Improve Your Landscape Paintings With Abstract Shapes - Tutorial 

Great commentary on how to think in terms of abstract shapes in lieu of objects and how to adjust photos for impact. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

Phil the examples of both boat pictures in which you changed what was actually in the photo to how you would compose it are excellent examples. That is a particular skill that is not that easy to execute for most people. But an artist has to think in those terms, to get rid of all the pesky details and only leave what matters to show good composition. I do struggle with this from time to time. In that 2nd boat example in which you made the tree larger and only left one house so the focus is on the boat made a huge difference in the overall design of the painting approach. The way you changed the value and the ground so that it don’t compete with the light area of the boat works great. I like how the ground has a warmth from the sun feel to it even though you lowered the value from the photo, I think you did this by putting in the cast shadow and changing the temperature of the light area of the ground. Phil you really have a grasp on how to compose a picture into a painting is really outstanding and very helpful. I really appreciate these videos you do. They are gold.

Thanks Phil, you gave me plenty of food for thought! i will have this present in my mind when composing a paint. My best regards for you and your family!

Excellent instruction. Thank you so much, Phil.

STILL THE BEST PHIL ,

Thank you! Like

Loved this video. Helped alot, thank you

Thanks for all the new videos Phil! Really enjoy being introduced to some of the more obscure impressionist and realist painters that you have been convering

Thanks!

Phil my man you are on fire these days! I really needed a refresher recently on some of the basic concepts and techniques as I honestly overloaded myself on oil painting studies in the last 2 years. Learned a lot, mind you, but the burnout is real. Now I became a fellow of a local gallery, and they want me to make a few pieces. I feel genuine fear for some reason. The work I presented to them is stuff I can make in a heartbeat with my new knowledge. Yet my hand is motionless. Your videos of late are really bringing that spark back. Good stuff.