Painting Abstract Landscapes in Gouache Using a Reference Photo

Painting Abstract Landscapes in Gouache Using a Reference Photo

Class | Available

All Levels / Age 16+
2/7/2027-2/21/2027
12:00 PM-2:00 PM EDT on Sun
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$150.00
Member Discount Available
02/07/2027

Painting Abstract Landscapes in Gouache Using a Reference Photo

Class | Available

Abstract landscapes fall somewhere between realism and fully non-representational paintings. Unlike traditional realism, you might not be able to identify a specific tree or rock but an abstract landscape uses natural elements like land, sky, water, trees, and light as a starting point but does not try to show them in a realistic way. The abstract landscape artist often uses unexpected or exaggerated color palettes to express an inner feeling rather than the actual color. Instead of copying a specific place, the abstract landscape artist captures a feeling, a mood, or a memory of a location.

In this course we will explore important foundations for choosing a photo reference and delve into the step-by-step process for turning them into abstract landscapes. In the first week of this course, we will look into what defines abstract landscapes and explore artists’s whose work would be helpful for you to study further. In the second week of the course, we will quickly review the basics of gouache paint. (If you aren’t familiar with the medium and weren’t able to take the first course in the gouache series, “Holy Gouache: An Introduction to the Popular Painting Medium”, please contact the instructor in advance for a gouache tutorial PDF). Also during the second week of the course, we will complete exercises focusing on painting individual elements of a landscape in gouache: sky, clouds, water, rocks and trees. In the final week, you will put it all together to paint an abstract landscape from a photo of your choosing.

Gouache is an opaque, water-soluble paint that dries to a highly pigmented matte finish. It is a rapid drying and forgiving medium that allows you to quickly apply multiple layers making it an excellent medium for painting abstract landscapes.

If you have a smartphone or tablet, please bring them with you. The instructor will have a few extra for those who don’t own a device. We will be using them to simplify your photos and prepare them to serve as your painting reference. 


All materials will be provided with the exception of gouache paint. Please bring your own gouache paint to class. If possible, purchase Winsor & Newton, Holbein, or M. Graham paints. (There are cheaper brands, but they have less pigment and more white in the mix, so you will likely be disappointed). The instructor suggests that you order the gouache online at dickblick.com or jerrysartarama.com. Be sure to purchase designer gouache and not acrylic gouache.

A suitable palette contains the following colors:

  • Permanent or titanium white
  • Brilliant yellow, lemon yellow or cadmium yellow
  • Yellow ochre
  • Cadmium red light
  • Alizarin crimson
  • Burnt sienna
  • Cobalt blue
  • Ultramarine blue
  • Burnt umber
  • Permanent green

Hudson, Karen
Karen Hudson

I paint colorful, loosely interpreted landscapes in gouache. For years I was an avid hiker and was able to visit the inspiring natural and manmade cathedrals I paint. Today, however, after decades of destructive cancer treatments, my body isn’t always able to physically carry both me, and my painting supplies. But Like Frieda Kahlo, who famously suffered chronic pain herself, I find solace in painting magical landscapes from my studio. The creative process offers me wings to figuratively fly to my subject when my body won’t always take me there.

Georgia O’Keeffe, one of my artistic inspirations, once said, “I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at—not copy it.” Robert Henri, another artist whom inspires my creations, offered a similar lesson when he told students to “paint the flying spirit of the bird rather than its feathers.” When I begin my creative process, I think about O’Keeffe’s and Henri’s lessons. Instead of documenting a site, I want to take the viewers breath away and challenge their expectation of the everyday, not give them what they are expecting. I’m trying to tell stories, not document sites. I found I can come closest to accomplishing my goal through color freedom. While many of the colors I choose are often found at the site, I exaggerate them to better express my experience. After experimenting with various mediums, I found gouache, an opaque watercolor that dries vibrant and matte, the best medium to tell my stories.