How to Paint Fir Trees in Oil
There are actually many different species of fir trees, but overall painting them is a similar experience regardless of the species. Fir trees are evergreen, featuring upturned needles and pine cones (often not in paintings). The challenge of painting a fir tree is in making it look realistic instead of making a tree that looks like a child's Christmas tree.
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Things You'll Need
- Oil paint (green, blue, yellow, white, brown)
- Canvas
- Pencil
- Paintbrushes (various sizes)
- Palette
- Palette cover
Instructions
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1
Draw the outline of the fir tree on the canvas. This outline will be very basic. It will appear similar to the outline of a child-drawn Christmas tree, but the branches will curve upward instead of downward.
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2
Mix on your palette (or squeeze paint from the tube) a green paint that matches the base color of the pine tree. The base color is the medium-to-dark green color that falls in a spectrum between the green of the shadows and green of the highlights. Make quite a bit of this color. Oil paint takes a long time to dry, so you need not worry about this drying out while you are painting. If you need to leave your palette in the middle of the painting process, cover it to preserve the paint.
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3
Dip your medium paintbrush in the green paint. Paint within the outline drawn on the canvas, but don't worry too much about staying within the lines. The tree will look organic and more natural if it appears that you have not painted inside your own strict guidelines.
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4
Mix slightly darker green paint out of a section of the medium green paint you already mixed. You can darken the paint by adding blue to the green.
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5
Dip your smaller paintbrush in the darker green paint. Apply the paintbrush to the canvas, painting shadows on the undersides of the branches, especially on branches near the bottom of the tree. Paint the shadows by applying the paintbrush to the canvas then moving the brush upward in a quick motion. The shadows will appear somewhat feathery. Paint rows of shadows on the tree.
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6
Dip your smaller paintbrush in the medium green paint again. Paint a single vertical branch pointing out the top center of the tree.
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7
Use a dry brush (without paint on it) to smooth the transition from shadows to the base color, in order to give the tree a soft appearance. This is possible with oil paint because unless you have left your painting sitting for many hours or days, the paint should still be wet.
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Tips & Warnings
If the tree is in direct sunlight, mix a slightly lighter green out of a section of the medium green paint, using yellow and possibly white. This green should not be dramatically lighter than the base green, only slightly lighter. Then, dip the smaller paintbrush in the lighter green paint. Paint highlights on the tree using the same method you utilized to paint the shadows, but place the highlights in the places on the tree that are exposed to direct sunlight.
