Let’s talk about painting trees and their edges. I see a lot of students attacking a tree the way they attack a canvas: very vertically, and not horizontally or parallel to the canvas. If you constantly attack your trees vertically, sort of like you have a sword in your hand and you start stabbing it, it is not going to have an organic look to it. You need to have a variety of edges on the outside edges of the trees. It is very important to try to put your brush more horizontally to the canvas.

I made a post on instagram about this, where I show you how I handle the edge.

You have to be more like a conductor than a swordsman when you paint the exterior edges of the trees, so it doesn’t have the cookie- cutter feel. It takes time to get the organic look, it is not instantaneous. When I look at my past paintings, I do see a cookie-cutter feeling to them where they are too literal. I always go back to painting outdoors and from life. If you want to paint a better landscape, or better anything, paint from life. It is very important to get that organic feel to those exterior edges. Trees in the background can be simple, but elements in the foreground need a little more eye candy. This is one of the things we as artists need to have “in the bag.” Continue to ask yourself:  How am I going to handle the brushwork part?  

I also have a video where I paint at an angle as an example of how I attack a canvas. This is similar to how you should paint the edges of trees.

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Listen more on tree edges on the Concept to Canvas podcast:

Check out my video series below: