aoraki / mt cook at sunset

Watercolour painting of a sunset over Aoraki / Mt Cook
Watercolour painting of a sunset over Aoraki / Mt Cook

We're back to New Zealand's highest peak this week. This time for one of New Zealand's most iconic and famous views - Aoraki / Mt Cook with Lake Pukaki in the foreground. And it's a sunset too - little happy dance ;-)

It's time to have some fun with all the lovely sunset colours on your palette to create the glowing sky and then use those colours on the sunlit snow and in the reflections in the water. The rest of the scene we paint in neutrals, so that the sunset colours really glow.

Happy painting!

Full video tutorial, reference photo and drawing to trace on Patreon.

Thanks to Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash for the reference photo.

Paint a free watercolour online lesson

A free lesson for you!

One of my all-time favourite paintings of a stormy day in a ruined Roman town in Spain.

You can do this! Let me show you how. Join my community to receive this free video tutorial.

Join here
painting the valley of the red gods

painting the valley of the red gods

28 April 2026

There's something particular about returning to a place you loved when you were young. The Valley of the Red Gods, tucked into the Western Cape of South Africa, is one of those places for me — and f...

Read more →