Howard Friedland: Painting Waterfalls in Oil

What You’ll Learn From This Video:

• How to create a “sense of place” in your paintings
• How to express a damp, misty atmosphere
• The one key to make any waterfall seem alive
• A secret that evokes that sense of awe
• How to block in large value masses quickly
• The best way to create light AND shadow
• A proven way to get a feeling of movement in your waterfall
• A methodical way to check and correct errors as you go
• How to use sketches, field studies, and reference photos
• The one secret Howard uses to bring the outdoors into his studio
• The key to developing your own style without forcing it
• How to let time disappear when painting and enjoy the process
• Exploring the subtle power of surrounding rocks, cliffs, and trees
• Keys to color mixing for harmony
• How to harness the primal human reaction to water
• And much, much more!

 

There’s only a handful of top artists who are really skilled at capturing moving water. This is a rare opportunity for you to learn from one of them in Painting Waterfalls in Oil with Howard Friedland.

No matter your current skill level, you’ll find yourself admiring Howard’s talent and ability for painting raw beauty. You may even catch yourself saying, “I wish I could paint like that!”

As you study with Howard throughout this video, you’ll advance from wishingyou could paint like that to actually creating the magic of moving water easily, quickly, and consistently. 

Always carrying a camera, Howard takes photos of paintings from other artists and uses them to further define his own signature style. This has led him to develop unique methods for both painting, and teaching others to paint beautiful water.

Let Howard take the lead as he shows you his process in vivid, clear, and compelling detail.

“It doesn’t take much motivation to get me to paint — I just like the process of doing it”
— Howard Friedland

 

Look for inspiration

If you’re like Howard, you’re constantly noticing the paintings of other artists and finding ones that inspire you beyond your ability to explain why. 

These experiences wouldn’t just float on by for Howard. When he ran into this, he would study the artist and learn the process they went through to create that final work. 

If possible, he would take classes from the artist. He would do whatever it took to find out the actual steps the artist took. Then he would try it in his own studio. 

Yes, old-fashioned trial and error.

And now, YOU benefit because Howard has created this new video that shows you ONLY what he proved worked every time. 

Who is Howard Friedland?

Howard started with a love of drawing as a child. He and his best friend would go down to the Natural History Museum in New York and sketch the dioramas. 

It didn’t take long for people to pay him compliments. According to Howard, “That really got me going!”

From there, he went to the High School of Music and Art in New York, where he was introduced to oil painting for the first time.

College was at Cooper Union (in New York), which was a special school for art and science. It was here that Howard directed his talents to commercial art. He had his sights set on a career in advertising. 

After that career was over, he moved to Miami, Florida. He attended the Miami Art Center and started taking painting classes at night.

“Painting really got in my blood.”

Later, he made a move to New Mexico, where there were a lot of galleries that were showing the representational painting that Howard really liked. This is where his love of landscapes was ignited.

Soon his art was hanging in several galleries in New Mexico.

All that time, he continued to learn, grow, and develop as an artist and was “drawn” to all types of water in landscapes. Whether a babbling brook, creek, bigger stream, rapids, small waterfalls, or of course the giant breathtaking waterfalls. Something about water just captured his imagination.

Now, YOU benefit because his new video, Painting Waterfalls in Oil, breaks down his entire process into easy-to-follow steps that will have an enormous impact on your ability to paint like a master.

The process is broken down for you

See Howard go through his process in vivid, clear, and compelling detail:

Grid, sketch, and line
Howard will block in the larger elements with a technique so easy that you’ll be surprised. It’s here that the true focal point of the piece is decided and composed.

 

Color-block like a master
In these clear steps Howard explains how the colors work together and exactly how to lay them into the painting so they’re pleasing to the eye and work to build the emotion of the piece.

 

The “core four” water details
Howard has perfected four critical elements of painting water that he teaches step-by-step in this video. You’ll be amazed at how well YOUR paintings will turn out when you use what you learn from Howard!

 

Where process meets improvisation

Where the freedom of music meets art

Howard has a long history of teaching other artists the best of what he knows. He had terrific teachers along his path, and he has dedicated himself to paying that forward. 

As his career progressed, Howard discovered that his “style” also became more fully featured. He found himself incorporating various methods from his different teachers along the way. 

When he melds those pieces together, he says it’s like jazz music:

“I like jazz music, so improvising and trying uncontrolled techniques will take over. Most times, those accidental, unconscious brushstrokes are the freshest parts of my painting. If not, I just scrape it off and try something else!”
— Howard Friedland

 

Put an end to flat, fake, and lifeless water features in your paintings

How to use photo adjustments
Using Photoshop, a photo can be manipulated in ways that expose different elements of the water. Howard also shows in this video that every photo has problems. So, whether you have software or not, he shows how you can use the photo as a guide or as raw material. The goal is NOT to try to paint a good “copy” of the photo. Some parts of a photo will work in your painting, and some will NOT. Howard shows his thought process in this video, and just this one piece alone may give you a new appreciation of the power of your artistic license.

 

The waterfall trio
The composition, values, and edge control are a vital trio of parts to your waterfall. When any one of those is off, the entire painting suffers. Howard goes over this trio in detail with you in this video.

 

The “core four” will bring your waterfall to life
Howard believes that light AND shadow are two of the “core four” that need to be present for the painting to have a chance at a soul-stirring impact. The other two are part of his secrets that he reveals only to his in-person students. But now, for the first time, he shares them in this video. These are truly worth the price of admission!

 

In his video, Howard has included some amazing EXTRAS for you:

• The TWO steps you must do when finishing your painting
• Two reasons you should varnish your painting and HOW to do it
• A multi-sensory way to bring the outdoors indoors
• A high-speed compilation of all painting steps for a quick overview
• Personal insights from Howard