CTC Unit 33 Watercolor Tutorial

Ok I've been Promising and Promising to get this last tutorial up. Can you tell I have trouble finishing things? I actually edited these photos on the airplane on May 18! I had high hopes of getting this up ASAP but alas my life got majorly in the way. I thought I could do it while at my parents house in early June but you see there was this large stack O' wood that was just dying to be split and I couldn't resist splitting it.  

I love how this painting  uses orange peels. 

DAY 2

Here is what our supplies looked like, you will also need a sea sponge for day 3.

 I have enhanced my stonewall line in photoshop.
don't make your dark like this make it light and fluffy. I made mine bumpy,
 because stone walls are not usually perfectly straight.  

 Wet the paper. 

 Blot the paper. 

 Paint an even blue sky. Note how I'm using the side of my brush to follow the stone wall edge. 

 Ahhh I like that. 

Mixing up some grey. I used just a tiny dab of black.  

 Fill the grey in the wall. 

 I worked my way up from the bottom with a spring green. 

Set your painting aside to dry in a safe place. 

DAY 3

Add a tree 

 Don't forget to add details in to the limbs. 

 Sponge on leaves I used a light green and then added a dark green over the top. 

 Here I'm mixing up several shades of brown, orange, and grey. 

Rip or cut out a small stone shape out of the orange peel. Work carefully around the tree and you don't want to overlap the trunk with stones.  

 I did a bunch of the same color by painting the piece of orange peel 

 I kept adding in stones in a semi random pattern. 

 Experiment, I would add grey to an orange, Some times the leftover paint would create a new color on the orange peel when I would paint it with grey or brown. let this happen it helps your painting feel more realistic. 

 of course I dropped my peel! Right on the light green Grrrrrr... Well I can fix that just wait and see. 

 Almost done just a few more stones.  

 Oh look we need to paint grass around the wall I know just where to start!
That will get rid of my mistake. 

Ahh all done.  

CTC Watercolor Unit 30

Well Spring has sprung in TX and the only snow we have seen is the kind we paint ourselves! 

Day 2

 You will also need a paper towel. 

Tape down your paper if you want it to be flat when dry.  

 Lightly Sketch some hills. You can make them any way you want to. I made mine rugged. also this photo has been enhanced so you can see my pencil line. 

 Wet your paper  

 This is our house when I'm not looking ROFL! 

 Blot any wet spots. 

 Mix water and blue together. 

 Paint an even colored sky

 I painted all the way down because I read the directions only half way!!! 

Don't do this stop half way down the page. 

Now mix up some mauve 

 add plenty of water

 Ready to paint! 

 After I did the first few strokes I read the directions fully. 

 I could have over painted the blue and just rolled with my error, but...
you can take up a watery paint fairly well. 

 Wet clean brush and wash the paper dry brush and repeat. 

 After the offending color is wet quickly wipe up the wet paint with a paper towel.
See How much blue I got off! 

 Now I'm getting it painted right! 

 Here goes the kiddos!

I love it when she smiles. 

 If you don't blot your paper well your sky gets really cool. 

Sweet Potato is using short strokes notice how the paint is not as even.  

 When you use LONG strokes across the whole page it helps to make even painting.
Ultimately as long as you are happy with your painting how you got there isn't as important. 

Day 3

 Paint for today 

 Mix up a grey 

 Now add blue. 

 then a bit of water to make it flow. 

 Paint in clouds that sweep up. 

 Ahh I like those.

 Now mix into your grey a bit of brown paint. 

I like that color.  

add in more sweeps   

 Now on to the next step. 

Clean your brush

 and dab of a bit of the water.  

now with a damp (not wet) brush soften the edges. 

 Soften inside and out. 

 Paint your hills brown. 

 I painted my hill that was further away darker brown. 

Add water to your white to make it loose. 

 Using a pencil tap your paint brush against it to make snow.

 All done! 

 Here go the Kids. 

Little Miss Sunshine tapping her snow.  

I love those clouds!