painting aoraki / mt cook in watercolour

6 July 2023
Watercolour painting of Aoraki / Mt Cook
Watercolour painting of Aoraki / Mt Cook

This month on Patreon is all about painting mountains. The big snowy kind! For our first lesson we take a trip to near my home in New Zealand, and paint our highest peak - Aoraki / Mt Cook. In this scene we zoom in right close up on the mountain and paint it's summit peaks.

We start with a little bit of theory where I explain how to use a very simple tonal value scale and directional strokes to create the illusion of 3-dimensional form. Then we use just 3 colours to paint the scene.

Thanks to Jamie Davies on Unsplash for the reference photo.

Full lesson, reference photo and drawing to trace here.
View a lesson preview on YouTube.

landscapestips and techniques2023 paintingswatercolourtutorialpatreontechnique videowatercolour landscapes
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
from planning to painting

from planning to painting

30 January 2026

A norwegian grass-roofed cottage in watercolour. Have you noticed how I almost never paint exactly from a reference photo? That’s not accidental. Before I ever pick up a brush, I spend time analysin...

Read more →

adventures in colour

adventures in colour

14 January 2026

Excited to announce my new watercolour journey "Adventures in Colour". This journey brings together four structured watercolour pathways, each with 6 deep-dive lessons. Each pathway is designed to wor...

Read more →