Troy Kilgore painting plein air

See some of Troy’s favorite tools for plein air painting in action and get tips that you can use in your own practice. Discover how he packs for on-the-go creativity and check out the lightweight equipment that lets him get right to work. Plus, learn why Utrecht Artists’ Oil Colors are Troy’s preferred medium and shop the essentials he uses to create his vivid landscapes and cityscapes. 

Learn how to arrange and paint an outdoor still life! Select items with an array of complementary colors, textures, and opacities to create your still life scene. Then set up your easel and palette and use a view finder to find your edges. Use charcoal to create a rough sketch, a spray fixative to set your charcoal, and block in your painting by adding middle tones. Finally, complete your work by adding highlights, contours, and additional detail.

Accurately paint a landscape from a photograph by adjusting your camera settings to correct any camera bias. Learn how to adjust for false contrasts, distortion, low shadow detail, and more. Promote atmospheric perspective by using the device settings on your camera. When you’re ready to get started, create a sketch from your photo and transfer it to canvas. Add shadow shapes, lights, and subtle shifts. Finish up by adding highlights, temperature accents, and final details.

Learn about the concept of chroma — the quality of a color's intensity, purity, or saturation — and how to use a split primary palette in your painting practice. Follow along as Troy explains which colors make up a split primary palette, and how each warm and cool primary color can be mixed into an endless array of secondary hues. Find out how to achieve both bright and muted colors from your palette and mix the tints, tones, and shades that will set the mood of your paintings.

Collage of Troy Kilgore's paintings

Get creative with Blick's featured artist, Troy Kilgore. Watch video tutorials to learn how to create their art projects using art supplies from Blick.

Departments

Troy Kilgore

Troy Kilgore Projects

Pack Your Bag for Plein Air Painting

Favorite Art Supplies

About the Artist