abstracting landscape

An update on this video, first done as a live on my Facebook Group Page, Artwork Artplay, where I show you some tools and techniques for moving your landscapes into abstraction.

[@LexiandAimee123]

Okay… I just learned more than my previous three live workshops in the East. Thank you!

[@cathydale104]

Such a great video Alison. Thank you. I have watched it through a couple of times. So many tips and techniques. Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing. ☺

[@2PuppyProductions]

I am just exploring painting for the first time and I happened upon this video. I knew I wanted to work in abstract, connected to landscape, I even had some ideas about how to do it, but I didn't think any of them were probably artistically valid. What i've learned from watching you is that my instincts are on the right track, and now I have some incredible techniques to use as I begin to put paint to canvas. I'm so grateful to have found your channel! 🖌🙏

[@alisonwatt8570]

great to hear. Good luck with your painting practice--it's a great adventure

[@maggiesmith6519]

Your process is so fascinating and inspiring - thank you so much for the inspiration!❤

[@HowardKaplan-xw4oz]

fist time viewing and really enjoyed the tutorial and presentation.will continue to follow look and learn

[@pamelabrowne3684]

Just love these techniques Allison, thank you for demonstrating!

[@brendaberezan2737]

thanks for this process video. So nice to get a glimpse of how you work, your tools and how you make decisions.

[@francoislauzon7716]

I've learned a lot, very useful for my abstract landscape project. Thanks!

[@marilynharber2101]

Your instruction is fabulous! Thank you😍

[@alisonwatt8570]

Thanks Marilyn!

[@katedobinson3891]

Wow ! Thank you, loving seeing all these innovative techniques

[@martinederepentigny2771]

I really like your video and appreciate all your ideas. Liked it so much I watched it twice. Thank you for your generous comments.

[@triciabennetts6578]

Love your work and really enjoy watching your process! Interesting to see the final work and compare the ‘before’ and ‘after’. Thankyou so much for sharing Alison ❤️

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Tricia--yes, I wish I could have shown the whole process but it would have been a LONG video. Briefly, if you look at the surface you will see more layers, mark making, that big piece of pale paint, transfer in the foreground, tweeking of values at the very end of the process

[@summerrobertson3595]

Love this demo Alison. Thanks.

[@lolakratz3315]

I am so excited to start May y classes doing abstract landscaping. You have explained things so easy to understand. Thank you

[@econrith]

Enthralled with these techniques. Wow

[@anikindarji875]

Incredible work/ technique..BIG Thank you

[@lcomfort8683]

You are incredibly talented! Thank you for making these videos. I think I've watched this one twice.

[@alisonwatt8570]

thank you! so happy to hear that you are getting a lot out of the videos.

[@user-ik2it2tq2q]

Loved watching your video.Can’t wait to try some of the techniques.Thank you❤

[@alisonwatt8570]

have fun!

[@marypartridge5154]

Your landscapes are fantastic.

[@lynhysainty2444]

What a wonderful informative video.

[@joanicker7216]

Thank you so much for these ideas!

[@victoriagadd6831]

Thank you so much for an amazing demo. You do some fantastic work and your process is fascinating to watch. Exciting … results.

[@alisonwatt8570]

Thanks for your comments Victoria! Glad you liked the demo and hope you try some of these techniques yourself!

[@RobboJ30]

Fabulous! Thanks you. Jill 🇬🇧

[@10vogels]

I really love this. Would have liked to see how you finished the painting, the difference between the end of the video and the finished work is big.

[@alisonwatt8570]

thanks -- unfortunately, I didn't film the resolution of this but there is another short video abstracting landscape 2 in which I explain some of my decisions as I finished it.

[@lubadrahosz7003]

Interesting, you start out quite abstractly but end up rather realistically!! What I mean is that there is no mistaking your finished pieces are clearly landscapes!

[@alisonwatt8570]

Yes, I love to find that balance between abstraction and traditional landscape!

[@donnaer]

Fabulous!

[@angiemichal1455]

Thank you for sharing your process, I'm happy I came across your video

[@alisonwatt8570]

thanks for letting me know you liked my video!

[@avanellehansen4525]

The final painting is exquisite!

[@alisonwatt8570]

Thank you!

[@fionajenkins5047]

Great video and lots of tips, thank you.

[@alisonwatt8570]

Thank Fiona, glad you liked it

[@alisonlyons4691]

Thank you, so much for this amazing tutorial Alison, so much detailed information. This is exactly the kind of landscapes l love. I live on the West coast Scotland where the land/seascapes are very like the paintings you showed here. Thanks again......Alioban 😊

[@alisonwatt8570]

Having travelled on the west coast of Scotland, I can see how these techniques could apply to that beautiful landscape

[@alisonlyons4691]

@@alisonwatt8570 Where you are on your island sounds wonderful too, so much inspiration 😊

[@stevenmccarthy112]

I prefer to see landscapes that look like landscapes of actual places with the effects of light and atmosphere.

[@PatriseHenkel]

Love how you use the wax paper

[@georgewhitacre8276]

Great video. I paint representational landscapes and this has inspired me to experiment with landscape abstraction. Really like your approach. My goal is to paint more freely.

[@alisonwatt8570]

thanks for letting me know you liked this video. Good luck with your own landscapes!

[@B-t2cz]

Beautiful work, and an amazing tutorial. You've earned a new subscriber!

[@alisonwatt8570]

Thanks Brian!

[@1000geroz]

Mil gracias por las ideas

[@maureenknight3863]

i think its perfect just like it is, without going further

[@marinabuivolova4260]

Thank you so much 💖

[@avanellehansen4525]

I admire your work. If you dip your brush into liquid dus soap forst, the drawing gum will rinse out easily.

[@alisonwatt8570]

yes, that's a great point

[@rafarofo.deandrade]

que pinturas lindas

[@yvonnewagner5322]

I love some of the concepts you covered, like abstracts give more for the viewer, and creator, to interpret, and how fun “happy accidents” (what we call them in watercolor) are. I found Louise Fletcher amazing but her final product too scattered for me. I liked how you said to still follow some of the rules like perspective making bluer green. I wonder if you are as strict about lightfastness as I am, as I sell my work locally.

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Yvonne. Thanks for popping in with this comment. One of the sources I go to for landscape is Mitch Albala--he talks about how abstracting landscape doesn't mean that we lose all the formal elements of landscape--like linear and atmospheric perspective. I AM strict about lightfastness.

[@user-cg5hn9mm1c]

Thank you for sharing your creativity. I can relate to your love of North Pacific coastal landscape as I am a longtime resident of Kodiak Island. I am interested in your process of applying gesso to watercolor paper and attaching to the board. Thank you for your advice.

[@alisonwatt8570]

Wow, what a landscape you have to work with. I usually just put one layer of gesso on back and front of 140 lb watercolour paper, just to make it stronger (the layer on the back prevents it from curling up.) I tape it down on a board simply to make it easier to work on, to tilt it, move it etc.

[@nancystewart8853]

Alison, I so much enjoy your work ethic or should I say play ethic, and your beautiful art pieces. I was recently watching another KZbin video from an artist whose artistic sensibilities reminded me of you. It’s called I AND I Studio. You might enjoy her as well. Thanks for all you do! Nancy Stewart

[@alisonwatt8570]

thanks for taking the time to post! I will definitely look up that artist.

[@charlenelynch6505]

Hi Alison, just found your channel Hello from Montreal,Qc ❤

[@alisonwatt8570]

Bonjour et bienvenue!

[@jayrudegeair6920]

Thank you for sharing your video! I love your process and paintings. I have a question about your process. In this video, you seemed to work from background to foreground. Is that typical or do you tend to jump around from foreground to background? Also, what are your go-to tools for plants, and tall grasses? Thanks so much!

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Jay. I do tend to work from background to foreground, I guess because it allows me to put the big shapes in before starting to work on the details.

[@summerrobertson3595]

Alison, watched it again today. Could you please do a video on how you resolve one of these and bring it to completion? There seems to be quite a leap between the start and end product! Thanks.

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Summer. I've made a note of that--to do when I'm back in my studio in Feb.

[@petersenesac8102]

Thanks for the videos. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest. I'm mostly a plein air painter and always want to find a way to abstract without looking like a beginner. I noticed in the intro and during the session you mentioned "the page" . I found a group (I joined) but no page. Could you please post a link to the page you are referring to? Thanks!

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Peter. Glad you like the video. The page IS the Facebook group page, Artwork Artplay. I see you have joined. Welcome. You'll find several members of the group are interested in abstracting landscape. You will also be sure to find out about courses which I will be offering in the future about abstraction on the Artwork Artplay page. You can also sign up for mailing list on my website, to be sure to keep up to date on upcoming courses.

[@marycunningham5050]

Very enjoyable-thanks so much! Can’t wait to try some of these techniques. When you say Umber-is it raw or burnt?

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Mary--Burnt Umber

[@minnahumble2294]

Thanks for a very useful and informative video. I know you used acrylic inks but I was waiting to see if you would demonstrate glazing with a acrylic inks. I don’t think what you did was really glazing. Was it?

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Minna--I glazed with acrylic ink at around 35:30 in the video

[@deedoyle397]

Great process! Found the raising and lowering of the piece under the camera to be a bit disconcerting, because the image would "shudder" and be hard to see. It might work better to raise and lower the camera [phone?] instead of the painting. Otherwise, lots of lessons in this.

[@alisonwatt8570]

hi Dee--thanks! Always helpful to see this from a viewer's perspective. My webcam has to be on continuous focus or it only focuses in one plane. I think it's steadier now though, as I have it mounted on a more solid easel.

[@candicewoodard8575]

I wish I had found you a year ago. Why do you gesso the paper? Do you use clear or white gesso? Thank you. Look forward to you course in the fall.

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Candice-- I like to gesso the paper because it makes it tougher (as I often do a lot to the surface)

[@candicewoodard8575]

@@alisonwatt8570 sorry another question. After watching your video, I tried a foam roller with fluid acrylic. I ended up with blotches even using glazing medium and water to thin the paint. Are you are using a very dense roller vs soft foam?

[@alisonwatt8570]

@@candicewoodard8575 I use a fairly soft roller. It tends to absorb paint unevenly, so I make sure I go over the area you are covering several times. Other than that, tinker with the mix--maybe try thinned heavy body. Try different rollers? they are pretty cheap at paint stores. Good luck

[@nancyvanzant4266]

I'm thinking of adapting to watercolors. Might work?

[@alisonwatt8570]

can't know until you try. You may have to introduce some opaques (gouache) if you want to paint out or reintroduce lights

[@econrith]

Do you follow a real photo for form, lights and darks?

[@alisonwatt8570]

I didn't in this video. I let the evolving painting guide me in decisions of where to build form, light and dark. But, in the end, it resembled closely an actual place where I spend a week each summer, Mitlenatch Island, BC.

[@heatherhoepsintuitiveart]

oh no, why did you delete the first abstracting landscape video? It is so valuable, inspirational and amazing. Is there any way you can bring it back to your channel, Alison?

[@alisonwatt8570]

Hi Heather--the only change I made was editing out a lead-in part of the video, where I talk about my own "journey" as an artist. Is that what you mean? I can easily upload that again as a separate video. Let me know and I'll put it up here

[@heatherhoepsintuitiveart]

@@alisonwatt8570 Hi Alison, I was sure this was a different landscape and new tutorial altogether. But if it is the same then I apologize and of course you do not have to upload the lead-in part again. Thank you so much for sharing your fascinating process. Happy Holidays!

[@alisonwatt8570]

@@heatherhoepsintuitiveart happy holidays to you too!