Waterfall Landscapes

The painting of waterfall landscapes is a popular and challenging subject. I was recently looking through some back copies of Leisure Painter and was interested to see the 2006 competition was to paint a Welsh waterfall. The exciting challenge of painting waterfalls in a landscape is capturing the moving, white, ceaseless fall of water. Although there are often dark rocks and shadows around the waterfall, which can be used for contrast, there can also be muted colored rocks and plant material.

The artist has to capture the flow of the water as well as the solidness of the rocks. Fancy having a go then? Find a strong source material, working from a black and white image could help you focus on correct tonal values.

Want to have a go at painting waterfall landscapes, but no source material? Why not look in the image gallery and request a copy of a photograph.