Lerri's Watercolor Classes: Fall 2019 Watercolor Class

The first thing we needed to do was to get the design onto our paper. I showed various ways to do this including using a grid, transfer paper and using a light box.

You can also draw direct onto your paper but be careful if you have to erase - this goes for using the grid system as well - because you can damage to surface of the watercolor paper causing problems when you go to paint. I recommend that if you are using the grid system to enlarge the image or if you are drawing it freehand, use drawing paper the size you want to work on then use either the light box or transfer paper to get your design on your paper so you don't damage it.

If you have a hard time using the grid to enlarge your design, there are programs that will enlarge them in your computer and print them out as a simple puzzle you tape together, I have two listed in the sidebar under the title of Lerri's Links, they are the Poster 8 for PCs and Razor Poster of Macs. If you have an image editor like PhotoShop, I understand it has an enlarger as well that will print on multiple sheets, you might check there first.

Having a good drawing of your design on your paper is important because it is our road map to our painting. Watercolor is a bit finicky and can be a challenge to fix something so having a good drawing will help keep those to a minimum. Use a pencil that has a dark enough lead (a #2B or #3B) that you can get your design on your paper without having to press too hard to see the design (again we don't want to damage the paper), but we don't want it so dark that it won't fade into the painting as we work. While have some pencil lines is okay, you don't want it to look like a cartoon with a bunch of dark lines showing after you put all that work into it.

Traditionally in watercolor, we use the white of the paper as our white so we have to work from light to dark. Always keep this in mind when you are working because it is opposite from working in other mediums. We build our watercolors with layers of color and value.

As I showed in class, there is nothing white in this photo we will be working from, if you have any doubts, find a sheet of white paper and lay it next to the frame of the door on the red house and you will see it is at least 1 or 2 shades darker than the white paper, it only looks like because of the dark values around it. I am mentioning this because in our first wash of color we will be going right over that house and I don't want anyone painting around it or using masking, bot are unnecessary.

Our first wash of color will be a very light blue/gray. I was using my large wash brush and mixed a sky color using ultramarine blue with a very tiny amount of burnt sienna in it to slightly gray the color. I wanted a color like the clouds are starting to burn off and some of the blue is showing through. On my paper, I just used water to wet the area from the top to the water's edge so that the paper was damp and my paint will flow. I have to work vertically so you can see what I am doing which is a challenge in watercolor but I do recommend that you slightly elevate the top of your paper with either a roll of tape or your purse or something that will give you at least a couple of inches off the table so that gravity will work with you otherwise, the paint just sits there causing problems.

Start at the top of the paper with your color and paint it about a third of the way down, rinse your brush and wipe off the excess then use just the water on the damp brush touching it to the paper just at the bottom of the color you just put on and let the paint flow into the wet area. This will give you a graded wash, just be sure you are working wet into wet. If you need to add more color, just repeat this step starting at the top with more color. This takes practice, the key is to not have your brush too wet at any time, it needs to be damp but not dripping and having the paper damp to begin with will keep your paint moving.

The water is painted the same way with just a bit more blue and can be a more solid color. Then let it all dry before doing the next step.

I forgot to take photos of the first wash but if you look in this photo you will see that the sky near the top is a bit darker than the houses. This is because of the graded wash in the first step.

With all painting regardless of medium there is usually an under painting, this step is the under painting for the background trees but in the end becomes the highlights of the tree, remember light to dark.

All of the trees in the above were painted the same way shown here: I use an angle brush but this will also work with a flat brush, using sap green with a touch of yellow and a lot of water to make a thin wash, I started with a line for the top of the tree with just a couple taps of the flat end of the brush to start the top. To start the branches I come down a bit from the top and with the corner of the brush and a little flick, I make the top short branches. The longer you drag the brush on the paper before you flick it up, the longer your branches will be.

Remember that these are not Christmas trees so they should not be perfect and don't lose all the spaces between trees at the top and make tall ones and shot one. Near the houses the branches overlap so much is becomes a solid color.

The grasses were the same color as the trees with a little touch of orange in it. Remember not to get it too dark at this point, these are the highlights.

The water I added blue to the green and this time where the tree reflections are I just pulled straight down and used water to blend as soften. You can wet the area where the trees are first but try not to get too much in the building reflections.