Discover a fresh, creative, mixed-media approach to painting the landscapes you love.
An inspiring, innovative and practical guide for artists wanting to explore the connection between creativity and the natural world.
Author and expert tutor Alison C. Board invites readers to slow down, observe and deeply connect with their landscape subject whether it's a much-loved holiday spot, a place of historical interest, or a place of profound personal significance. No matter if you're stepping outside with your sketchbook to work plein air or working from reference images at home, Painting Landscapes offers an inclusive, adaptable approach to making art that feels personal and meaningful. Inside this treasure trove of inspiring ideas and practical techniques you will:
Take inspiration: Explore the emotional and sensory impact of natural settings; tap into your connection with the landscape and make your initial sketches. Learn painting fundamentals: Master the essential building blocks of landscape painting, from appreciating the colour palette of nature to making innovative composition choices, and gaining an understanding of tone. Practise elements of the landscape: Break down the natural world into 24 manageable creative exercises, including dramatic skies, wild weather and depictions of water. Think creatively: Step beyond realism and embrace personal expression. This section encourages playful exploration with mixed media, including maps and collage, abstraction and storytelling. Solve problems: Learn how to troubleshoot common challenges while embracing the chaos: learn how to make your materials work for you, how to work from an overcomplicated reference, or how to give your painting character. Packed with practical advice to help you move forward at any stage. Get painting: Apply everything you've learned to five landscape-painting projects that each offer two different outcomes perfect for tailoring your approach and experimenting with techniques.
Whether you're discovering landscape painting for the first time or returning to it with fresh eyes, Painting Landscapes is the ultimate creative companion on your artistic journey. Thoughtfully written and richly informative, it empowers readers to engage with nature, memory and imagination, all through the simple, transformative act of painting.
Arvustused
Author and expert tutor Alison C. Board invites readers to slow down, observe and deeply connect with their landscape subject whether it's a much-loved holiday spot, a place of historical interest, or a place of profound personal significance. No matter if you're stepping outside with your sketchbook to work plein air or working from reference images at home, Painting Landscapes offers an inclusive, adaptable approach to making art that feels personal and meaningful. * Craft Focus - April/May 2026 *
Introduction
INSPIRED BY THE LANDSCAPE
Why are we captivated by landscapes?
Inspiration, gathering and experimenting
Seeking inspiration
Gathering information
Preserving what you have collected
Sketching and painting outdoors
Practical techniques for being creative outdoors
Memory sketches
Your unique approach
YOUR MATERIALS
Painting materials
Understanding your paper
Your location painting kit
Relating your materials to the landscape before you
PAINTING FUNDAMENTALS
Colour theory
Traditional composition
A quick word about darks
The importance of tone
Mark making
Creating The Blue Lagoon
ELEMENTS OF THE LANDSCAPE
The Jigsaw Puzzle Approach
Skies
Hills and mountains
Trees
Buildings and perspective
Water
Weather and seasons
Lost edges
The elements
The elusive rainbow
CREATIVE THINKING
Considering creative thinking
Creative language
Creative language materials
Brighton Pier: Storytelling
Frosty Sunrise: Mapping
Abereiddy: Collage
Letters from the rock: Incorporating text
PROBLEM SOLVING
Thinking around the problem
7 Pick and Mix Projects
How these projects work
Badbury Poppies
Glencoe
Melin Tregwynt
Downend Snow
The Summer House
Conclusion
Index
Alison C. Board has always had a creative career. Having originally trained to be a ballet teacher, she changed her subject to fine art and spent fifteen years managing and subsequently owning a contemporary gallery and arts centre in the south west of the UK.
In 2009 she gave it up to study for a degree in Fine Art at Arts University Bournemouth, UK, and graduated with First Class Honours, adding to this with education qualifications in Distance Learning.
Alison currently runs of workshops, courses and painting weekends from her studio, as well as being a Visiting Tutor at Arts University Bournemouth, specializing in Art, Design and Creative Studies.
When Alison isnt teaching, she can be found sketching and photographing with her husband Richard and her ever-growing menagerie of animals, surrounded by the beautiful Dorset landscape. She is inspired by her countryside home and her family history, as well as music, film, theatre and creative writing.
Her first book, A Beginners Guide to Watercolour with Mixed Media, has sold over 8,500 copies.
Visit Alisons website: www.learningtopaint.co.uk
Find her on Instagram: aliboardartist
Facebook: AliBoardArtist
YouTube: AlisonCBoard
