Scenery can either be fun to paint or it can be complicated and annoying. This particular painting is on a big foamboard, so be sure to wear an apron and be prepared to use a lot of paint. The biggest part of painting this scene is not to overthink or overblend your colors.
What you will need
- Foamboard
- Foam brush
- Normal flat brush
- Blue acrylic paint in a couple shades
- White acrylic paint
- Yellow paint
- Orange paint
- Red acrylic
- Purple Acrylic
- Apron
- Fine detail brush
- Something to hold paint, a paper plate will work
- Dropcloth of some form, like a trash bag
Preparing a Work area to Paint an Acrylic Mountain Painting
Start by laying out a trash bag to keep paint off of whatever you are painting on. This is very important, as acrylic paint can get everywhere and easily ruin things in the blink of an eye. Protect your floors, tables, and clothes from acrylic paint.
Starting with Painting the Sky of the Acrylic Mountain Painting
Start by taking some dark blue and white on a sponge brush and make large brush strokes all the way across the top of your canvas horizontally. Be careful not to over blend your colors, and bring the color down to about two thirds of your painting, with it being lighter at the bottom.
Streaking in Yellow and Pink and Orange into the Sky
Take some white, a corner of red, and a corner of orange and gently brush it into the sky towards the bottom of the sky. This will give the illusion of a sunset. Be very careful not to overdo the red or orange, as this can easily turn into a flaming hot Cheeto sky.
Making the Dark Outline of the Trees on Either Side of the Acrylic Mountain Painting
Get a big brush with stiff bristles and scoop up some dark green, then repeatedly bang the brush onto either side of the canvas into a rough V shape, poking out of the brush now and then to show more detail and individual trees onto the canvas. Extend the trees all the way down to the edges of the canvas, leaving a place open between the trees and sky.
Painting the Mountain Line
Using a fine brush with purple and blue paint on it, make a wiggly line under the orange part of the sky. Don’t overthink it, just wiggle it on in. Add some light purply bluish white to just below that line, like foggy mountains in the distance. Make some small mountains with that fine brush, imagine a bunch of really big ant beds in the distance.
Filling in the Colors of the Mountains
Use different shades of blue and purple to make the colors of the mountain, and lighten it on one side of all the mountains to look like a highlight. You can add a little white and gently blend it into the purple for a less harsh hue instead of adding straight white.
Putting More Details in the Trees of the Acrylic Mountain Painting
Using that same brush from before with the trees, pick up some lighter green and bap it into certain spots, and do the same with yellow and a few lighter shades of green. Be careful with the yellow to beat the color almost entirely in, as this is a very minor detail to distinguish the little tree leaves and should not be overthought. Don’t overthink trees, they don’t overthink you when you let your dog pee on them.
Painting the Individual Mountains
Go back with your fine brush and gently redefine the mountains, flicking the brush down lightly to make the line less harsh. I forgot to do this in my work, and it makes it overdefined and a little blocky. Adding Bits of Color to the Trees
Towards the end of this painting, I added some small red dots and small orange flecks. Fall color is absolutely gorgeous in the mountains.
Adding Optional Clouds
You’d think clouds would be as easy to add as plopping your brush down and creating a blob in the sky, right? Well, for some art styles that works, but for this painting the better thing to do is to pick up some light blue or white and gently add streaks of color to your sky and blend them in once you get that down.
Adding Optional Birds
This is genuinely really easy, use a little black paint on a fine brush and paint a little ‘V’ or ‘M’ shape into the sky. Don’t overthink the birdies.
Finish
And you now have a mountain painting that sort of looks like the original picture, but was more fun to paint than to look at. Happy Crafting!
Good instructions I always forget to do the top colors working down I almost always start at the bottom and work up.