In this guide I will paint a simple
pine tree. I started out with a
swath of sap green and green
gold mixed together for the grass.
You can paint the green color
any way you would like, just make
sure it is a darker pigment,
because we need some of the
dark to show through to create
shadows.
Mix a little yellow ochre with
yellow green, and get out a
medium bright brush (size 8 or 10).
Turn the brush vertical so the
widest part of the brush points up
and down. With your yellow
green mixture lightly make up
and down brush strokes to create
grass. The strokes will be pretty
vertical, but have a slight angle
on them to make the grass look
wavy.
Continue this pattern across the
top half of your dark green. Paint
it down to where your tree will
meet the landscape. This will
serve as the background to the
tree.
You can vary the color of your
grass. Sometimes you can add a
little yellow ochre to the mix, or
sometimes you can add a bit of
white to lighten the grass up.
Change it up a little so your grass
varies in color as you move across
the canvas.
Once your top half of your grass is
painted, you are ready to start
painting your tree.
Take a small liner brush and wet it.
Use Payne’s gray and black
mixed together for the trunk.
Paint a long vertical line, that
gets a little thicker as you move
toward the bottom.
Paint the line all the way down to
the edge of the light colored
grass.
You can extend the top of the
tree up a bit if you would like the
tree to be taller. Just lightly add
a very thin line to your already
painted line.
Mix Sap green and black
together to make the color of the
branches and needles. With your
liner brush start at the top of the
tree. Use the shape of the liner
brush to create the very small
branches at top. Each branch
should create about a 45 degree
angle at top. Just make small
marks at first, but add more
shape as you move down the
tree.
Don’t make the branches to
uniform. Make some close
together, and then have some
that have more space between
them. You can just paint a thin
branch to start with for your base,
but then add shape and points to
the branch after. Sometimes you
want to leave enough space for
the trunk to show through.
As you move down the tree think
about how pine tree branches
look. They have a point at the
end, and then points coming off
them from the top and bottom.
As long as you make the shapes
vary and not look too uniform,
but still look similar you will create
a nice pine tree.
It can be helpful to paint the
branches first, and then build the
shape onto the branch like I am
showing in this picture.
As you move down the tree, you
can make the branches more
sparse and start to droop down.
You can even paint a few bare
branches if you’d like, to make
the tree look aged.
Leave a good portion of the trunk
bare at the bottom. Probably
about a 1/3 of the tree.
For pine trees that are full, you
use the same technique, but you
just paint the tree without as
many spaces between branches,
and don’t allow as much trunk to
show. For example, a Blue
Spruce, wouldn’t be as sparse as
this tree.
Once you have the shape of the
tree completed in the dark
colors. You can move on to the
surrounding landscape before
adding detail to the tree.
To paint a few bushes around the
tree, use a round or a bright
brush. Use a tapping motion on
your palette to load the brush
with paint. Then tap the paint
onto the canvas to create
bushes.
The tapping/dabbing motion will
leave small spaces at the top of
the bush, and make it look like
leaves. Make your bushes
rounded, but not completely
round. They can be oblong, or
have a flat body, but have a
slightly rounded top.
Go back to your yellow
green/yellow ochre mixture for
grass. Paint in the grass around
the bushes and tree. Use vertical
brush strokes (set at a slight
angle) to create the grass.
Once you’ve filled in the
surrounding area, you can add a
bit of white to your yellow green
mixture. Add some highlights to
the grass to make it look a little
more wispy. Make sure to leave
a few spaces of dark here and
there to create texture and
depth.
I use the same yellow
green/yellow ochre mixture for
the detail on the bushes. I add a
slight bit of raw umber to that mix
to make the green a little more
muted. Then with a round brush, I
use the same tapping motion
and very lightly add detail to the
bush. Remember where your
light source is coming from and
add details in that direction. In
this case it is left to right.
You can also add some brighter
highlights on the bush. Just add
some white to your yellow
green/raw umber mixture. Start
from where the light source is
hitting on the edge, and highlight
the bushes. Remember to leave
shadows.
The highlights on the pine tree
can be a little more subtle.
I like to mix one part sap green
with a very light amount of raw
umber, and yellow green. I use a
small liner brush for the highlights.
Then starting at the top edge of
each branch, just lightly add
“fingers” to the branches. Make
sure to only highlight where the
light would be hitting.
I only fully highlight the left side of
the tree, and then I add sporadic
highlights to the right side where
branches might be sticking out far
enough to catch light.
The same with the middle of the
tree. Try to visualize branches
sticking out in the middle. The left
side of the branch catches light,
but the right side casts a shadow.
As you allow your highlights on
the branches to dry, you can
move down and add a highlight
to your trunk.
With pure raw umber, paint over
the trunk. Leave a small area of
black at the top where the
branches cast a shadow.
Then add a bit of white to your
raw umber, and highlight the
edge of the trunk. You can
highlight where you think light
would be hitting. You can also
add highlights to the trunk up
through the tree If you’d like. It
depends on how sparse your
branches are.
Finally, we can add some brighter
highlights to the branches of the
tree. Use your same sap green
and raw umber mixture. This time
add just a bit more yellow green,
to make the highlight brighter.
Lightly add fingers where the light
source would be hitting. Start on
the left and move across the
tree.
Continue adding highlights
keeping the light source in mind.
If your light source is up high, then
the top of your tree will have
more highlights. If the light source
is lower, closer to the horizon,
then your tree will have more
even highlights. Just try to always
keep the light source in mind
when adding highlights to the
landscape.
You have completed a sparse
pine tree. You can go in and
add shadows to the surroundings
if needed. Just use a small bright
brush, with some payne’s
gray/black/sap green. Use small
amounts of paint and scrub in
some shadows.