Painting the foliage realistically

by Tissa Hewavitarane

How can I make the foliage green in my landscape to look more realistic? The lush green of a landscape in high summer is an inspiration to any painter.

The two most common faults made by inexperienced artists, first, the land-scape colours have been applied straight from the tube, without any modification. They're altogether too intense and strident not at all like the soft greens of nature.

Second, any beginner tends to paint large areas of the picture with one single green, without any changes in temperature, tone or texture. This leads to a rather flat poster-like effect.

Solution

The landscape painting I have done illustrates a more subtle and varied range of greens in the grass and foliage. Notice how the colours change gradually from warm and intense in the foreground, while in the distance becoming cooler. The use of colour gradation lends an impression of depth and atmosphere to the scene.

Notice too how I have introduced positive contrasts of light and dark greens that enliven the picture and make the eye to explore the composition. The sheer number of different shades of green found in the grass foliage brings depth to the scene.

Modifying greens

There are of course some splendid greens available in tubes. But these used alone may not be enough to give you the flexibility required to capture the subtle nuances that are found in nature's green. To obtain livelier and more expressive colours, it's often better to vary your tube greens by mixing them with blues, reds and orange.

It's amazing how the greens such as Vindian and Windsor green, which are unnatural in appearance in their pure state, become much more lifelike when mixed with other colours. The tiniest drop of Viridian, for instance, when mixed with chrome yellow produces a luminous transparent green that is ideal for painting sunlight foliage.

Do-it-yourself greens

Learn how to mix your own green, using yellows and blues, so that you can vary them from light to dark, bright to muted and warm to cool. Try making your own colours. Observe the tree trunk given a transparent effect adding burntsienna and Prussian blue with a light wash.

I have added a cow resting under a huge tree to give life to the picture. The greens become cooler and bluer to the distance giving an impression of depth and space. The greens in this landscape are fresh and vibrant because I have built the colours and tones with lively strokes of burntsienna green, blue and yellow that create an impression of the warm sun!

Textures

The techniques of using a dry brush is one of the most interesting ones that can be performed with watercolours. Naturally, it isn't something to be used at all times, since some areas of a painting will inevitably demand techniques involving blending colours or creating gradation.

The large tree in the foreground shown in the landscape is sufficiently rich in shades and textures to allow it to perfectly demonstrate the technique of using wash and drybrush. A touch of burntsienna is also added which mixes with the green. A very light ultramarine blue wash is applied to the sky and a darker blue is added to give the cloud effect.

The background sky is begun with a watery ultramarine blue. The form of the clouds are outlined, leaving them perfectly etched in the sky as the background is completely dry. In the art below I have used a tone that is much more transparent and bright.

Finally, to finish the study of different drying times paint yet another overlaping range of mountains in the foreground.

As you can see with practice the exact definition of their forms can be created but only if the background is completely dry.

I'm often asked whether I paint the foliage first and add the trunk and branches afterwards, or paint the trunk and branches first and add the leaves afterwards. Look at the tree first and decide which is the more dominant.

In a full, lush summer tree it seems all foliage and you can only see a branch or twig through the occasional skyhole. There's no point in painting all the branches first just to cover them up - the common fault of drawing a lot of conventional branches on top of the foliage 'just for luck', even though they are not actually visible at all.

This really is lack of observation. During a mild summer where the structure is dominant and the foliage light, paint the trunk and branches first and add the leaves later.

Identity

Quite often a lot of sky can be seen through even the thickest foliage. Putting these in also avoids that cardboard cut-out look. Groups of trees together lose their own identity and unite to make one shape.

The common fault here is to overdo the detail on individual trees and forliage groups. Whenever I'm painting trees I use a soft brush to paint leaves which forces me to eliminate fussy detail and concentrate on the basic masses.

If you get a tree with light foliage in front of a darker tree, put the light tree in first and then paint the darker tree round it. To sum up then, the best way when painting foliage is to look, look and look again.

Simplify the tones and colours, especially as they get further into the distance. Do the absolute minimum of characteristic detail and then stop before you overwork them.