Paint a vibrant highlands scene through building real confidence in composition, layers, and mixing
Lets take a trip to the Scottish Highlands where rolling hills, water and sky meet together to create a postcard perfect scene!
Even though this landscape is known as "Queen’s View", it carries a kind of universally-familiar magic. It might remind you of mountain lakes in Oregon, the layered blues of the Adirondacks, or the calm tree-lined vistas you’d stumble on in British Columbia. (It’s one of those views that somehow feels like many places all at once.)
In this lesson, we interpret this classic scene in a lively, expressive way, leaning into color shifts, mood, and your own brush personality. I take a reference photo that was lush and summer-green in real life… and nudge it toward a warm autumn glow. Expect yellows, magentas, oranges, and those tempered greens that make a landscape feel like it’s humming from the inside out.
Your Painting Creation Journey:
We start by transforming a rectangular reference photo into our own composition, using the grid method. This gives you a simple roadmap before the fun begins. Once your “paint drawing” is in place, we build the piece layer by layer:
First, the deep foundation tones
Then, the midtones that give the painting its shape
And finally, dynamic highlights with detailed instruction on how to make them pop instead of sinking
Along the way, you’ll adjust values, tweak colors, and lean into atmospheric perspective to create depth in the distant hills. We talk through mixing decisions in real time - testing them not just on the palette, but directly on the canvas, using brush marks like little mosaic tiles that evolve as the painting does. This is where the experimentation comes in, and where most artists start to feel their confidence grow!
Your Color Palette:
Here, we use 10 core colors, including shades (or - 11, if you like separate mixing and finishing whites), all pulled directly from my Master List. (If you’ve taken "Magnetic Color", you’ll feel right at home - nothing new to buy, no unfamiliar pigments to wrangle.)
The limited palette keeps you out of the “mud zone”. Because the colors naturally blend into harmonious neutrals, even your low-chroma mixes will still support the landscape instead of fighting it. This course teaches you how to use those limited colors thoughtfully, how to push them, how to correct them, and helps you read how a color behaves next to another on the canvas.
WHAT'S INSIDE THE COURSE:
3 modules with 15 total video lessons. Each module walks you through one full layer of the painting, and each painting lesson focuses on a specific section within that layer.
Separate palette camera so you can see every mix as it happens, right alongside the painting itself.
Supporting materials - 4 reference images, and a simple supplies guide
Optional subtitles in every lesson, if you prefer reading along as you learn.
An approach that blends structure with creative freedom, helping you trust your eye, loosen your brushstrokes, and paint with more dynamic contrast as the scene unfolds.
Anastasia Mak painting method:
I like to balance planning with play. The sketch and composition give you structure - your roadmap. The color prep is your flame that gets things going. And after that, you get to dance with the painting. Mixing, adjusting, adding, removing, responding. This is where your unique energy shows up and turns the reference into something unmistakably yours.
If you’ve ever felt intimidated by a complicated landscape or overwhelmed by color decisions, this course breaks it down into bite-sized pieces. You won’t be wrestling the whole painting at once - you’ll be focusing on one manageable step at a time.
After working through this piece, you’ll gain...
A vivid, expressive landscape filled with contrast, gentle water movement, and dynamic clouds
A better understanding of how to make a limited palette feel rich and expansive
A stronger grasp of building value contrast through layers (and how acrylic drying shifts fit into that process)
Insight into acrylic medium (and understanding how it differs from varnish)
A repeatable, flexible landscape process you can use again and again
Price - $79 usd
FAQ
Not at all. If you have SOME painting experience and know your way around acrylics, you’ll be totally fine. The lessons are broken into small, easy-to-follow steps, and each layer is taught separately. If you’re a beginner with patience, you’ll keep up (and please do reach out if you feel stuck!)
That depends on your pace, but most students complete the full painting over several sessions. The course itself has 15 digestible video lessons you can space out however you like. No rush, no deadlines - just steady progress.
Acrylic paint, canvas, brushes, a sketching tool, and an optional acrylic paint medium. (also there are miscellaneous items such as water cup, paper towels, etc). You’ll get a simple supplies guide plus four reference images as soon as you join. We use ten core colors (or eleven if you prefer two whites), all from my standard master list. (If you’ve taken Magnetic Color, you already own the colors you'll need.)
I demonstrate on a square canvas, but you can absolutely adapt the process to other formats. The reference images are rectangular, so you can alternatively stick with those proportions. We'll also go over how to translate a rectangular reference photo into a square layout using the grid method. You can also scale up or down, if you choose to go with a larger or smaller canvas size.
This tutorial is all about building a full landscape from start to finish, using a structured method. It focuses on value, balancing land + water + sky, and shifting a real-world photo into expressive, painterly color. It pairs beautifully with "Magnetic Color" signature course, but dives much deeper into the specific landscape theme.
Of course! I purposely picked a scene with a universal calm - lakes, layered hills, drifting clouds - the kind of view you’ve probably seen somewhere in the world. We’re not trying to copy Scotland exactly; we’re creating an expressive piece inspired by the feeling of that place.
Honestly, that’s the goal! You’ll follow the same structure, but your colors, marks, and little decisions will make the piece unmistakably yours. I teach you how to think through choices, not how to copy mine brushstroke for brushstroke.
If you purchase this course individually - your access to it does not expire. If you get this course as a part of the membership - you will have access as long as your membership remains active.
If you purchase this course individually, you can “try it on” risk-free. This means - if within the first 48 hours of purchase this workshop does not meet your expectations, please reach out for a refund. (After 2 days post-purchase, we are not able to offer refunds - thank you for understanding!)
Please email your question to: paint@amakart.com. Thanks!
Grab a brush!
..let's go paint Queen's View!