TREES & WATERFALL PAINTING ADVENTURES
The Pacific Northwest, where I spend most of my time hiking, is the perfect place to search for mossy waterfalls and groves of huge fir trees. While I paint these subjects less than mountains, I each year fall more in love with how light filtered through trees can feel like stained glass and the magic of larch trees that turn from glowing green to brilliant yellow right before the first snowfall of winter.
To learn more about each class (colors used, location details, lesson length, primary techniques) and to navigate to the lesson, click the images below or scroll down.
Wahclella Falls (August 2024)
Location: Wahclella Falls trail, Columbia River Gorge
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
Exploring A Sunlit Northwest Forest (Mar. 2021)
Location: Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. Washington.
Video Time: 1 hr 30 min - Go to this lesson -
Wander through a forest of moss and glowing winter light. In our painting we will explore shadows and dynamic color choices.
Colors Used: Hansa Yellow Light, New Gamboge, Quinacridone Rose, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Indanthrone Blue
Primary Techniques:
- Using blooms to create foliage patterns
- Mixing vibrant greens and layering colors to preserve luminosity
- How to paint in a very humid and slow-drying environment
- Painting with many colors to create dramatic light on tree trunks
- Utilizing a dark background with vertical blooms as a shortcut for adding contrast and visual interest
- Blue woodland shadows
Mossy Waterfall (May 2023)
Location: Cougar Mountain Park, Washington
Video Time: 2 hrs 20 min - Go to this lesson -
Explore how to paint a gorgeous small waterfall cascading down the most wonderfully green moss covered rocks on the first warm spring day of the year.
Colors Used: Hansa Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Gold, Perylene Red, Phthalo Blue Green Shade
Primary Techniques:
- Using the contrast between white paper and paint to create a waterfall shape
- Creating the impression of movement in water
- Simplifying the complex patterns of rock and moss so we can create a painting in about 60 minutes!
- Adding an ink baselayer to guide the painting and add extra texture
Slickrock & Shadows in the Desert (Oct. 2021)
Location: Escalante, Utah
Video Time: 2 hr 30 min - Go to this lesson -
Sandstone slickrock, shadows, and a beautiful pine tree! This place was so stunning that I hiked here many times to watch sunrise and the glowing morning light on the yellow and red stone.
Colors Used: WHITE GOUACHE, New Gamboge, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Quinacridone Violet, and a tiny bit of Perylene red and Neutral Tint
Primary Techniques:
- White Gouache- our first lesson utilizing this unique opaque pigment that allows us to layer paint differently and create stunning desert patterns
- Creating the patterns in slickrock using transparent and opaque lines
- Using controlled blooms of color to mimic complicated rock textures
- Simplifying complex patterns into basic lines
- Painting dark shadows and foliage using a round brush
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
Escalante River Canyon (May 2024)
Location: Escalante River, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Video Time: 2 hr 20 min - Go to this lesson -
Paint the glowing light of a desert canyon and stunning backlit cottonwood trees in the spring beside the Escalante River
Colors Used: Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Hansa Yellow Medium, Indanthrone Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade,
White Gouache and cobalt blue (optional)
Primary Techniques:
- Dramatically simplifying canyon walls into two layers of paint- one to hint at texture and color, and one to add the shadows
- "Negative" painting around glowing tree foliage
- Easy brush strokes for grassy foliage and deciduous leaves
- How to create the glowing effect of reflected light in a sandstone canyon
Glowing Desert Cottonwoods (Jan. 2022)
Location: Spring Canyon, Capitol Reef. Utah.
Video Time: 2 hr 10 min - Go to this lesson -
Explore the glowing yellows of a cottonwood grove illuminated by the fall sunlight. This was a magical scene of yellow and gold leaves that looked like distilled sunshine and contrasted with afternoon’s blue shadows and the patterns of red sandstone
Colors Used: Hansa Yellow Medium, New Gamboge, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Ultramarine Blue, Pyrrol Scarlet
Primary Techniques:
- Negative painting (painting around the subject to define its shape)
- Sandstone textures, including desert varnish and tafoni (holes in the rock)
- Deciduous tree foliage
- Painting tree trunks & low-ground foliage
Pleasant Creek Golden Cottonwoods (Oct. 2023)
Location: Capitol Reef National Park
Video Time: 2.5 hours - Go to this lesson -
Return to the magic of fall in the southwest and paint glowing yellow trees, huge sandstone domes, and a peaceful babbling creek.
Colors Used: Hansa Yellow Medium, New Gamboge, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Burnt Sienna, Neutral Tint, White Gouache
Primary Techniques:
- Painting backlit rocks and simplifying slickrock patterns
- How to create a glowing effect for cottonwood/ deciduous trees
- Strategies for simplifying running water
- Painting rocks, and what to do when they aren't turning out well!
Lost Pass (Sept. 2023)
Location: Olympic National Park
Video Time: 2 hr 15 min - Go to this lesson -
The Olympics painting adventure continues with a painting of a meadow filled with dancing white flowers glowing in the morning sun framed by backlit trees and layers of peaks
Colors Used: Cobalt Blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Ultramarine Blue, New Gamboge, Hansa Yellow Medium, Sodalite (or black), optional - white gouache, quinacridone gold
Primary Techniques:
- Creating a backlit effect using transparent washes of color
- How to paint white wildflowers (two different methods!)
- Painting the patterns of silhouetted trees, quickly and eficiently
- Simplifying a scene
- Using granulating colors to mimic complex mountain textures
- How to create a glowing green alpine meadow
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!!!
Sea to Trees (Jun. 2021)
Location: Oregon Coast & The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology
Video Time: 2hr 34 min - Go to this lesson -
A three part painting adventure beginning at the ocean's edge painting a sea arch, then exploring sand dunes and ocean hues, and ending in a mossy grove of Sitka Spruce trees.
Colors Used:
- Sea Arch: Cobalt blue, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, Quinacridone Rose, New Gamboge
- Sand Dunes: Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Quinacridone Gold, Buff Titanium, Neutral Tint
- Sitka Spruce: Hansa yellow medium and Cobalt Blue
Primary Techniques:
- Using ink lines to enhance the depth and texture of a painting
- Exploring more vibrant colors than what we see in our landscape
- Using blooms for rock texture
- Dry brushing for ocean waves
- A new technique for painting grass/ foliage with a splayed brush!
- How to use two colors to create a beautiful tree and gradients when mixing wet-in-wet
