Landscape Oil Painting with Plein-air Techniques
A course by Diana Buitrago, Realist Painter
Learn how to paint atmospheric landscapes that capture natural light using plein-air techniques
Painting a natural landscape can transport you to a calmer, more peaceful world. However, on rainy days or when stuck in the city, adapting plein-air techniques indoors can help take you to that idyllic space just the same. Realist painter Diana Buitrago is here to teach you how to paint captivating scenery from the comfort of your home.
In this online course, learn how to compose and paint natural landscapes in oil using Plein-air techniques. Transform a photograph or your own sketches into a vibrant oil painting. By the end of the course, you will be able to recreate natural light in your landscape paintings.
What will you learn in this online course?
21 lessons & 26 downloads
What's included in this course?
Meet Diana Buitrago, a realist painter from Colombia, and your teacher for this course. Hear about her creative journey into the art world, which has taken her across North America and Europe. She shares her influences and sources of inspiration, which are deeply rooted in nature.
Get an overview of the materials needed for the course, before exploring how to find inspiration in nature. Learn the fundamental of landscape painting and pictorial planes.
Next, Diana teaches you how to draw thumbnail sketches, work on composition, and develop your idea further. After setting up your studio space and lighting, learn how to tone your canvas, before doing a value and a color study.
Time to start painting the final piece! Begin by doing[/b] the block-in process and under-painting,[/b] then work from back to front: paint the sky and the clouds. Once that’s done, Diana shows you how to work on the middle ground and the foreground.
In the last layer, see how to work on the overpasses: glazings, scumbling, and impastos. Finally, learn how to varnish the painting. As an extra lesson, Diana shows you how to take your paintings outdoors and paint en plein air.
- 99% positive reviews (165)
- 5,696 students
- 21 lessons (4h 12m)
- 26 additional resources (12 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English, Spanish (Latam), French, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Paint a studio landscape using oil painting techniques in four layers: block-in, under-painting, first color pass, and final revision (or over-pass layer).
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course welcomes oil painters with moderate, little, or no experience in landscape painting, as well as more experienced painters looking for more guidance.
Requirements and materials
To take this course, you need:
⦁painting tubes of different colors
⦁brushes, an easel, a palette
⦁a space with natural or artificial light
⦁drawing materials such as paper, pencils, charcoal, eraser, among others.
Reviews
Diana Buitrago
A course by Diana Buitrago
Diana Buitrago is a classically-trained realist painter from Colombia. She’s currently based in Jersey City, and works in New York City. The focus of her work is on both landscape painting and portrait painting from life. She’s received extensive formal artistic training at the Art Students League, Artistic Anatomy coursework at Drexel University's School of Medicine, and the four-year Core Program at the Grand Central Atelier. She has studied under artists Michael Grimaldi, Dan Thompson, Jon DeMartin, Jacob Collins, and Colleen Barry. Her work has been exhibited in New York in Eleventh Street Arts Gallery, Robert Simon Fine Art, Salmagundi Club, The Phyllis Harriman Gallery, and as well as at the Colombian Embassy in New York.
She now teaches painting to the advanced students in the Core Program at the Grand Central Atelier. She’s also taught workshops for The Art Students League of New York and in other institutions around the world such as Paris, Vienna, and Mexico City. When she’s not teaching, she’s at home painting in her studio or out traveling painting landscapes en Plein-air. In 2018, she was awarded a Fellowship with The La Napoule Foundation, which took her to the South of France to paint the beautiful Côte d'Azur. She’s also a four-time Hudson River Fellow, which allowed her to paint breathtaking landscapes in New Hampshire, New York’s Hudson Valley, and Connecticut. In 2019, her painting “Portrait of a Young Dancer” won a certificate of Excellence from the Portrait Society of America.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Fundamentals of Landscape Painting
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The Materials
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Nature as a Major Inspiration
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Landscape Elements and Pictorial Planes
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U3
Compositional Studies and Sketches
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Thumbnail Sketches and Draw-In 1
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Thumbnail Sketches and Draw-In 2
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Studio Setup, Lighting, and Toning the Canvas
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Value and Color Studies 1
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Value and Color Studies 2
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Value and Color Studies 3
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U4
Developing the Studio Painting: The First Two Layers
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The First Layer: Block-In
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The Second Layer: Underpainting
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U5
Developing the Studio Painting: The Third Layer
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The Sky and Deep Space
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The Middle Ground
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The Foreground 1
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The Foreground 2
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U6
Revisions and Corrections: The Fourth Layer
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Revision, Glazes, Scumbling, and Impasto 1
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Revision, Glazes, Scumbling, and Impasto 2
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Varnish and Preservation of the Painting
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Painting Outdoors: Plein-Air Gear
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FP
Final project
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Landscape Oil Painting with Plein-air Techniques
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Yes, this course is designed for intermediate artists who want to deepen their skills in classical realist painting techniques, including landscape, portrait, and figure work using oil.
You’ll need oil paints, brushes (bristle and fan), toned paper, charcoal, canvas or panels, solvents for cleaning, and a palette. Specific material recommendations and setup instructions are provided in the course.
You’ll learn how to create plein air sketches outdoors, convert them into finished studio paintings, and apply techniques for capturing atmosphere, light, and depth in landscapes.
Yes, the course teaches classical techniques for painting portraits and figures from life, emphasizing the atelier approach and observation-based realism.
The course follows a structured atelier approach, guiding you step-by-step through drawing, grisaille, underpainting, and layered oil painting techniques for both landscapes and portraits.
Some basic experience with drawing or painting is recommended, as this course is best suited for those with foundational art skills who want to advance in realist oil painting.
Yes, the course covers setting up your studio, choosing easel positions, selecting lighting (natural and artificial), and organizing your materials for efficient workflow.
Wspaniały kurs. Uzupełniłam swoja wiedzę. Prowadząca w bardzo przystępny sposób tłumaczy aspekty malowania.
genial!
Amazing, fantastic course! Just all what you need to paint beautiful landscapes. Well explained the composition, the palete, the values, cromo and hue concepts, as well as the natural phenomena that should be taken into account when painting landscapes! Very recommended course. Thank you!
This is the beginning of painting for me, I am grateful to have found this course, it is very extraordinary, I like the explanation that is not long-winded but provides a deep enough understanding space so that the audience understands quickly and is easy to follow, and this is very helpful for me. Thank you and I am very proud to be your student. Regards
Excellent, great teacher