Three EASY Tips for Painting Foregrounds 🎨 (3 Top Tips)

Not sure what to do with painting foregrounds? These Top Three Tips will help you break the block when painting foregrounds. I use these methods in most of my landscapes because they never fail. See the full tutorial and apply these tips to your next landscape painting.
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[@ceciliamateu]

Thanks so much, Malcolm! This is so helpful! It's always so enlightening to see a side by side comparison of the results different techniques can produce. Loved it.

[@MalcolmDewey]

Glad you enjoyed it Cecilia

[@judymills873]

Thank you, Malcolm! I’m always amazed how you take what looks to be a boring photo and paint a beautiful pic from it

[@MalcolmDewey]

Many thanks Judy

[@user-eq2cw2db7h]

It helps me a lot ,love your videos, your creations just get better and better 👍🤗 from Frances uk ♥️

[@MalcolmDewey]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@marinashaduri7836]

Great tips! Thank you, Malcolm. And also thanks for letting us, your students, to improvise 🙂

[@MalcolmDewey]

My pleasure Marina

[@jaymviljoen4115]

Thank you!

[@bettieivy4873]

Thanks!

[@michaelvalentine1045]

Thanks Malcolm, good stuff !!

[@MalcolmDewey]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@mrsmikster]

Thank you! Love the gorgeous warm colours in the foreground of the 3rd tip. I’ll try that when we have fields of warm yellow wheat etc in late summer here in the UK 😊

[@MalcolmDewey]

Enjoy it!

[@bobgoodnoe4583]

Well done!

[@RAyarsley]

This video has cleared up so much for me. Thanks a lot.

[@MalcolmDewey]

It's a pleasure, thank you

[@joannemurphy4636]

Lots of good tips, Malcolm! Artistic license is so important when you want to create a pleasing composition vs. a painted replica of a photograph. Your tips are always so helpful and these are no exception! All 3 tips produced good results that make the scene more interesting. Thank you!

[@MalcolmDewey]

Excellent, thank you

[@samerritt3]

This is super helpful! Thank you!

[@MalcolmDewey]

You're so welcome!

[@Paul1970]

Brilliant technique

[@MalcolmDewey]

Thank you!

[@juliegriffiths4272]

Thank you, you explain and demo beautifully, so easy to understand. Mamouth effort to work it into my practise.

[@MalcolmDewey]

Thank you Julie

[@love2knit-draw-travel]

This video is sooooooo helpful!!!!! We often forget that we can change things to make them more interesting. I am looking forward to using these tips in a painting I am working on. I was ready to just put it away BECAUSE of the foreground. Now I am all inspired again.

[@MalcolmDewey]

Excellent, I'm happy to hear that

[@shaghayeghsalehii]

Thanks a million ✳️

[@MalcolmDewey]

Pleasure!

[@dorryrice6797]

Enjoyed that. Foregrounds are always a challenge for me.

[@MalcolmDewey]

Thank you Dorry

[@nathaliartist]

Gracias, saludos desde Chile 🎨

[@MalcolmDewey]

Its a pleasure

[@gitajoneja1401]

Thanks Malcolm, Very insightful and yes normally I would play around by simple cropping and occasionally not get a balanced painting. Am in the process of working on a painting at the moment, and glad I can use your opportune tip to play around with the foreground.

[@MalcolmDewey]

Very welcome

[@davidking5352]

Thanks Malcolm, foregrounds are a problem for me, three good options to go on with.

[@MalcolmDewey]

Thatk yyou David

[@natalykenny2069]

Amazing tips! Thank you, Malcolm!!!❤

[@MalcolmDewey]

You're so welcome Nataly

[@jetnagayof6553]

Awesome tips! Thanks a bunch!!👍

[@MalcolmDewey]

Glad it was helpful!

[@lisapelino6618]

Amazing, thanks!

[@MalcolmDewey]

Glad you like it!

[@tawengwamagada3932]

Great, thank you.

[@MalcolmDewey]

You are welcome!

[@leesaunders5495]

Very interesting tips for foregrounds. Many thanks

[@MalcolmDewey]

Thanks Lee!

[@shannonmay6300]

As usual, I found your tips enlightening. The third tip hit home on a technique I've been working on. But it requires skill in fully loading paint on your brush and then applying, as Malcolm says, juicy notes on the canvas. I feel I am in some stage of a near miss on mastering this technique. What I suspect is a potential wrench in my painting: my own paint, out of the tube, feels a bit tight, hard to maneuver on my glass palette, unlike what I see Malcolm working with on his palette. Type of paint? temperature of the room? brush type?? Any ideas fellow painters??

[@MalcolmDewey]

I'm using Maimeri classico paint which is nice and buttery out the tube. Bristle brushes help too.

[@gerrydar]

Thank you. Very timely as I've just painted my first plein aire of the year and was not happy with the foreground. I'll rework it now!

[@MalcolmDewey]

Excellent, thank you Geraldine

[@rayc839]

Awesome Malcolm! I am developing my own style (not a copy of anyones....I use acrylics) and your tips on how to make the composition and colours work for you is improving my art in leaps and bounds. The difficult part is remembering to apply these things as I am painting....I have lost count of the half finished paintings I have binned in the last three months because I hadn't looked closely enough at the composition...or the actual colours as opposed to the colours that my sub-concious tells me are correct for trees/water/grass etc., I am hoping to be able to paint shapes in the colours that I see before too long!! One thing I have learned.....it is much cheaper to learn on 10 x 8 boards than 20 x 16 canvases!!

[@MalcolmDewey]

Sounds like you making progress through trial and error, which is the only way I think. Keep it up and enjoy the process.

[@alisonmike2912]

Thanks for all your advice and tutorials but I'd like to ask you , as a professional painter do you ever have days where everything you paint goes wrong or is that just for us mere mortals ? I had a bad day painting this week and the more annoyed I got the worse the painting became . It would be nice to know this happens to everyone , even professionals .

[@MalcolmDewey]

Absolutely, I have used gallons of paint over the years on paintings that failed. All learning experiences. Never let it get you down. It's great to have another go tomorrow.

[@mendyhand3895]

Wow. That was good timing. I do mainly watercolor, but am experimenting with gouache. So far, gouache is not my thing. I just discovered you on UTube. I did some water mixable oils years ago. Do you recommend these or a good brand.? OK, time to binge watch all of your videos! Thx for your time & knowledge…and passing it along to us. Your art is very inspiring! God Bless. - Messy Mendy 🖌👩🏻‍🎨👍

[@MalcolmDewey]

Have fun Mendy and yes, water mixables are good - Daler Rowney are good value.

[@lalithakrishnamurthy9663]

I find these tips useful and thanks for sharing.your accent which part of the world are you from?just curious!

[@MalcolmDewey]

Thank you, South Africa

[@gwenritch]

Thanks for another beautiful informative video. Could a rule be warmer lighter bigger shapes foreground and cool darker smaller shapes background?

[@MalcolmDewey]

There are many possibilities depending on lighting. That is one option, but be careful of "darker in background" since it is more about lights getting softer and cooler, than darker. Always trust what you are seeing.