In the Style of the Romantic Landscape Movement

According to Peter Barnett's Blog, the Romantic movement in fine arts includes:

" [the] romantic landscape [which] covers the gamut between the Pastoral - inhabited landscape: comfortable and relatively tame, with shepherds and peasants - and the Sublime - wild nature: vast and powerful, inspiring terror and awe.

    The Sublime is wonderfully represented by Cole and Bierstadt. [Albert] Bierstadt in particular, in a generation when the West was opening up to travel, sums up supremely well the new attitude of appreciation for the vast, untamable reaches of the wilderness. His landscapes are a veritable definition of the sublime in nature."


Here is an example of the Romantic Sublime style in watercolor on mixed-media paper. Artist Carlos Herrera.

"When the Earth Was New."

A Cityscape Painting

"At Dawn by the Old Canal". A watercolor and gouache cityscape on Canson watercolor paper. Artist, Carlos Herrera.

Dawn by the Old Canal

Dealing with Complexity

Forest scenes are usually full of wonderful details; not surprisingly its easy to overwork the painting. In this case, the saying "less is more" is most appropriate. Gouache on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Forest Late Afternoon

Landscape Art

Here is an example of a simplified design to enhance the composition and the color fields that recreate the sunlight bathing the scene. Careful attention to the relative values is absolutely essential to get the correct 'reading' of  sunlight.

"California Backroad". Gouache on watercolor paper.

Controlling the Values in a Painting

In paintings like the one below, it is essential to plan the value range of the scene in order to recreate the striking contrast of light.

A Place in Northern Spain

Skin in Watercolor

A simple sketch to study skin color temperature.

Boy in Watercolor

After the Snow Storm

Winter snow storms are a beautiful but difficult subject to paint in watercolor and gouache.

Afternoon after the Snow Storm

Beautiful French Countryside

This is one of those beautiful motifs you find everywhere in France.

Midday Sun. French Countryside.

Charcoal Sketches

Some sketches of bird behaviors.

Green heron with the catch

Sittelle torchepot about to fly.

Landscape in Gouache

A view of one of the beautiful barns you often see in Vermont's countryside, USA.

Vermont Sunshine

A Winter Scene

Snow storm in Nordic Europe. Gouache on paper.

After the Storm