How to Paint Sand Dunes and Deserts

Painting Sandy, Arid and Dramatic Landscapes in Oil Paints

Apr 14, 2009

Fig 5 Oil Painting Sand Dunes, Rachel Shirley Oil Paintings from the Landscape

Sandy places such as the Sahara Desert provides the ideal opportunity to use bright shimmering colours in oil painting.

Direct sunlight within the arid tropical places consists of lots of complimentary colours and shimmering effects. This step-by step demonstration shows how sand dunes can be painted with a very satisfying result.

Materials Required for Step-by-Step Demonstration on Painting Sand Dunes

A size 3 round sable brush, or synthetic equivalent
A size 6 flat bristle brush
An A3 sized painting surface consisting of hardboard prepared with two coats of acrylic primer
Two Acrylic colours consisting of any red and any blue
Oil paints in the colours: titanium white, pthalo blue, ultramarine, permanent rose, burnt sienna and viridian green
A little artists' spirits
A suitable photographs of sand dunes
Pencil and rubber

Preparing the Painting Surface for Oil Painting

Sketch the drawing onto the painting surface using a soft pencil.
Overlay the drawing with a thin brush laden with acrylic paint. Let it dry.
With acrylic paint diluted with water, apply a thin wash of red for the sky and a thin wash of blue for the sand. This provides interesting shimmering effects when the overlying paint is applied (see fig 1).
Leave to dry.

Painting Sand in Oil Colour

With varying amounts of white and burnt sienna, ladle on the oil paint for the sand. Use more white for the highlighted areas.
Introduce a little permanent rose for the slightly darker areas of the sand dune, allowing some of the blue underpaint to show. This will give a shimmering effect.
With a thin brush, mix a little ultramarine with burnt sienna and apply the shadows to the sand dunes.
Knit together the different areas of colour by softly blending with a soft clean brush (see fig 2).

The Desert Sky

Mix titanium white with a little burnt sienna and apply the colour to the clouds (see fig 3).
Mix ultramarine, a little permanent rose and titanium for the sky at the horizon.
Introduce more pthalo blue for the blue sky as it approaches the zenith located at the top of the painting. Take care not to conceal the trees.
With a soft, clean brush, knit the areas of colour together.

Oil Painting Palm Trees

With a little burnt sienna and white, apply the highlights to the tree trunks.
To give the tree trunks form, introduce more ultramarine and burnt sienna for the shadowed side.
Mix viridian for the tops of the trees and introduce more ultramarine and burnt sienna for the dark areas (see fig 4).
With a soft clean brush, knit together the different areas of colour until little of the underlying colour can be seen. (See fig 5).

Painting Sunbathed Scenes

Bright sunny places contain lots of interesting contrasting colours. In this case, the deep blue of the sky contrasts sharply with the golden shimmering hues of the sand. By the application of the opposing colours underneath the final colours, shimmering and contrasting effects can be achieved in the painting, which suggests heat and shimmering light.

The copyright of the article How to Paint Sand Dunes and Deserts in Landscape Painting is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish How to Paint Sand Dunes and Deserts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.