Choose a Subject

• 1). Focus on contemporary features of an urban or natural landscape. For example, although a rural landscape may have looked the same a millennium ago, focus on any changes to the landscape that contemporary society has wrought.
  
  
• 2). Pay special attention to technology. Contemporary features can also involve matters related to population density or technological, political, economic or social changes.
  
  
• 3). Concentrate on the interactions of people if the subject is urban.
  
  

Choose a Color Palette

• 1). Familiarize yourself with an expansive palette. Avoid exactly matching colors in your palette to colors in your subject. Expression of the mood of your subject is more important than literal color pairing.
  
  
• 2). Utilize colors that maximize the effect of light. Bright colors are important, but their brightness does not necessarily guarantee that they imply or convey bright light effectively.
  
  
• 3). Pay attention to shadows, especially, and the way in which shadows draw attention to or away from the aim and source of lighting.
  
  

Painting Technique

• 1). Worry less about the details of the subject than the overall image's effect.
  
  
• 2). Expose paint strokes by thickening them and avoiding color mixing.
  
  
• 3). Concentrate on light.
  
  
• 4). Do not attempt to capture the subject exactly. Concentrate on the manner in which the painting's subject strikes you, effects you, and focus on conveying that effect in your painting.