Using only four colors for an entire painting may sound limiting, but this lesson will show that four colors are plenty to give you a vibrant and professional looking landscape.

Downloads for Vibrant Landscape with Only Four Colors

• 8 x 10 Outline
• Card size outline with finished painting
• Written Painting Directions with Reference Photo

This is the original reference photo. Notice that I removed the obstructing pole in the middle as well as many other buildings for a simplified lesson.

Outline Page -feel free to change anything you like – one barn and fewer trees would be easier.

First washes of color give you a strong beginning in any landscape. At this point, you can still darken areas by adding more paint or lighten by lifting or washing off paint, or both!

This snippet shows the underpainting on the barn (done with gray) and the tree masses. Red can be difficult to darken or lighten, so painting the shading with gray and then painting red is much easier.