Landscape Painting Ideas & Creative Insights

Landscape painting ideas are easy to find. If you know how to look, they can be found everywhere. Just look at some of the great artists. Van Gogh painted some of his finest scenes from the window of his asylum room where he tragically spent his final years. Ivon Hitchens painted his garden curated as a paradise away from London. For many others, their homes and gardens have been their greatest sources of inspiration, or their children playing at a picnic. I’ve put together

Fridge doors, tv unit, table mats, wardrobe, doors. Anywhere and everywhere there’s a flat surface there’s art in my house. And while mine is confined to our walls, my five year old son's is everywhere. And whilst I adore the splashes of colour and memories of his first forays into scribbling and drawing flags and endless cars, there’s an impracticality to having your child’s drawings all over the place. They get torn by doors being opened, bodies brushing past, they fade in

Collage combines unique materials and traditional techniques to create new ideas. It’s a form of art that is great for storytelling, using many different textures, images and symbols. In this blog, I share my list of practical tips, techniques and creative strategies for making collage artwork, from choosing your materials to using a blend of techniques. You’ll be able to make vibrant, expressive collage landscapes in no time! A History of Collage Art Collage art originated

Artworks in galleries, coffee shops, and homes look beautiful in custom frames or quirky thrift shop ones. However, they can also be very expensive. I'm here to share alternative ways to display works on paper in your home without the need for costly frames. Why Go Frameless? Displaying artwork without a frame can be cheaper, more convenient, and more fun. There are many ways to showcase a painting without framing, allowing the art itself to shine through. Remember to protect

Woodland painting is a beautiful way to connect with nature, whether you're deep in a mossy forest or on the edge of a shaded park, painting outdoors or plein air painting helps you capture the ever-changing light, textures, and mood of the natural world. In this guide, I'll cover the essential tools, techniques, and considerations I've learned by painting in the woods, so you can head outside confidently and creatively. Why Try Painting Outdoors? Painting under the trees is

There’s something about walking in nature that untangles my thoughts, softens the edges of a hard day, and fills me with a quiet kind of wonder. As a painter, I often go out into the landscape looking for inspiration. Over time, I've realised I keep returning to the same places. Not because I’m short on ideas, but because these landscapes never stop offering something new. A different season, a change in light, a sudden silence in the air... each one is a new experience to b

Have you ever been lucky enough to stand on a wild Scottish hillside, with the wind in your hair and the clouds rolling in like theatre curtains, and felt something shift? There’s something about the landscape of Scotland: rugged, raw, and unapologetically itself - that pulls you out of your head and straight into your senses. You don’t have to be an artist to feel it. You just have to walk. And you can experience this in many of the great wild places in Britain which I'll co

Autumn is a season of transformation, where nature turns sumptuous shades of Indian red, burnt orange, and shimmers of gold. For landscape artists , this is an inspiring time to capture the essence of autumn through landscape art. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced painter, the beauty of autumn invites exploration. In this blog post, I explore various ideas and techniques for creating stunning autumn-themed art. From selecting the right location to mastering your co

Adding landscape artwork to your home can transform your space, bringing you the peace of the outdoors and a connection with nature. But how do you choose the perfect piece? With so many styles, colors, and subjects available, this guide will help simplify your decision-making process. Whether you're looking to brighten a living room or create a calming atmosphere in your child's bedroom, you'll find useful tips here. Landscape art ideas When looking for the perfect landscap

There's something magical about travelling with a sketchbook. The ability to translate a scene in just a few pencil strokes or paint marks, capturing the moment and the emotion in a way that cameras just never can. I love browsing my old sketchbooks , particularly the ones I theme by place, or subject. Flicking through the pages I remember how the air felt, the sounds and my state of mind, who I was with, and what I wanted to capture in those first impressions. It's like a t

It's the first subject of call when we call our relatives abroad. It's the dictum of conversations up and down the country, between...

Back when I used to paint in oils, what felt like decades ago (or pre-2020) I had far too many colours, and honestly very little idea of how to use them. I had Prussian Blue, Cerulean Blue, Naples Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Pthalo Green, Viridian Green and so on, but I didn’t understand the nature of how these colours worked with each other in terms of value, tone, contrast. What colours should you mix with what? And don’t get me started on straight-from-the-tube greens. They’re

I’ve been loving a more dramatic, bolder colour palette lately. Beautiful buttery yellows, rich magenta and swathes of rich sky blue. “July Effect” just worked , and though it had caused me to stumble at first, I ran with it and the paint just flowed. It feels Monet-esque, yet at the same time reminds me of the Expressionist works of Kandinsky in Murnau. Perhaps that’s a high bar to aim for, but this painting makes me happy, and gives me confidence. July Effect Monet’s Hayst

Landscapes have captivated us for centuries. We paint them, retreat to them on holiday, we take endless photographs of and in front of...

I’ve always painted nature. From flat watercolour animals on printer paper to my first experiment on canvas with horses (I haven’t saved...

“Yet often the mountain gives itself most completely when I have no destination, when I reach nowhere in particular, but have gone out...

It was almost three years ago, just before the global pandemic that shook our reasonably stable world apart, that I had been quietly,...

One scene. Several scenes at once. Tracking the shifting light. Different times of day, different weather. Looking back through the progress of my painting Alfie in Patagonia, what I initially saw as ugly not–quite-right stages were actually beautiful scenes in and of themselves. Just as Claude Monet in the winter and early springs of 1892 and 1893 painted the Gothic facade of the Rouen Cathedral from multiple vantage points, atmospheres and conditions to grasp at the spiritu

Painting what you love can be the easiest and hardest thing in the world. My paintings are more often than not inspired by great...

It almost happened without me noticing. All of a sudden I felt a searing hot pain in my fingers. No longer absorbed in what I was doing, I noticed how numb my hands were. That’s what happens when you remove your gloves for plein air painting at -2 degrees Celsius in the Patagonian landscape. It’s cold, and it hurts. It was intense, but it was definitely the most amazing painting and travel experience of my life so far. A honeymoon, an adventure story and a journey of discov