Painting the Impression of Foliage (Not Every Leaf) — English Elms, Plein Air

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Apr 9 (edited) • Art Tips

Hey Artists

I headed out the other week for an afternoon plein air session in front of a row of English elm trees, and it threw up a couple of things worth sharing.

The first was foliage. It's tempting to try to paint every leaf, but that's not how it works. What you're after is the impression of foliage, not a botanical record of it.

The second was the trunks, which honestly don't get nearly enough attention. Get the trunks wrong, and the trees just don't sit right in the landscape.

I worked through both of these on location, talking through my thinking as I painted.

You can watch the whole session here

Hope it's useful!

Cheers

Sam

P.S.

If you want to go deeper into trees and every other element of the landscape, come and join us inside Sam's Landscape Painting Skool → https://www.skool.com/samuel-earp-online-art-school/about

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