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Acrylic Painting Tutorials

Master’s Examples of Planes & Light and Shadow

Study how master painters used planes and values to create believable light, shadow, and depth in landscapes using simple, powerful design principles.

Robert Joyner | Garage Studio Artist & Art Educator

Robert Joyner | Garage Studio Artist & Art Educator

— 3 min read
Master’s Examples of Planes & Light and Shadow hero image

In this lesson, I'll share how painters like Edgar Payne and other tonal masters simplified light and form through clean value structure and strong plane separation. Each painting shows how effective design relies more on value organization than detail.

This lesson is part of the Acrylic Landscape Painting Fundamentals Course

Vertical Planes and Cast Shadows

In the first painting, Payne demonstrates a classic landscape setup — strong vertical planes in the trees, the flat ground plane, and the angled mountain slopes beyond.

  • The darkest darks live in the upright tree trunks and shadows.
  • The cast shadows on the ground are slightly lighter because they reflect ambient light.
  • The ground plane catches the brightest light, unifying the composition through consistent sun direction.
  • Even with minimal modeling, Payne achieves volume simply through value contrast.
A painting study with tree trunks casting deep shadows across sunlit ground, demonstrating vertical, angled, and flat planes.

Midground Planes and Atmosphere

In the second piece, the blue outlines show how Payne layered atmospheric depth:

  • Foreground trees are dark, vertical, and cool.
  • Middle ground fields step lighter and warmer.
  • Distant hills fade to gray-blue.
  • This gradual shift in value and temperature creates spatial depth without heavy detail.
  • It’s a reminder that planes and atmosphere work together — the further the plane, the lighter and cooler the value.
An atmospheric acrylic landscape showing layered tree masses and distant hills, illustrating light and shadow transitions.

Simplifying Complexity

The final example shows how Payne reduced architectural and figure-heavy scenes to broad shapes.

  • Vertical elements (buildings, figures) stay dark and simple.
  • Ground reflections and low light are handled with minimal strokes.
  • Details are omitted to preserve clarity in the light and shadow pattern.

It’s proof that even complex subjects benefit from simple, readable value design

A loose master painting emphasizing simplified verticals and minimal detail in dark shadow areas.

Practice Takeaway

Look for three things in every reference or plein air scene:

  1. The flat plane — where the light hits strongest.
  2. The verticals — your darkest shapes.
  3. The angles — your middle tones that define form.

Then simplify everything into these three categories before worrying about color or detail.

Course Navigation

Previous Lesson: Light & Shadow and the Three Common Planes
Next Lesson: Light & Shadow Assignment
Return to Hub: Free Acrylic Landscape Painting Course

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