Blue skies and birch tree Video Lecture | Master the Art of Watercolour Painting (English) - Art & Craft

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
with a another quick painting tutorial
for you what I've done here is I took a
5x7 watercolor card a Strathmore brand
and I've taped it down to a piece of
foam core or cardboard on each side and
I've got about a quarter of an inch or
less border I just wanted a little bit
of a frame and so then after I tape that
down I just run my fingernail over it to
make sure that it is stuck down good
that will give us a lovely border when
we're done now I am going to take a
piece of painters tape and I prefer the
blue painters tape to regular masking
tape just because it's easier to remove
from your paper when you're done but if
all you have is masking tape you can
certainly use that just be careful when
when you go to remove it and I am
tearing this paper this tape a little
bit thinner because I want a rough edge
I also want a thinner piece of tape and
this is actually going to be a tree when
we're done so we're going to do a couple
techniques today we're going to do
lifting and we're going to do masking I
actually want a little bit thinner so
I'm going to tear the other side of it
nice rough tree there and I can kind of
build it in a little bit with my other
pieces of tape just kind of fatten it
out a little bit
alright and you want to make sure you
press that down really well and so when
we after were done painting and remove
this we'll have a nice white birch tree
left behind I do have a tutorial on
birch trees in my shop um Lindsey stamp
stuff which is a great beginner tutorial
and we're going to be doing something
similar today except we're going to
focus on the sky a little bit I also
want to mask out some rocks masking tape
is great for that so you get some nice
angular line I'm actually going to clip
my tape and some random pieces and try
not to cut my cell foam at it I spent
the weekend in the White Mountains with
my family we went down to story land
with everybody else in the world I think
because it was so busy I've never been
there was so busy before but we had a
good time and I was a great great time
to drive down there from our home and
main
because the scenery was gorgeous and
we're gonna do some of those fall colors
today the first thing I want you to do
is whoa first thing spray bottle and I
you can wet your palate if you've got a
palette of pans a lot of color just wet
it you should never let finances stop
you from painting the there's a great
set of watercolors called by the brand
name of praying enough don't get the
washable get the regular and they're
like three dollars to set at Staples and
honestly you can mix those colors are so
vivid and bright they're wonderful if I
you find that you really want to pay me
you can't afford artist paints go ahead
and get those praying water colors
they're wonderful alright I'm going to
use some ultramarine blue and on my wet
paper I'm simply adding some to the top
of it now this is this paper is not the
most expensive paper either these are
the Strathmore watercolor cards and
they're very affordable I want this to
get lighter as I go so I'm just picking
up some clear water what member your
number and remember your colors are
going to dry lighter so you want to be
darker than you think you you want to go
at the beginning here and you just want
it to kind of work down and get lighter
so you want a nice gradient this is a
wet into wet gradated wash alright so
while this paint a while this paper is
still wet we're gonna make some clouds
now if you have a really nice crisp
bright fall day and the sky is blue blue
blue the clouds you're going to see in
the sky are going to be white there's
not really going to be any shading on
them so it's a great time this is a
great technique to do with your
watercolor just dab out a few clouds
okay don't go crazy you don't want lift
out all that pretty blue sky but just
put a couple clouds in there the you
want to make sure that when you're
blotting paper towels work better than
rags for this I will tell you that I
like to use a lot of rags on my studio
because I can wash them and reuse them
but for this technique a paper towel is
so much better because it's very
absorbent and you could say to get a
really nice cloud shape never rub your
wet paper because it will damage it and
it will kind of pill up like a like a
cheap sweater so you don't want to do
that just put a couple clouds as you get
closer to the
bottom of the paper your cloud should be
smaller so just kind of pinch your your
towel and just give it a couple dabs
like that I wouldn't overdo it you know
what you know what you want the blue to
show through but it's kind of fun if you
find out that you've taken all your sky
away go rip go paint it again and lift
it again till you're happy with it the
reason I use ultramarine blue is because
ultramarine blue is set as sedimentary
and it lifts really well it doesn't
stain your paper so at this point what
I'm going to do is dry my paper with a
heat gun and we'll be back and do the
rest of this painting all right we're
back with a dry painting now something I
want to do here I want to create some
depth so what I'm going to do is on my
pallet I'm gonna mix up kind of like a
grayish purpley color so I'm gonna go
with my ultramarine blue a little bit of
Lisbon crimson get a nice purple there
and then if I want to grade that up a
little bit um I don't know if I do a
little more blue in there I don't think
I need to grade that up any more if I
did want to grow eighth grade up I'd
probably do a little bit of burnt sienna
but I think I'm pretty happy with that
and then I'm gonna take my one inch flat
I'm using this because I don't want to
get in there and get too fussy with it I
want to keep it nice and loose and I'm
gonna paint kind of some mountains in
the background
this is unimaginably enscape it's I'm
just kind of pulling it out from my head
and just to show you a few techniques
it's not going to win any prizes but
it's going to be it's going to work it's
going to look pretty so I've just loaded
up a corner of my brush see I'm doing
that on the palette and I'm just I'm
just just brushed with the full width of
my brush so that I kind of get those
mountains in the distance all right and
we're gonna let that part of the paper
dry and we're going to work up here now
I wouldn't have the look of maybe a few
trees kind of like maybe we're at the
edge of the forest we're peaking out
over a meadow or off a cliff or
something so I'm just got a plain old
sponge and I am just gonna grab some
lovely autumn colors and I think I'll
start with a little CAD red with my
sponge and I'm just gonna kind of dab
some in there it's not bright enough I
need a little more color my sponge just
put a little bit in there
pretend that trees not there and go
right on over it but these well these
trees will be in the background I'm
gonna grab some SAP green half stay with
the pallets like this usually I should
be using my big pallet with my artists
colors but this will be fine just cuz
it's easier to get a sponge hitting
around on some of those and I could dab
some down here well mat it and let's see
maybe a little bit of yellow CAD yellow
nice warm yellow it can mix some of
these other colors and create some some
fun stuff too all right now that's still
a little wet there um so what I'm going
to do is dry this and I'm going to
remove the tape and we'll see what we
have so just gonna dry it and come right
back you always want to make sure your
paper is perfectly dry before you
attempt to remove any masking tape and
the best way I've found to remove the
masking tape is to kind of pull it look
how let me show you on the side you want
to pull it kind of like this so it's
kind of like laying back flat on itself
for some reason that just keeps it from
ripping the paper a little easier and
that came off with no trouble I'm gonna
leave the rocks that I masked off there
and what I'm going to do is start
working on painting this birch tree and
I want my co-facilitate I want a half
inch flat and I'm going to mix up some
gray using ultramarine blue and burnt
sienna right here in my palette so get
some burnt sienna there which is a nice
orange brown and blue blue is the
opposite of orange what just makes a
really great great shadow color got
mixed up keep going back and forth until
you get the shade that you like
there see how it's getting nice and gray
that's what you want and rather than
using black from the tube this is going
to match my painting because it's colors
I plan on using or have already used in
my own picture all right so I haven't
really established a light source here I
guess I'll put my light source to this
side since this is where the clearing is
more sunlight would probably be hitting
this way and I'm going to do it's called
side loading the same thing we did for
our mountains I have wet my brush just
blotting it gently I'm going to pick up
color on one side of it and on that side
that's where my shadow is going to be I
am going to go up the edge of this birch
tree you can reload as you need to just
reload on that side of the brush don't
worry if it's not perfectly even now I'm
going to go and add some splotches of of
color here and there kind of disguise my
little places with a paint had run and
then I'm going to use my credit card my
old kind of credit card that I you see
me use all the time and I'm going to
just dip it into some of the paint I'm
just going to streak it across and that
gives you that beautiful papery texture
that birch trees have my birch trees
growing my yard you know we see a lot of
birch trees up here I saw a lot when we
were driving because they stamped so
nicely they stand out really well in the
fall because um the tree the other trees
have changed color and a lot of trees
are bare and they just really stand out
and then I can go in and kind of scrape
and pull paint around with the sharp
edge of my credit card I'm telling you
you couldn't buy a tool that works
better than the old credit card for a
painting and adding texture alright now
I want to give this tree some branches
and you'll notice on Bart's trees they
tend to have darker branches so what I'm
going to do and you can either use a
liner brush which remember the brushes
have the longer bristles or liners this
is a number four scepter Gold it's a
great brush or you can use your number
six round or use whatever you have
that's got a nice point on it and I want
to pick up some of that nice dark and
I'm just going to vary the way I'll hold
my brush maybe twist it lift it and put
some
branches in there I know they look a
little Stark right now but don't worry
we'll look at them integrated into our
painting oh right and then we want to
put some leaves and birch trees tend to
have these kind of yellowy leaves and my
my name's a regular brown brush for that
yeah weird that brush go I just had it
with step to my thing minute ago here we
go
and I'm gonna use cadmium yellow the
same yellow we use to sponge on there
we're just gonna kind of tap a few
leaves on there go right in front of the
tree to because trees don't just have
branches out to the left and right they
go right on top as well and I might put
a few SAP green leaves in there just to
give it a little vibrancy they could be
from other trees they could be tree
leaves that haven't turned yet on this
tree we don't know but it's fine and
then with this round brush we'll add it
with a SAP green I'm going to add some
colorful grasses a nice bright fresh
green grasses that haven't been killed
by the fall yet and then I'm going to
darken that up a little ultramarine blue
add some more contrast II grasses
alright now I want to give this a little
bit of life here when I maybe put some
shrubs in there so I'm going to go back
in with my sponge and I think we got
some yellow ochre and some Brent Sienna
to get some old dried-up shrub looking
foliage there I'm loading both colors
right next to each other on my sponge
I'm just going to sponge it in there I
want some texture here and add a little
bit of grain to that I think my SAP
green this SAP green is a little bit
brighter than the other set brains that
I I'm used to using I like a little bit
of darker SAP green or richer of a color
but sometimes when using the student
grade like this is Cottman a student
grade paints just have a list a little
bit less vibrancy but I think this will
be nice and vibrant for our for our
purposes we're throwing some red grasses
here
or shrubs you know we don't have to know
exactly what they are we're just still
handsome interest this is the cadmium
red here it's our warm red maybe a few
brown it's really I'm gonna look that
much different than the red and maybe
just uh feel a little more shrub bits
have lost their leaders trying to to
make a living here and then with my
screw / - I can add even more lovely
shapes I got one kid down here with me
Lila would you go up and tell Maisie I'm
doing a video and I'll be right there
real life folks real life okay and let's
see we're gonna dry this and remove our
tape and be right back and also see what
sort of commotion is going on upstairs
haha okay I'm back I've settled the who
owns these boots dispute for my twins
and I'm back to finish this painting I
have let everything dry and I'm gonna
remove the tape that we stuck down here
to become rocks didn't know they were
gonna turn into rocks did ya well he
probably had nothing like I think I
mentioned that before my kids are off
school today they had a four-day weekend
we got back from New Hampshire yesterday
and they have a in-service day the
teachers have an in-service day alright
I want to warm these rocks out and I
want to show you another technique
remember the clouds we called that
lifting while there's another way to
lift you can take your brush and you can
paint over an area you've already
painted and you can remove a lot of that
paint now most of the colors we've used
today are what is called are what is
known as sedimentary and those are
inorganic colors they come from usually
minerals like iron oxide so you're like
you're on ultramarine blue comes from
lapis lazuli which is a mineral um your
yellow ochre and your burnt sienna come
from iron these colors don't tend to
stain your paper and they come up now
you can see a little bit of staining
from that SAP green that must have a dye
in it so this color cadmium Reds cadmium
yellows those are going to lift off
really
easily from your paper whereas colors
like alizarin crimson anymore vivid
colors more dye based colors they are
going to sink in if they if they're an
organic color they come from like a
plant then they're more likely to sink
in and stain your paper so just a little
something to keep in mind if you think
you might want to go back to the white
of your paper after you've painted so
I'm gonna grab a little yellow ochre
because I want to warm up those rocks
the beautiful fall Sun is is hitting
them and warming it up I love the golden
light of fall it's so pretty and I'm
also going to go in with some of that
grey that we made and add some of that
in there too and let go in with my
lovely very fabulous awesome tool called
the cut-up red guard and I'm gonna
scrape in some cracks in the rocks and
get some texture in there and any of
these lines I scrape in will not be able
to be lifted they will stay there for
the duration
and so I've warm that up I've added some
color maybe a little bit of brown on
there use whatever brush I like to use I
find them doing something flat and hard
like a rock I like to use a brush that's
flat so I try to match the shape of my
brush to what I am trying to paint a
little bit of that cooler gray in there
and a little bit of just rusty brown or
burnt sienna not too much just a little
bit now let me uh yeah I think I
probably ought to dry that because
anything I add next to that is going to
um actually I think we can let it dry
maybe we'll go in there what we out for
time we got 16 we're at 16 minutes so
maybe go in and define our branches a
little bit better little bit of little
bit darker there I can add any detail on
the tree that I want any darker spots
you can go back in with a credit card
and do that because I want to have a
little bit of contrast there I wanted to
look natural but I also want this birch
tree to be kind of the star of this
painting I know I did this video to show
you skies and we did that but I thought
just the sky on its own on a card would
be a little dull so go in and put some
of these um shapes on the tree make that
stand out so with my credit card I cut
it so that I've got a small end in the
big end
and going by small end and add the
little knots and torn bark places and
places where branches were I can go and
put all that stuff in with a small end
of my card here all right I am gonna go
dry that come back we're gonna put the
finishing touches on and we will have a
finished painting
all right so finishing touches time I'm
gonna go back in with my little little
credit card scraper I'm gonna throw in
some of the details not the rocks down
here give me some nice lovely texture
and I clean it up with a round brush
just kind of go in there and define you
don't really they nice thing about the
credit card is that you get that lovely
undefined rough rocky texture but I also
want to go in there and kind of push it
around exactly where I want it to go I'm
going to add some little bits of grass
peeking out from behind those rocks and
a little bit of um SAP green and
ultramarine they're just of just a
little bit to show that there's a little
bit something else in back there gives
it a little bit more um believability I
want to spatter some of the leaf colors
in there and use your toothbrush I'm
going to get some cadmium red
just give it a see how I do this I kind
of point the direction I want my spatter
to go and I'm just gonna spatter it
maybe I'll just use my hands to mask off
the rocks I'm just a little bit of
spatter in there well Brent Sienna would
look nice there too
I like this about it if you don't like
this don't do it okay you don't have to
do that and now that really finishes our
painting that's a little bright I'm
gonna block that anything that's bright
just blot it with your tissue and then
we remove the tape to show the beautiful
white frame and I really think that
finishes a watercolor when I was a kid I
always did that with my watercolor
painting side and I just couldn't wait
to take off the tape and see that
beautiful white frame and sometimes I
still do it the whoopsy that I ripped
out I didn't pull it very carefully so I
kind of ripped it on the edge a little
bit there that's all right it's not
really gonna matter that much um but you
really wouldn't want to do that in the
middle of your painting so there we have
it a nice finished lovely card I want to
thank you so much for watching until
next time happy crafting