Mastering Large Watercolor Landscapes as a Beginner

If you're new to the world of watercolor, creating large, stunning landscapes might seem like an intimidating task. But as Shayda Campbell demonstrates in her tutorial, anyone can learn to paint impressive landscapes with the right approach.

Whether you're a beginner or just getting back into painting, Shayda's tips will help you create beautiful scenes using watercolor and gouache. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to get started and make the process enjoyable, not overwhelming.

Start Simple and Build Confidence

When starting as a beginner, it's important to keep things simple. Shayda encourages painters to create basic landscape shapes first.

Focusing on simple outlines and basic forms can help you feel more confident in your abilities. You don’t need to dive into complex scenes right away.

Instead, start with simple landscapes, such as a basic sky and field or mountains in the distance. This approach allows you to develop your skills at your own pace.

Shayda Campbell (@shaydacampbell)

Understanding Watercolor and Gouache

Before jumping into the actual painting, it’s essential to understand the tools you're working with. Watercolor is a versatile medium known for its fluidity and transparency, making it perfect for creating soft, atmospheric landscapes.

On the other hand, gouache is an opaque medium that allows for vibrant, solid colors, and when used together, these two can bring your landscapes to life in new ways.

Shayda covers the basics of how to use both mediums effectively, showing you how to combine their unique properties to create depth and texture in your landscape paintings.

Key Techniques for Landscape Painting

One of the most important aspects of painting landscapes is composition. In her tutorial, Shayda teaches you how to break down your landscape into manageable sections and approach each one with a thoughtful plan.

She also explains layering techniques, which will help you build up the scene step by step, ensuring that each part of the landscape contributes to the overall composition.

Shayda also shows you how to mix colors effectively, something that can be tricky for beginners. Understanding color mixing helps you achieve natural-looking skies, mountains, and foregrounds.

Shayda Campbell (@shaydacampbell)

Experiment and Make Mistakes

An important aspect of this tutorial is embracing the process and allowing yourself to make mistakes. Painting should feel freeing, not stressful.

Shayda emphasizes the importance of experimenting with different brushstrokes, blending techniques, and color choices. Mistakes are a part of the learning process, and they often lead to the most interesting parts of a painting.

Enjoy the Journey

Above all, painting is about enjoying the journey and expressing yourself. While it’s tempting to rush for perfection, remember that every stroke is a learning opportunity. The goal is to create a landscape that reflects your style, and this can only happen when you let go of the pressure to make it perfect.

By following Shayda Campbell’s guidance in this beginner-friendly watercolor landscape tutorial, you'll gain the confidence to create beautiful landscape paintings with watercolor and gouache.

So grab your paints, start with simple shapes, and allow yourself to enjoy the process. You’ll soon see how fun and rewarding it can be to paint your very own landscapes!

We thank Shayda Campbell for the images.

Enjoy This Video Tutorial About Large Watercolor Landscapes

Source: Shayda Campbell

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Last update on 2025-09-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API