Learn to Paint a Forest in Acrylics Part 3

Welcome to part three of a four part tutorial series on how to paint a forest scene after a fire in acrylics using the brush and palette knife. Let's add in trees and logs and really give shape to our forest scene! (full video)

In just 4 short lessons, we’ll create a forest after a fire scene in a playfully loose style, exploring elements of design and composition, brushed and palette knife backgrounds, build a picture with trees and logs and create that wow effect with palette knife highlights.

Follow along to the step by step instructions or take your own road and alter, add, remove or change to make it your own. You may want to follow along at first and then paint another that is more reflective of you.

There is a video for each part along with extra tips and handy hints in each post with a written outline of each video at the bottom of the page, similar to a transcript but not as detailed.

Find out what materials you need and recap from the start how to paint a forest scene in acrylics part 1.

Learn...

How to plan out your design
Composition and design basics using a square canvas
Getting the most from a limited colour palette
How to blend lighter colours into a back ground
Easy ways to paint trees and lines
Using a palette knife to give atmosphere to your work
Value differences that give depth to your artwork
How to fix compositional elements that don’t work
Knowing when your finished

Video 3 - Give the forest context with trees and logs

In this third lesson, we’ll be giving our forest shape by adding brushed in trees and fallen logs. Don’t forget to look out for the extra tip on distances and proportions at the bottom.

Video 3 Outline

(Some of this video is voiced over, other parts have instructions on the right hand side.)

Building up the Scene

Logs on the ground can give the appearance of steep slopes and flat plateaus. The more horizontal placed logs give a feel of flat ground where as vertically placed logs create the appearance of a slope. Log sizing should be larger in the front in the foreground and getting smaller as they move closer to the edge of the horizon line. This will give our painting depth of view.

Create the rich colour of dark fallen logs with phthalo blue, burnt umber and red. Highlights will be added with the palette knife so there’s no need to be too careful when painting the logs in.

Adding Trees

Painting in straight lines is tricky. I like to paint lots of trees by turning the canvas upside down.

Use different size brushes that are flat and short bristled to push the paint.

Don’t forget, trees in a forest start their growing in different places. Place your trees around the horizon line but at different starting points. Even though we’re not going to be seeing the entire tree we get a feel for the undulating landscape.

Some trees in a forest are thin, some thick. Many are not quite straight and some aren’t anywhere near straight! Remember to vary your colour, width and straightness of your trees.

Add lighter colour trees first to give the appearance of them being off in the distance. There will be some overlapping of darker, ‘closer’ trees and the palette knife will be used to add detail and variety.

When adding your trees, remember where your light is coming from on the background we brushed on at the start. Keep this area either clear or paint in finer, thinner lighter trees to keep this area the lightest on the painting.

I noticed that the area above the horizon line was too light and stretched for too long. It meant that the area we chose to be the hero or focal point loses it’s impact. I used a little phthalo blue and water and added it to areas away from the hero light area getting lighter as we moved toward it. You could also add a touch of burnt umber to the mix too.

Identify where you want to put your big trees. They’ll be closer to the front of the painting. Using your darker paint mix, add in your big trees. Use a larger flat headed brush or paint a couple of thin brushed lines together and over the top of each other to create a wider tree trunk.

Add some interest by painting in different coloured tree trunks. Stick to your original colour palette and its variations to keep your painting in colour harmony. I’ve used a few different shades of violet and red violet, blue and burnt umber, red and burnt umber.

Because we can see more of the trees in the foreground, they might appear wider at the base but this won’t be extreme.

Add a couple of trees going in different directions for an authentic forest feel.

Extra Tips

The trees at this stage are just a guide and to add depth for when we add the palette knife highlights. We don’t need every little lump and bump to be straightened out. Anything that doesn’t sit well can often be fixed with the straight long edge of the palette knife in the next video.

Watch your proportions. The palette knife highlights we added in the second video, part 2 will give a sense that some of our forest is far away in the distance but we need the trees to match this. Where you are adding thinner trees in the foreground, try giving them a different direction or making the length shorter.

You’ll notice that I haven’t used the unbleached titanium in this video but don’t worry, it’s going to get front row seats for the next video, forming the basis of our forest after a fire painting.

Next Lesson in the Series

I hope you've enjoyed creating more of our forest with the brush, painting straight lines, working with values, blending and mixing colours.

In the next video, Part 4 we’ll be adding different shades of highlights with the palette knife.