how to paint an imaginary landscape

A few days ago I started a little project I’m calling DailyScapes.

Every day I’m creating a little landscape of some kind in a square sketchbook I found on sale recently.

I’d been feeling a bit sticky in terms of painting ~ as always I have a few canvases on the go, but have not felt in any way called to work on them.

I needed something small and quick that would provide an element of challenge, and ideally move me forward in my abilities.

Thus, the DailyScapes; imaginary landscapes that allow me to play with different materials, marks, colour combinations, shapes and ideas, and a subject area I am not familiar with, without the pressure of individual works on canvas.

My main desire is to develop my colourful ‘abstractifying’ style and transfer what I learn onto my larger figurative and abstracted pieces.

I am totally excited just thinking about where this could lead!

I’m not known for delighting in daily repetition of things {some days the morning routine nearly kills me}, but this feels manageable because it’s small, quick, fun and I’m not putting a time limit on it.

I’ll go as long as it feels good to do it.

Feel free to follow along {or join me!} on Instagram and Facebook, where I’m sharing my daily efforts. I have a hashtag and everything. 😆

Day 3’s scape went down unexpectedly well when I shared it.

So I made a ‘how to’ video for anyone interested in how it came together and with a desire to try it themselves.

It’s SUPER simple, under 5 minutes long, and includes notes on what I used and how I built it up.

Here’s a landscape done by Sarah Pickering after watching the video.

Sarah Pickering

Isn’t it gorgeous?! I love how she made it her own.

And here’s another from Brooke de Canha. Just four colours, and so evocative:

Brooke de Canha

Sometimes simple is best. 😊