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 pink fields

painting pink fields

14 May 2026

There's a particular stretch of road I've been driving lately that has been making my heart sing. The farmers around here have been planting their fields with sainfoin — a flowering crop used as an ...

Read more →

south african leporellos

south african leporellos

11 May 2026

We're just back from a month in South Africa - lots of family time, visits to favourite haunts, climbing and camping, and, of course, a little bit of sketching time. I grew up in South Africa and when...

Read more →

painting table mountain (free lesson)

painting table mountain (free lesson)

7 May 2026

I have a treat for you today — a free painting lesson over on the DeepDeepLight YouTube channel, and I'd love you to come paint along with me. We're painting one of South Africa's most iconic views ...

Read more →