Video Review: Roy Boswell, 10 Easy Tips

Channel: Plein Air School with Roy Boswell
Duration: 8 minutes and 1 second

In this video, artist Roy Boswell from Plein Air School shares 10 practical tips to improve your landscape painting quickly, accompanied by a live plein air demonstration.

The 10 Easy Tips

Prep Your Palette Early: Put paint on your palette before you even leave your car. This allows you to start painting immediately once you’ve set up [00:17].
Stay Close to Your Car: Initially, stay near where you parked. This prevents “creativity-killing” long walks back to fetch forgotten equipment [00:23].
Use a Sketchbook: Keep a sketchbook to plan your composition. This avoids “wipers”—paintings so hopeless you have to wipe the canvas clean [00:41].
Define a Story: Have a simple narrative for your painting (e.g., one tree standing apart from a “chorus” of others). It keeps you engaged during the process [01:11].
Establish Light and Shadow Patterns: On sunny days, map out your light and shadow shapes first. If the sun moves or clouds come in, you still have your initial “roadmap” recorded [01:39].
Understand Shadow Temperatures: On trees and shrubs, shadows often get warmer as they reach the ground due to reflected “bounce light” and cooler at the top from the ambient sky light [02:06].
Atmospheric Perspective: Objects further away have less contrast than those close to you. This applies to both the landscape and the sky [03:27].
Utilize Turning Edges: A “turning edge”—where light rolls over into shadow—is essential for creating the illusion of form and three-dimensionality [04:12].
Break Up Edges: Use a “knockdown knife,” palette knife, or spatula to drag paint across edges. This adds variety and prevents the scene from looking too uniform [05:31].
Use Bridge Colors: Add a “bridge color” (like a thin blue edge) where shapes like trees meet the sky. This lowers the contrast at the edges to keep the viewer’s focus on the right areas [07:14].