from plein air sketch to finished painting

A couple of weeks ago, while hiking with friends in Val Ferret on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc massif, I made a decision that will surprise no one who knows me. An hour in, we stopped to shed our jackets — and when I looked up and saw the mountain huts, the cascading rivers, and those enormous peaks as a backdrop, I had to let my friends carry on without me. Some views simply can't be walked past.

I sketched on location, then last week I took that sketch back to the studio and turned it into a finished watercolor painting — and I wanted to show you both.

Why work from a plein air sketch?

There's something freeing about this way of working. When you sit down to paint, the memory and feelings are very vivid, and many decisions have already been made — your composition is sorted, the light is understood, and the feeling of the place is still fresh in your mind. You can relax into the painting rather than problem-solving from scratch. When I repainted the scene, I hardly needed to check the photos I'd taken. The sketch had captured it.

You also get the chance to fix what didn't work the first time. Any niggles, or 'mistakes' you've made in the first one can be corrected in the painting.

But more than anything, what I care about most when I do this is keeping alive how I felt when I was there.

What you'll learn in this lesson

In this week's Patreon lesson, you'll see the sketch and the painting side by side — spot the differences, see the decisions — and watch how I kept the loose, sketchy feeling of the original while building something more resolved. We cover:

• Handling a high-contrast focal point
• Creating depth across a layered mountain landscape
• Painting rocky peaks and glaciers
• Building rich, textured foreground greens

I'd also encourage you to try this approach yourself. You don't need to hike to the Alps — even a still life set up at home works beautifully. All you need to do is sketch something real and meaningful to you, then redo your sketch as a finished painting.

Want to paint along?

Happy painting!