Tree in first leaf, every bud a single pale green dotUmber, pale green, cream, gray. Paint the bare branches, then touch the dots on with a cotton swab.
Pebble beach from straight above: gray ovals and one rust redGray, slate, cream, rust. Fill the canvas with ovals in three grays, then repaint one in rust.
Flat lake scored by one long wake after the boat has gonePale blue, gray, white, slate. Draw the wake as two thin lines that widen toward you.
Fallen leaf afloat on a pond, its shadow lying on the bottom beneath itOcher, olive, umber, pale green. Paint the shadow first, a little to one side, then float the leaf over it.
Fishing float sitting upright on green water, line slack beside itSap green, red, white, olive. Paint the water as one flat green and add the float with two strokes.
Flat lake scored by one long wake after the boat has gonePale blue, gray, white, slate. Draw the wake as two thin lines that widen toward you.
Glass of water on a porch rail, level with the lake behind itPale blue, white, gray, tan. Line the water in the glass up with the far shoreline.
Heron standing in the shallows above its own unbroken reflectionSlate, white, ocher, pale blue. Paint the reflection first, upside down, and softer than the bird.
Moon path on a flat sea, a broken white stripe down the middleNavy, indigo, white, pale yellow. Lay the path in short sideways dashes, widest at the bottom.
Old jetty posts standing in a row with no jetty left on themUmber, pale blue, gray, cream. Give each post a short wobbly reflection and nothing else.
Outdoor pool before opening, lane ropes lying dead straightAqua, white, pale gray, red. Rule the ropes with a thin brush, then dot the floats red and white.
Paper boat resting on a puddle that mirrors bare branchesGray, white, umber, pale blue. Paint the branches only inside the puddle, never above it.
Rain barrel brimming full, the sky held in its round topUmber, pale blue, white, moss green. Paint the water as a flat ellipse of sky color before the staves.
Reeds along the bottom edge and nothing above them but pond and skyPale blue, cream, olive, umber. Leave the top three quarters empty; the reeds go in last, in upward flicks.
Single lily pad on dark water with one ring widening around itDeep green, olive, black, pale gray. Draw the ring once with a thin brush and leave it broken.
Still canal at dawn doubling a row of shuttered housesPeach, slate, cream, pale blue. Paint the houses once, then drag the wet color straight down.
Three mooring buoys on a harbor at blue hour, a wobble of color under eachNavy, violet, orange, white. Keep each reflection shorter than the buoy and break it into three dabs.
Two ducks drifting apart, a V of ripples behind eachTeal, cream, brown, white. Make each V from two thin pale lines that never quite touch.
Mist 15
Barn roof and a silo floating above a layer of ground fogRust red, gray, white, pale blue. Leave the bottom third of each building unpainted, then soften the edge.
Chimney smoke flattening into a band of mist over a sleeping villageBlue-gray, cream, umber, white. Pull the smoke sideways with a soft dry brush until it joins the band.
Country road bending into mist between two hedgesOlive, gray, cream, white. Stop the road's edges before the bend and let the fog finish them.
Fence posts walking into mist until the last one disappearsPale gray, white, umber, olive. Add more white to each post as the row goes back.
Ferry dock at daybreak, the far end of its railing lost in hazeSlate, pale orange, white, gray. Warm the fog with a touch of orange where the sun will come up.
Lone horse in a misty paddock, legs fading before they reach the grassBrown, pale gray, olive, white. Glaze thin white over the legs once the horse is dry.
Marsh grasses across the foreground with plain white behind themWhite, cream, olive, ocher. Tint the white ground slightly gray at the top so it reads as fog.
Mist lying in the hollows of a field at sunrise like poured milkCream, peach, olive, gray. Scrub thin white across the dips with a nearly dry brush.
Mountain lake whose far shore dissolves into low cloudBlue-gray, white, slate, pale green. Paint no line where the water meets the cloud.
Pine tops poking out of a valley filled with cloudBlue-gray, white, deep green, cream. Paint whole trees, then cover their lower halves with thin white.
Row of poplars thinning to gray in river mistGray-green, white, cream, slate. Give the nearest tree branches and the farthest only a pale stripe.
Sailboat as a pale ghost on a white morning seaWhite, pale gray, cream, blue-gray. Mix the boat only one step darker than the fog around it.
Stone bridge half gone in fog, only its near arch painted sharpGray, white, umber, pale blue. Use full-strength paint on the near arch and a pale mix for the far one.
Streetlamp glowing through fog inside a halo twice its sizeSlate, pale yellow, white, black. Blend the halo outward in circles while the gray is still wet.
Sun as a flat white disk behind thin fog over a plowed fieldWarm gray, white, umber, cream. Trace a coin for the sun and paint the gray up to its edge.
One tree 15
Bonsai on a low table in front of a bare wallDeep green, umber, cream, gray. Let the wall fill most of the canvas, with the tree set off-center.
Empty bench under a spreading maple, leaves down around its feetOrange, red, umber, gray. Scatter the fallen leaves as single dabs, thickest near the trunk.
Faraway tree as a dot on a level horizon under a huge skyPale blue, white, straw, deep green. Rule the horizon low and add the tree with one touch.
Hilltop tree with a few sheep gathered in its shadeOlive, cream, umber, pale blue. Dab the sheep as pale ovals inside the darker patch under the tree.
Lone pine on a cliff edge, leaning away from the sea windDeep green, gray, pale blue, umber. Tilt the trunk first and hang every branch on the sheltered side.
Lone tree in a hay field, a ring of long grass left uncut around itStraw, olive, deep green, pale blue. Paint the field flat, add the darker ring and stand the tree in its middle.
Lone tree on a river bend, the water curving round it like an armGreen, pale blue, olive, cream. Sweep the river in one S curve and stand the tree inside the bend.
Newly planted tree in a wide park, its two stakes taller than it isGreen, tan, pale blue, olive. Keep the tree small and give the grass and sky the whole canvas.
Old hollow trunk with ferns growing at its footUmber, black, green, cream. Paint the hollow as one dark almond shape and fan the ferns below it.
Olive tree beside a white wall at noon, its shadow short and sharpGray-green, white, ocher, violet. Keep the wall almost white and put the color in the shadow.
Round tree casting a long evening shadow across a mown fieldGreen, gold, olive, peach. Make the shadow three times the height of the tree and keep it flat.
Tall cypress at the end of a white road, a gate beside itDeep green, cream, ocher, pale blue. Narrow the road to a point at the foot of the tree.
Tree in first leaf, every bud a single pale green dotUmber, pale green, cream, gray. Paint the bare branches, then touch the dots on with a cotton swab.
Tree on an island barely bigger than its rootsPale blue, green, umber, white. Center the island low and leave open water on every side.
Tree standing whole in its reflection on a flooded meadowGreen, pale blue, umber, white. Fold a paper sketch at the waterline to check the two halves match.
Stones 15
Boulder in a meadow with tall grass leaning against itGray, olive, yellow-green, cream. Overlap a few blades across the boulder's lower edge.
Line of boulders running out into a calm bay, each smaller than the lastSlate, gray, pale blue, cream. Space the boulders wider as they shrink toward the horizon.
Moss-capped rock in a forest clearing with one shaft of light on itMoss green, umber, pale yellow, gray. Glaze thin yellow over the lit side once the moss is dry.
One smooth pebble on wet sand, the tide line curving past itSand, gray, white, pale blue. Add a thin dark crescent under the pebble to seat it.
Pebble beach from straight above: gray ovals and one rust redGray, slate, cream, rust. Fill the canvas with ovals in three grays, then repaint one in rust.
Pebble spiral laid out on dark sand, smallest stone at the centerSlate, cream, gray, white. Dot the spiral from the middle outward, letting each pebble grow a little.
Raked gravel in rings around three mossy rocksPale gray, cream, moss green, slate. Comb the rings into wet paint with the wrong end of the brush.
River stones under clear shallows, a wobble of light on eachOcher, gray, teal, white. Paint the stones dry, then draw loose white nets of light over them.
Sea-worn stone with a hole through it, the horizon showing in the holeGray, cream, blue, white. Paint sea and sky first, then build the stone around a gap you leave.
Single rock breaking a calm sea, a thin white ring where the water touches itPale blue, slate, white, gray. Paint the sea flat, add the rock, then the ring with a small brush.
Stepping stones across raked sand, late sun stretching their shadowsSand, gray, cream, violet. Aim every shadow the same way, twice as long as its stone.
Stone bench in an empty garden, moss on its legsGray, moss green, cream, olive. Keep the seat pale and let the moss climb only the shaded side.
Stone with a white quartz band, painted larger than lifeSlate, white, blue-gray, sand. Curve the band so it follows the roundness of the stone.
Tall boulder on a moor under a wide pale skyGray, ocher, pale blue, violet. Keep the land to a narrow strip and let the boulder break the horizon.
Worn stone steps up a grassy bank, pale in the middle of each treadGray, cream, olive, umber. Lighten the center of every step where feet have polished it.
How it works
Tonalism is the name for landscapes painted in one overall tone of colored mist, often in neutral hues such as gray, brown or blue. These scenes borrow that: few shapes, a low horizon and colors that sit close together.
Read the full guide
Keep the horizon low and the shapes few
Many of these keep the land to a strip along the bottom and give the rest to sky or water, with one thing to look at. The plainest is Faraway tree as a dot on a level horizon under a huge sky: a ruled line, two flat colors and one touch of green.
Mist is white, added a step at a time
With distance, contrast falls and colors shift toward the color of the background. On canvas that is one mix with more white stirred in for each step back. Fence posts walking into mist until the last one disappears is that mix and nothing else.
Stir a little of the sky color into every other color, so nothing on the canvas shouts.
Questions and answers
What are some zen painting ideas easy enough for a first canvas?
A Japanese dry garden, often called a Zen garden, has gravel raked to stand for ripples in water. Raked gravel in rings around three mossy rocks paints that, and One smooth pebble on wet sand, the tide line curving past it is simpler still.
What is the easiest peaceful thing to paint?
Moon path on a flat sea, a broken white stripe down the middle: two dark blues and a column of white dashes. Twenty scenes are marked easiest under More filters, Level.
What colors suit a peaceful painting?
These palettes stay close together: grays, pale blues, creams and soft greens, with one small accent at most, such as the red float on green water. Add white to what you have before reaching for a new tube.
How do you paint still water?
Paint it in level strokes of the sky color, a little darker. Then drag each reflection straight down and break it with one or two sideways strokes. Still canal at dawn doubling a row of shuttered houses uses that drag.