The Principle of Three - How to paint Trees

Notice the Body: The deep darks of the trees leaves are almost black looking

Notice the Soul: The deep shadowy olive leaves

Notice the Spirit: The bright yellowish green leaves

-

-

-

The Principle of Three

The Principle of Three, is a basic teaching concept that I have come up with. I believe that you can apply it to your work in a multitude of ways. 3 values, 3 hues, 3 sizes, three objects, 3 color gradations, etc.. This is the first installment

Body, Soul, and Spirit

Let me rephrase that. Dark value, Mid-value, Highlight. The dark value is the body. Think of it as a silhouette of an object, a body without life. It tells you what the object is, be it person or thing.

-

-

The mid- value is the soul. It give the person or object, a Soul, or life as it were. It helps to describe what specific type of person or object something is.

-

-

The Highlight is that which give the person, or object, individual personality.

-

-

A lot of people who find my paintings on the internet, are using searches like: How to paint grass or How to paint Clouds. When you ask How to paint anything, in a Landscape painting, the answer to your question is always the same. Body Soul, and Spirit! If an object is really small you may not always be able to get all three into that small space. If the object is large, it always needs to have a Body , Soul, and a Spirit.

-

-

If you give every object three values, it means by default, you are also giving it three different (HUES) colors. If you do this, to each object, you will be improving that object 6 different ways. Three values + Three Hues. Learn to focus on one object at at time. Don't let the vastness of the painting overwhelm you.

When time allows I would like to show you 4 or 5 different ways to paint a tree. That will be my next step by Step Demo.

-

-

Do you have a preference! Would you like to see a tree done in watercolor or Acrylic?