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Acrylic Painting Tutorials

Loose Acrylic Landscape Painting Video Tutorial

Family dinners = chaos. Loose landscapes = freedom. In this step-by-step acrylic landscape tutorial, I’ll show you how to relax, sling some paint, and trust the fundamentals to hold it all together.

Robert Joyner | Garage Studio Artist & Art Educator

Robert Joyner | Garage Studio Artist & Art Educator

— 3 min read
Loose acrylic landscape painting tutorial with video, showing expressive brushstrokes and bold colors for beginners

Painting loose acrylic landscapes is a heck of a lot more fun than trying to have a peaceful dinner around my house. You see, I’m the cook around here. Seven nights a week, I plate up the food, set it down, and every time: chaos. The kids argue, someone cries, someone storms off — and all that work ends up wasted. Forget those picture-perfect family dinner commercials. Not this house.

Painting loose landscapes is different. No fights. No drama. Just a brush, some color, and the freedom to let go of “perfect.”

And here’s the deal: no matter how your landscape turns out — good, bad, or somewhere in between — it’ll be a heck of a lot better than dinnertime at the Joyner house. Lord.

👉 If you’re brand new, you can start at the Acrylic Hub — it’s got all the free courses and guides in one place. AND, if you want to really boost your acrylic landscape skills, then check out Acrylic Landscape Painting Fundamentals free course. It's the real deal!!

👉 Below you’ll find the full video tutorial plus some key takeaways.

Materials I Used

Here's what I'll use in the demo. 👉 Full Acrylic Toolbox is below, just scroll down.

  • Paints: Cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, cadmium yellow lemon, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, titanium white, bone black
  • Brushes: Round #10 & #6, Flats #10 & #12
  • Surface: 12x12 Bristol mixed media paper (or canvas/panel if you prefer)
  • Other: Palette, water jar, rag, spray bottle
Dive into a Loose Acrylic Landscape Painting Video Tutorial
Dive into a Loose Acrylic Landscape Painting Video Tutorial

Why Loose Landscapes?

Because tight = stressful. Loose = playful. You don’t need perfect trees, skies, or reflections — you need energy, movement, and mood. A loaded brush and a bold stroke can say more than 30 minutes of fiddly detail.

Step-by-Step Breakdown

  1. Tone the surface – I used a warm orange ground. It makes the greens pop later.
  2. Sketch the design – Horizon, path, and big shapes. Don’t fuss details yet.
  3. Block in big shapes – Large sky & cloud masses, ground plane and any verticals diagonals such as hills and mountains.
  4. Refine if needed, then add mediums – Take a step back and access the situation. If it looks good proceed with any medium shapes but avoid small details.
  5. Start comparing values – There's a value hierarchy in landscape painting, colors desaturate and become lighter in value as they move away. Conversely, middle ground and foreground typically include more saturated hues and darker values. The sky is almost always lighter when compared to diagonals and verticals. I have a massive FREE course for Landscape Painting Fundamental using acrylics. Check it out!
  6. Details & point of interest – Start adding details in the foreground and point o interest areas. Not too much, a little pop here and there goes a long way.

Key Takeaway

Loose landscapes are a lot like family dinners — messy, unpredictable, sometimes frustrating. But if you’ve got fundamentals (composition, value, color), you’ll always find your baseline. The painting will hold together even if the brushwork is wild.

So relax. Let go of “perfect.” Sling some paint and enjoy the process.

Learn & Improve Your Acrylic Skills

Affiliate Disclosure: Some links are affiliates, and I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend materials I use regularly, often from Blick Art Materials. Your support keeps my tutorials free and ad-free—thank you!

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