Eight for Eight: Mitchell Albala’s Top Landscape Painting Posts, 2009–2017
In case you missed it — a look back at the most popular landscape painting posts from the past eight years.
Mitchell Albala is an award-winning landscape painter, workshop instructor, and author. His semi-abstract and atmospheric landscapes have been exhibited nationally and are represented in corporate and private collections. He is the author of three popular books on landscape painting: "Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice (Watson-Guptill, 2009), with 70,000 copies in print; "The Landscape Painter's Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color" (Rockport Publishers, 2022), which has been the #1 selling book on landscape in the nation; and "New Lessons in Landscape Painting: Key Concepts and Exercises in Color and Composition" (Rockport Publishers, 2026). Mitchell leads painting workshops in the U.S. and has offered plein air adventures in Italy. He is also a master mentor with the online mentoring community Mastrius. He has lectured on Impressionism and landscape painting at the Seattle Art Museum and has written for International Artist and Artists & Illustrators magazines. Mitchell also hosts a popular painting blog, which hold the #11 spot on Feedspot.com's "90 Best Painting Blogs to Follow in 2026." He is a Signature member in both the Pastel Society of America and the Northwest Pastel Society.
In case you missed it — a look back at the most popular landscape painting posts from the past eight years.
Inspiration can be elusive, but you have much more control over your own momentum.
How we interpret color in plein air is very different from how we work with color in the studio.
Gessoing paper can be tricky: learn about the proper paper weight, textures, sizing and how to apply the gesso properly.
Safer and less intense alternatives to Phthalo — meet Azure, Manganese and Cerulean
A gold ground offers a unique color “metaphor,” with paintings by the author and reviews of gold gesso and paint.
In the field, the plein air painter needs to be able to extract essential cues from an otherwise boring composition.
Progress photos and details from each phase demonstrate the four essential steps of landscape.
The tried and true “expanded primaries” palette offers a cool and warm variety of each primary.
A revision made three years after the finish shows that “a painting answers only to itself.”