How to Paint Tropical Landscapes

Paint a tropical landscape by studying real tropical vegetation and landscapes.

In the late 1800s, French artist Paul Gauguin traveled to the tropical island of Tahiti seeking unspoiled paradise. Through his long stays on the island, he experimented with paintings, woodcuts and lithographs. The tropical scenes are dream-like and evoke primitivism. Gauguin recreated his own view of the lush landscapes of Tahiti, and you can paint your own tropical landscapes. Travel to your own tropical island, even if it is just at your local library, and paint native vegetation and sky that is only found in the tropics.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Prepared canvas
• Paints
• Brushes
• Small plastic cups
• Palette

Instructions

1. Sketch a preliminary drawing on your prepared canvas using your pencil. Draw a sandy beach with a few palm trees swaying in the tropical breeze. Create a low horizon line by drawing a horizontal line across your canvas slightly lower than halfway down. This will evoke a large tropical sky.

2. Pour your paints into small plastic cups. Start painting your sky with different hues of blue. If you don't have different blue paints, create different hues by separately mixing blue with yellow, white, and green. Do the same for the ocean water. Show its translucence near the shore by painting the sand underneath the water.

3. Paint the golden, white sand and the brown tree trunks of the palm trees. Use different green hues for the palm fronds. Mix green with brown and yellow to get some variations.

4. Add details to your painting, such as variation of colors in the sky and the ocean. Use a bristle brush to create realistic sand on the shore. Paint the details on the trees, like the rough trunk and the sharp points of the palm fronds.

5. Paint tones -- highlights and shadows -- to your overall painting. The crests of the waves will be white highlights and you will add shadows of the trees on the sand. Step back from your painting and observe what else you need to paint.

Tips & Warnings

• Complete a whole series of tropical landscapes to get a good feel for the subject.

• Use books, vacation photos or your own backyard as a reference for your painting.

• Look at other paintings for inspiration.

• Paint in a well-ventilated room if working with oil paints.

References

• Art Net: Paul Gauguin

Resources

• Met Museum: The Artist's Garden at Saint-Clair