (August 2022)

Location: Mount Rainier (Tahoma) National Park, Washington.  

Video Time: 2 hours 15 minutes   - Go to this lesson -

After over a year of searching, I finally found a full mountain reflection for us to paint!! This class is all about mountain patterns and how to paint a complex reflection using sketching hacks, color shifts, and simplification.

Colors Used: Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue Red Shade, New Gamboge Yellow, Quinacridone Rose, Indian Red, and a tiny bit of Hansa Yellow Medium

Primary Techniques:

  • Color mixing to create depth and the shifted hues of a reflection
  • Mirroring topography and the directions of cast shadows to quickly create stunning mountain patterns
  • Creating fog and soft edges
  • Strategies for creating a reflection!!!

Crater Lake (May 2022)

Location: Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. 

Video Time: 2 hrs 20 min   - Go to this lesson -

Snowy peaks, watery reflections, and the most beautiful shadows. This lesson from Crater Lake is one of my absolute favorites, and I am so excited to paint it with you! 

Colors Used: Indanthrone Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Burnt Umber

Primary Techniques:

  • How to use angled lines in shadows and rock to convey curvature and steepness in a landscape
  • Shadows in snow!
  • Loose and expressive reflections in water
  • Simplifying the textures/ patterns of rocks, trees, and shadows

Atmospheric Landscape (Aug. 2021)

Location: Bagley Lakes below Artist Point. Washington.

Video Time: 1 hr 26 min   - Go to this lesson -

Venture with me to an alpine lake tucked beneath snowy peaks and explore how to paint clouds and create the soft atmospheric effects that are uniquely suited for watercolor.

Colors Used: Cobalt Blue, Indian Red, Neutral Tint

Primary Techniques:

  • Hard vs. soft edges, and utilizing them to create atmosphere
  • Strategies for creating depth
  • Layering trees of variable value (also to create depth)
  • Loose reflections in the lake
  • The beauty of a limited palette and using a subtle range of grey tones to create a mood

 Mountain Tarn: Painting an Expressive Landscape, Fast! (May 2021)

Location: Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Washington.

Video Time: 1 hr 26 min   - Go to this lesson -

Hike with me to a remote alpine tarn and paint the landscape quickly, expressively and exploratively, with lots of colors & patterns. With bonus technique lessons in the studio.

Colors Used: Cobalt blue, ,Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Phthalo green, New Gamboge Yellow,, Quinacridone rose, Neutral Tint, Burnt Sienna

Primary Techniques:

  • Abstracting a landscape with simple lines and expressive brush lines/ patterns
  • Letting the paint and water do the hard work for you to create patterns
  • Loose ink sketching to set the stage for a fast painting
  • Using color banding to visualize how the whole painting will work together
  • Tips for working with a water brush
  • Loosely painted trees
  • Relaxed brush strokes and mixing colors on our paper (instead of pre-mixing in a palette)

Alpine Lakes Wilderness (Feb. 2021)

Location: Waptus Lake, Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Video Time: 1 hr 18 min   - Go to this lesson -

Our first outdoor adventure painting takes us to a huge alpine lake with cobalt blue water below snow dusted peaks and surrounded by groves of evergreen trees.

Colors Used: Cobalt Blue, Quinacridone Gold, Indanthrone Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Neutral tint, Indian Red

Primary Techniques:

  • Painting a sky quickly and in a single layer
  • Far-away trees swathed in golden fall light
  • Loose and energetic reflections in water
  • Mountain patterns and shadows
  • Shortcuts for painting tree-covered hillsides with watercolor blooms