Landscape Painting Tutorial: From Big Shapes to Final Highlights

In this landscape painting tutorial, I continue developing a Grand Canyon scene by building on the strong foundation of large shadow shapes established in the first stage of the painting. You'll see how I refine the distant canyon layers using my Air Color mixture, creating depth through value and temperature changes rather than relying on excessive detail. Then we move into the foreground, where warmer colors, darker values, and stronger contrasts help bring the rock formations forward. One of the key lessons in this video is learning to think in terms of shapes rather than objects. Instead of painting "rocks," I focus on the larger shape structures that create strength and unity throughout the painting. In the final stage, I add what I call the "frosting"—those bright, sunlit highlights that catch the edges of the cliffs. Using a painting knife, I apply these accents with purpose, enhancing the major design of the painting without losing the power of the original shapes. In this lesson you'll learn: • How to create depth using value and temperature • Why shape design is more important than detail • How to paint convincing canyon landscapes • Techniques for painting foreground rock formations • How to add highlights without overworking a painting • Ways to maintain a strong composition from start to finish If you enjoy landscape painting tutorials, gouache painting, oil painting techniques, and learning how to simplify nature into strong design, be sure to subscribe for more weekly art lessons. Get Teaching Tuesday's here: https://lindaglovergooch.com/ttuesday My Favorite Painting Knife here: https://lindaglovergooch.com/palettek... Curious about my Palette: Get it here: https://goochstudio.ck.page/palette Read the blog post here: https://lindaglovergooch.com/how-to-p...