At Home Creative Adventures: Create a Landscape Painting Inspired by Van Gogh

Needing some culture or creative inspiration, but not wanting to leave the house? Museums around the world offer virtual tours of their collection to offer you colorful inspiration for days! Today, I virtually traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands and visited the Van Gogh Museum. I have always admired Van Gogh’s work. His bright colors and exuberant brush strokes just bring me joy!

In this creative exercise, head to the the Van Gogh Museum online and browse the amazing work. Find a painting that resonates with you and get inspired!

Inspiration vs. Copying

Painting from inspiration does not mean copying. I encourage you to make the painting your own. Perhaps you use a larger brush, or vary the colors or embellish on your own. All this is acceptable. The goal of learning from masters is to identify what actually inspired you from the artist’s work. Is it the colors? The subject matter? The line work or brush work? The size? Or a combination of many things. Write down what inspires you and use this to inspire your own work rather than make a copy of the original.

Supplies Needed – for this exercise I used gouache and acrylic paints as I wanted to work on building layers of paint. You are free to choose any medium that suits you. Again, look for what inspires you, and choose the medium that helps you achieve that concept.

I chose Van Gogh’s Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds painting to be inspired to create a quick landscape.

Here is the process below of painting the image. I first created color blocks for the sky and wheatfield then began to add layers of brushwork.

I’d love to see what you create after you make your virtual tour of the Van Gogh Museum! Feel free to tag me on @wanderlustdesigner on Instagram or Facebook or email me: betsy@wanderlustdesigner.com with your creations!