I’ve been working on landscapes this week. I focused on using the wet on wet technique with multiple applications of color for the distant trees across the lake. I ended up with some nice results and have a few tips to share with you.
Painting tips:
Lightly draw a line on your paper where the horizon is. I use a regular pencil and ruler for this. This simple line will be an important guide as you paint.
Mix up a lot of color before you start painting so that you don’t run out before you are finished. For this painting, I used a green+blue, green+brown, and cool gray blue mix.
I like to work from top to bottom on this type of painting so that I don’t smudge up an already painted area with my hand or wrist. (Yes, I’ve done that before!)
After working on the sky and letting it dry a bit, I worked on the distant trees by first wetting the tree area with water about an inch or so above the horizon line. Then with a lot of juicy color on my brush, I dropped in the wet color across the tree area. First with a pass across the top, and then across the bottom. It is important to switch up the color every few inches or so as you work across the paper to add variety and interest. I also had to clean up the horizon line a few times with the tip of a large round brush. Then I continued adding more color until I was happy with the the shapes and colors before moving on to the lake.
Here is my first painting below, I really like the colors in this one.
Landscape – Across the Lake
Below is my second painting. When my trees were almost dry, I lightly sprayed them with a mist of water to try and soften them up a bit. Well, things didn’t go as I expected, the color started to run and bleed quite a bit. I thought I ruined everything, but I decided to just go with it and guided the running color with the tip of my brush. After it dried, I was pleasantly surprised. It kind of looks like rain or fog across the lake.
Landscape 2 – Across the Lake
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I love Poppies and wish that I had some in my garden. I will have to work on that some time soon. The delicate petals remind me of tissue paper flowers I remember making as a child. Every year when I see the blooms up close I am amazed at their beauty.
This week I worked on painting Poppies while trying to keep things loose and not worry much about the details. It took a few paintings to get the feel of slowly building up the color on the petals with a variety of shapes and different brushstrokes. Things also started to look better once I remembered to vary the size, shape, color, and position of the flowers in the field.
Field of Poppies
Color mixing notes:
Flower Petals: A mix of Quinacridone Rose and Pyrrol Red (Daniel Smith watercolors). For lighter shades of the same color, simply add more water.
I had fun with this and will probably paint more Poppies in the future. I was amazed at how quickly this painting came together and how relaxing it was when I could just let go and paint without overthinking it.
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This week I have been working on painting lavender. I was inspired by a beautiful painting of lavender sprigs on Instagram by Anee @studiobluedesigns. I also watched a few videos online and really liked a youtube video by Nicola Blakemore on painting a pot of lavender. Here is a link to that short video: Pot of Lavender. Her painting style was loose and fluid, she shared great tips on color mixing and walked through the entire painting process in about 10 minutes. Thank you, Nicola! Below is my attempt at painting a pot of lavender after watching the video.
Pot of Lavender watercolor
Later I painted a field of lavender:
Lavender watercolor
Color mixing notes:
Light green used in these paintings: Sap Green (or a similar green) with lots of white. I usually never use white but Nicola recommended mixing it with green to get a light milky green color for the lavender stems and leaves.
Purple: Aquamarine Blue and Quinacridone Rose (or a similar pink), you can vary the amount of each color to get different shades of purple.
I had fun painting lavender this week while trying to keep it loose and simple. I think I should have varied up the purple more in the foreground but lessons learned! Hope you enjoy and consider clicking the follow button on the right to receive notifications of new posts by email.
I planted a white Dahlia in my garden this spring. This week I’ve been working on painting this lovely flower.
I sketched the flower in pencil first and then used a black micron pen size .02 to go over the pencil marks. I mix my gray color for this painting using burnt sienna light and aquamarine blue. The white flower has a lot of gray shadowing which I carefully painted with a round #2 brush.
Dahlia without a background
Dahlia without a background color
I am happy with this painting, but it left me wanting more color, so in the next painting I used bright pink and some purple around the flower which I thought would make the flower pop. What I found was that the very strong background seemed to overpower the delicate flower. Below is my next attempt with a softer light blue and purple background.
Dahlia with a background color
Although I like the background, I am happier with the actual flower in the first painting. I may have rushed a bit with this last painting. Oh well, this is a learning experience and I did have fun, which is what this is all about!
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I decided to practice painting some simple leaves. I pulled out my round #14, 10, 6, and small flat angle watercolor brushes to give it a try. I watched a few people online paint beautiful leaves with just a few simple brushstrokes and that inspired me to practice and see what I could do.
Brushstroke notes: Load the brush with paint, then with the tip down on the paper, press down and slightly rotate while continuing to pull the brush and then slowly lift the brush up and off the paper.
The small flat angle brush delivered some beautiful shapes and I was happy with the outcome.
Simple leaves practice – Flat Angle brush
My round #10 brush (a favorite of mine), did not work as well for this, and neither did my trusty old round #6. Those two are usually my go to watercolor brushes.
I was very pleased and a bit surprised to find that my round #14 brush worked very well. I was able to paint some large simple leaves with #14. I will have to keep that in mind for future paintings.
Simple Leaves practice – Round brush #14
Below is a quick painting of pink roses using the flat angle brush to paint the leaves. I will need to work more on my leaf painting technique, but this was a good exercise.
Rose – practice with simple leaves
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I painted my parent’s cute little dog this week. He is a Morkie, a Maltese and Yorkshire terrier mix. I lightly sketched his placement on the paper and was surprised at how quickly the painting came together.
I took a few pictures as I was painting and I could see the pup coming to life on the paper. I thought it would be fun to share the process with you in this post.
The eyes are painted first and then a few spots of color here and there to clearly define the overall shape so that I don’t get lost while painting.
Morkie watercolor – the beginning
Then adding more paint to define the face and ears while trying not to over do it.
Morkie watercolor – in progress
Continuing on with more definition and finally some background color using Daniel Smith Phthalo Blue (one of my favorite colors!). Below is the finished painting on Canson Watercolor paper.
Morkie watercolor – completed
What are your favorite paints and colors? I would love to hear from you.
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I am back to painting flowers again. I was inspired by a picture that I took a few weeks ago. I noticed that the Iris buds are beautiful as well as the lovely flowers. I really need to plant some in my garden soon.
Painted on Canson 9×12 inch watercolor paper.
Iris in Bloom
This was a fun painting and it did not take long to complete. I worked on a few similar paintings first and then combined a few things from each of those paintings.
Hope you enjoy!
Watercolor tips:
Keep a scrap piece of watercolor paper nearby for testing out any color that you aren’t sure of. It is better to test out color on scrap first than to be disappointed after you’ve already used it in your painting.
To soften hard edges, use a damp brush and lightly go over the edge to smooth it out. A small round brush works well for this. In my painting I had to smooth out around the flowers a bit.
Happy Painting!
Patty Anne
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I’ve been working on painting dogs this week. This is a painting of my two year old Labrador Retriever pup. The bright bold background of this painting matches his spirit and personality!
Painted in my 8×10 inch Pentalic Watercolor sketchbook.
Watercolor Labrador Retriever
Watercolor tip:
A small spray bottle is very handy for wetting your paint before you start painting. My bottle is plastic and has a cap. I can easily take it with me when I travel and am painting away from home.
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Looking back, it has been a while since I painted cats. I decided to give it a try again this weekend.
“Sweet Kitty” I painted in February 2017 (#301 in my 5×8 inch watercolor sketchbook)
Sweet Kitty
Today I painted, “Gray & White Kitty” (#385 on 8×10 inch Fabriano Watercolor paper)
Gray & White Kitty
I am not sure how much I have improved painting cats since February but hopefully things are getting better. One thing for sure is that the big colorful cat eyes are a lot of fun to paint!
To start, I sketch the eyes first, their placement and size is key. Then just a light sketch of the rest of the body. I paint the eyes first and then move out from there. The rigger and liner brush were used quite a bit on this painting.
If you have any tips on painting animal fur, please share them in the comment section. I would love to hear from you.
Watercolor tips:
Color mixing light gray – I used a mix of cobalt blue and burnt sienna light.
Color mixing dark gray/black – I used a mix of indigo and burnt sienna light.
For a lighter shade, just add a drop or two of water to your puddle of color on your palette.
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Patty Anne - Art 