Paint The Blue Ridge Mountains in Watercolor

Ah, the Blue Ridge Mountains—an iconic sea of softly rippling ridges fading into the horizon. They are at once visually soothing and endlessly inspiring.

Ironically, these mountains are some of the easiest mountains to paint—and also some of the easiest to mess up. I should know. I’ve struggled for years to do them justice.

But before we pick up a brush, let’s start with why these mountains look the way they do.

Why the Blue Ridge Mountains Look Different

The Blue Ridge Mountains are the southern portion of the Appalachian Mountains, one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world.

A really long time ago (about 480–270 million years ago), two continents got confused about who had the right of way and had a magnificent pileup, creating a mountain chain that may once have been as tall as the Himalayas. But time is hard on us all, and millions of years of wind, rain, and erosion have worn these mountains down into the softly rounded ridges we see today.

Now, if you drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway or hike one of the many peaks around Cashiers or Highlands, you’ll notice these mountains really do look blue as they roll away into the distance. There are two reasons for that.

The first is atmospheric perspective. This is an optical effect that happens to everything as it gets farther away. Colors become cooler, details soften and disappear, and values become lighter and less saturated. This is useful to remember whenever you’re painting a landscape. If you want something to look farther away, make it cooler, paler, and less detailed.

The second reason the Blue Ridge Mountains look blue is the hardwood forests. Trees like oaks and poplars produce a compound called isoprene. Yeah…none of us are probably going to remember that word. Basically, the trees release this gas, and the tiny particles scatter sunlight in a way that makes blue light stand out the most. (This is also one of the ingredients that helps create the famous haze of the Great Smoky Mountains—but we’ll save that science lesson for another day.)

So what does all this mean for our watercolor painting?

To paint mountains that immediately read as the Blue Ridge, remember two things: shape and color.

• The shapes are soft and rounded.
• The colors have a strong blue component that gradually shifts toward green in the foreground.

Let’s break down the process.

How to Paint the Blue Ridge Mountains in Watercolor

If you look at the example photo of the Blue Ridge Mountains below, you can see how the spacing increases and the shapes become more detailed as they move toward the foreground.

Watercolor is usually painted from light to dark and from background to foreground.

I start by placing my first mountain ridge right on the horizon line. Since the mountains are the star of this painting, I like to place my horizon about two-thirds of the way up the page. That leaves plenty of room for multiple layers of ridges.

I honestly just use Prussian Blue for the distant mountains.

For the first ridge, I mix a very pale wash—mostly water with just a little pigment. Holding my brush almost upright, I pull a slightly wobbly line across the horizon. Then I rinse my brush, blot it on a paper towel, and gently soften the bottom edge of the mountain. This allows the color to fade downward, increasing the feeling of atmospheric perspective.

Let that first ridge dry completely.

For the second ridge, add just a little more pigment to your mixture. Paint another uneven mountain line slightly below the first, then soften the bottom edge the same way. Be careful that the peaks and valleys don’t line up perfectly with the ridge behind them.

Repeat this process for the next two or three ridges. Let each layer dry completely before adding the next, and gradually increase the amount of pigment each time. As the mountains come closer, make each ridge slightly farther apart and a little bumpier/ more defined than the last.

Now the mountains are getting closer to the viewer, so it’s time to introduce some green.

I like to keep my palette simple, so I begin adding Cadmium Yellow Hue to my Prussian Blue. Again, I only add a little at a time and test the mixture on my scrap paper before painting.

As the mountains get closer, I paint a slightly wider band before softening the bottom edge. I also add small bumps along the top of the ridge to suggest the uneven tree canopy.

Continue for the next two or three ridges, making the mixture greener and more heavily pigmented with each layer.

The final mountain ridge before the foreground should be a rich, highly pigmented green with an even bumpier silhouette. While the paint is still wet, I like to drop in touches of straight Prussian Blue to suggest cool shadows in valleys and ravines. Since the paper is wet, the blue naturally flows into the green. Sometimes I’ll also touch in a little pure yellow to create subtle color variation.

Finally, I paint the foreground with a wash of yellow first. While it’s still wet, I drop in warm browns, touches of carmine, greens, and blues to suggest grasses, wildflowers, and scattered evergreen trees. If you’d like a more detailed foreground, you can always add bushes, grasses, and other textures once everything has dried.

Try It Yourself

While it’s wonderful to paint a real overlook, I actually recommend starting by painting the idea of the Blue Ridge Mountains rather than trying to copy one specific view. Simple scenes often make the strongest paintings.

If you’re looking for inspiration, hike Whiteside Mountain, visit Yellow Mountain, or take a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Pay attention to how the colors change with the weather, the season, and the time of day.

Convincing mountain paintings don’t depend on intricate drawing skills. The right shapes, colors, and values are enough to create landscapes that immediately evoke the Blue Ridge Mountains.

If you’d like a more guided watercolor experience, join us at Lake Glenville Art for a beginner watercolor class. Check out our schedule here.