How to Paint Fall Trees - Easy Autumn Forest in Acrylics

1. 1

   Step 1: Wash In the Autumn Sky

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   Squeeze out your seven colors along a palette and grab a wide flat brush. Mix white with a small amount of cerulean blue and just a touch of black. You want a soft, hazy grey-blue, not a bright summer sky.

   Pull the color across the top third of the canvas in smooth side-to-side strokes. Keep it pale. This muted backdrop is what makes the reds and oranges glow once they go on later.

   Tip:

   Watch this step A pale sky reads as an overcast fall day and lets the leaf colors do the talking. Fight the urge to go too blue.

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   Used in this stepacrylic paint set (red, orange, yellow, brown, sap green, white, blue)25mm flat acrylic brushstretched cotton canvaspaint palette

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2. 2

   Step 2: Dab In the Distant Tree Line

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   Mix permanent yellow with a little black to knock it down into a muted olive-gold. This is your far-off tree color. Load the tip of a flat brush and tap it along the horizon line.

   Use a light bouncing motion instead of solid strokes. Those broken edges read as clumps of distant leaves. Build the mass up a little from where the water will sit, keeping the tops soft and irregular.

   Tip:

   Watch this step Tap, do not drag. A stippling touch keeps the far trees hazy so they sit behind the brighter mid-ground.

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   Used in this steppermanent yellow acrylic paint25mm flat acrylic brush

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3. 3

   Step 3: Lay In the Still Water

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   Now the pond. Mix black with a touch of blue for a deep, cool dark and load a flat brush. Drag it flat across the lower half of the canvas, pulling straight down from the base of the tree line so the trees look like they meet their own reflection.

   Keep every stroke horizontal. That is what tells the eye it is looking at still water. Leave the very bottom edge a shade lighter for the reflected sky.

   Tip:

   Watch this step Horizontal strokes only on the water. Any vertical drag here and the pond stops looking flat.

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   Used in this stepacrylic paint set (red, orange, yellow, brown, sap green, white, blue)25mm flat acrylic brushwater cup

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4. 4

   Step 4: Build the Warm Autumn Foliage

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   Here is where it turns to fall. Mix vermilion with permanent yellow for a glowing orange. Dab it into the mid-ground trees right over the gold you laid down, letting some of the under-color peek through.

   Vary your pressure. Some clumps should stay bright and forward, others should sink back into shadow. Scatter a few brighter hits where the light would catch the canopy.

   Tip:

   Watch this step Layer orange over the gold rather than replacing it. The two colors together give the canopy real depth.

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   Used in this stepvermilion acrylic paintpermanent yellow acrylic paintround acrylic brush

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5. 5

   Step 5: Paint the Foreground Tree Trunk

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   Time for the big tree that anchors the whole scene. Load a round brush with a dark brown-black and pull the trunk up from the water line on the right side. Let it lean and taper as it rises.

   Split the top into a few bare branches, thinning your stroke as each branch reaches toward the edges. Keep the trunk slightly off-center. A trunk planted dead in the middle always looks stiff.

   Tip:

   Watch this step Lift the brush as you pull each branch so it tapers to a fine point. Fat, even branches look fake.

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   Used in this stepround acrylic brushbrown acrylic paintliner detail brush

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6. 6

   Step 6: Clothe the Tree in Red

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   Give the foreground tree its fiery red. Mix vermilion with a touch of white for a bright maple red and stipple it in tight clusters around the branches. Let the dark trunk and a little sky show through the gaps so the canopy breathes.

   Carry a few red dabs down onto the low right bank too. That pulls the color to the ground and keeps the bottom corner from feeling empty.

   Tip:

   Watch this step Cluster the red, do not smear it. Little grouped dabs read as leaves; a solid patch reads as a blob.

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   Used in this stepvermilion acrylic painttitanium white acrylic paintround acrylic brush

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7. 7

   Step 7: Draw the Arched Bridge

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   The bridge ties the two banks together. Switch to a fine round brush and sketch a gentle arch across the water. Then add the two end posts, the deck line under the arch, and a row of short vertical railing pickets.

   Keep it dark and simple. You are suggesting a wooden footbridge, not drafting it. Rest your wrist on the table so each line stays steady and clean.

   Tip:

   Watch this step Paint the arch first, then hang the railings off it. Getting the curve right before the details keeps the bridge from looking crooked.

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   Used in this stepliner detail brushbrown acrylic paint

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8. 8

   Step 8: Add Highlights and Fallen Leaves

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   The finishing touches sell it. Flick tiny dots of orange and yellow onto the water and the near bank for scattered fallen leaves. Then drag a nearly dry brush of pale grey straight down through the trees to suggest soft shafts of light.

   Add a few white touches along the bridge rail and the water edge to catch the light. Step back, and your quiet autumn scene is done.

   Tip:

   Watch this step Use a dry brush with barely any paint for the light rays. Too much and you lose the misty, glowing effect.

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   Used in this steptitanium white acrylic paintpermanent yellow acrylic paintvermilion acrylic paintpaper towel

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How to Prime a Canvas with Gesso

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Tools we recommend

• Liquitex

  Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Set (24 tubes)

  Artist-grade pigment at student pricing, buttery enough to blend and thick enough to hold a stroke. The set most acrylic painters start on.

• Benicci

  Benicci 16-Piece Artist Brush Set

  Every shape you actually reach for (round, flat, filbert, liner, fan) in nylon that keeps its point and does not shed. Comes with a palette knife and case.

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