Tips for landscape sketching in gouache

My approach for painting landscapes in my sketchbook is that I want to catch the impression of a place while keeping the process quick. I share my best tips for painting quick landscapes in this video.
Read the blog post here: juliabausenhardt.com/how-to-p...
Tips for sketching with gouache: • Sketchbook Techniques ...
More gouache landscape tutorials: • Gouache Tutorials
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[@Grassless24]

I adore that first painting with the orange grass and dark trees and bright green distance. Such a lovely balance and composition and colour combination. The brushwork is lovely too

[@kirkrecipes4461]

Really like your sketching style. Getting just enough information with the larger brushes.

[@raulbudusan]

What an enjoyable video! Thank you for this video Julia 😊💕

[@joanlemaster6712]

Thank you much for this video. This is exactly what I've been needing to get started on my first sketch book.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Enjoy your sketching time!!

[@lumonteiro8113]

I really like your style!!! These paints is what gives me enthusiasm to draw more and more

[@NatureSketchbook]

That is great to hear Luiza!

[@RosannaCRogacion]

Enjoyed this and learned much. Thanks!

[@NatureSketchbook]

You're welcome, glad to hear it's useful! :-)

[@vermiliongamboge155]

These are just beautiful. In general, I prefer sketches to final paintings. They are more free and interesting.

[@NatureSketchbook]

I often prefer sketches over final artworks too! :-)

[@btwilks]

Great video (and superb sketches in your sketchbook, too!). Thanks for sharing this with us all. I normally think of landscapes as requiring a relatively large-scale in order to be effective, but your small-scale works really do show how much impact it's possible to get into a piece that, as you say, is no bigger than the palm of one's hand. I have a new and empty sketchbook (5" x 3 1/2") that has been looking at me for some months now ... maybe I should try your approach of filling it with small landscapes that can easily be done in less than an hour? I think I might! :-) Best wishes from Florida, Brian.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Thank you Brian! Definitely give the smaller landscapes a try in your sketchbook - it's astonishing what you can include in a small painting like that.

[@googleuser9888]

Hi Julia, and thank you for this video, I found it really helpful as I easily get overwhelmed when I sit draw or paint a landscape. Keeping it small, quick and fun is definitely great advice! I really loved looking through your small landscape sketchbooks. Your paintings are very beautiful and inspiring! Did you stitch your own sketchbooks? Could you show us how in another video? Thank you again, and I will enjoy looking again and again at your videos!

[@NatureSketchbook]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! Yes, I make my own sketchbooks. I've done a video about this, it should be right there on my channel. :-)

[@homeschooledaroundtheworld4660]

Can you do a video about your favorite colors for landscaping? Beautiful and inspiring work. Thank you!

[@NatureSketchbook]

Oh, that's a great idea, but also difficult to answer. I'll definitely add this to my list for topics. Thank you. :-)

[@cherylandre6059]

Great tips. Thanks. Curious about your handmade book, simple cardboard covers. What tape do you use to make your borders on each page?

[@NatureSketchbook]

Yes, I often use cardboard or the back of drawing blocks for the covers - as these materials are always around. I use thin washi tape or artists tape for masking. :-)

[@marymcandrew7667]

I love your sketches and landscape studies! The nature sketches you showed in the beginning could have been straight from one of my sketchbooks in England! We share many of the same butterflies etc., lovely! When you paint outdoors are you using dry colors that you rewet? or are you using wet gooey paint? I always have dry like a watercolor pan and I think it keeps me from getting the rich quick strokes of color.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Thank you kindly Mary! Yes, I see many familiar species when I look at photos/sketches from the British Isles. :) I mainly use watercolor these days, I refill my pans with tube colors and sometimes mix with opaque white to get a gouache-like effect. With gouache, I always tried to bring the paint as fresh as possible and be really careful with the palette, as you mentioned using very dry paint can make picking up paint harder.

[@MedaHalmaciu]

I have started painting landscapes from my photos. Not doing a great job for now as they are too rigid, but I'm determined to keep trying. There are just so many beautiful places to paint I'm my country and I want to be able to showcase that as opposed to following someone else's tutorials on how to paint tneirnlandscapes.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Absolutely, and you also have a special connection to these places. I copy from other artists when I want to learn something about their treatment of light, or composition, or brush work. So for that I think it's fine to study other artist's work. And I think for the same learning purposes painting from photos is totally ok at the start. Great that you're so determined! :-)

[@ooman56]

Hi Julia, thank you for the tips! This week I wanted to paint/sketch a large hill with water at the bottom. The hill was covered in thousands of trees in all sorts of all fall colors, some reflected in the water. I gave up because I got stuck trying to paint every tree, I couldn't figure out how to do an impression of the hill, with the feeling of all the colors. So I just made colorful blobs on another page, colors of the day. Any suggestions for that sort of thing, please?

[@NatureSketchbook]

Simplify. A lot. So much that you are forced to leave out the details. Use a big brush for as long as you can, and then add details only sparingly. Look at big shapes, values, how they relate to each other, not individual trees. Squint to get a better grasp of it. I definitely know this problem myself, and it can be challenging, especially when there are a lot of different shapes and colors. Just try to make sure you have the general relationships in the image right, the rest is decor. I'll try and upload a fall painting with lots of colors soon!

[@ooman56]

​@@NatureSketchbook Thank you for all of the great suggestions, I'm going to write them down and put them in my sketch kit. I eagerly look forward to seeing how you do this, that would be a wonderful help.

[@Yorky222]

Do you tape your sketchbook pages in advance to get a clean frame?

[@NatureSketchbook]

Yes, I add masking tape or thin washi tape before I start my sketch!