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Painting technique, colour and composition lessons.
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Here’s a brief lesson on observation from a painting I’m working on. Take a look at the reference photo. In particular, the cascading water. Dan Scott, Upper Portals, 2026, Reference Photo There’s a lot going on here! Let’s try to make sense of it. See the annotated image and my…
I’m working on another painting featuring the Upper Portals of Mount Barney. I wanted to share a quick lesson from the painting so far. I needed to make the light parts of the mountain a bit lighter and crisper. I tried the obvious solution of going over the top with a lighter…
The Jacaranda painting I did for the Tree Workshop was accepted as a finalist for the Brisbane Rotary Art Show. Yesterday, I attended the pre-opening ceremony for artists and sponsors with my eldest daughter Elora. Elora has been showing a keen interest in art and I wanted to…
Below is my most recent painting, featuring a rocky creek in the Upper Portals of Mount Barney, Australia. I hiked to this spot with two friends back in December 2025. We camped around the corner for one night. I’ll walk you through how I painted it. Dan Scott, Mount Barney…
I spent most of the morning working out what I’ll paint next. I settled on another scene from my hike to the Upper Portals at Mount Barney. Dan Scott, Upper Portals, Reference Photo, 2026 This area was also the subject of my last painting, which you can see here . I think if…
I haven’t been painting as much lately, as I have been busy putting the finishing touches on the next workshop on ponds and lakes (which should be ready within the next two weeks). But I did manage to complete one new painting: Mount Barney, Upper Portals . Dan Scott, Mount…
After writing the ground post , I was reminded of Julian Onderdonk’s work. He was a master of painting the ground, often studded with bluebonnets, cactus, and other wildflowers. His work is iconic of the Texan landscape (with bluebonnets being the official state flower of…
My recent New Zealand, Autumn Colors painting is a great demonstration of painting fallen leaves and other ground matter. Let’s go a bit deeper on that topic. The ground plays an essential but understated role in almost all paintings, and especially landscape paintings. It also…
I’ve got this painting to the stage where it’s almost done but doesn’t quite feel finished. The problem is, I’m not sure what else it needs. And I don’t want to just add paint and detail just for the sake of it. That’s a sure-fire way to overwork it. I want to share with you a…
I was looking for something in the archives when I came across a few photos of my old “studio”. This was from back in 2016, around the time I was starting Draw Paint Academy. I lived with my brother in a two-bedroom apartment. I had to paint in my room with the easel set up next…