Birch Tree Sketch with Watercolor Tutorial Video Lecture | Master the Art of Watercolour Painting (English) - Art & Craft

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
yesterday I went to the beach and I
painted and I painted this birch tree
which a couple folks asked me if I would
do a tutorial on this is the same tree
with the landscape behind it and I just
did a bunch of other little paintings
while I was there watching my kids swim
I think you really just make a point to
be inspired by your surroundings and
paint what you see so this is my travel
kit that I took with me today yesterday
it was a ziploc quart freezer bag and I
took some watercolor paper scraps here
and I also brought my coal watercolor
set and um I already I just refilled my
water brush so that's why it's not in
there and I also had a paper towel which
was handy which I always seem to forget
so what I want to work on is I really
like using rough paper as opposed to
smooth paper when I paint landscapes and
out nature and whatnot just the texture
of it seems to be a lot more conducive
to to more natural scenes like that
natural that's weird I don't know why so
the bizarre accent they're more bizarre
than usual that's rich coming from me
bizarre accent so I'm gonna do is make
my own grays I'm going to use a couple
don't colors here I'm going to use some
yellow ochre I am going to use some of
this I think it's Van Dyck Brown or
burnt umber I'm not exactly sure it's
the brown that comes in the kit here and
I'm also gonna use some ultramarine blue
we just I clean my brush off a little
bit there I get my ultramarine and I'm
using the water brush that came in the
kit
um because I love you guys said that you
purchase these kits and so better make
sure that you uh you know how to use it
have nothing something different really
than the other watercolor kit so um I'll
take this I want to make a birch tree
obviously and I think what I'm going to
do is start with one side and just kinda
um oh gosh I just want to kind of
because of course tree is white so I
don't want to have a big black outline I
think I just want to kind of go up in
kind of paint maybe one side which would
have the more the shadow on it and a lot
of times the branches if they're skinny
branches will end up being a little bit
darker and put a few branches oh they're
a dress
like some of the dark acrost it'll catch
the raised area of the paper and then
I'm just going to kind of start flushing
out the other side just by putting in
some of the papery birch texture and
lines in there this is just going to be
a very quick tutorial the thing that's
kind of cool about painting from nature
taking your paints out and sketching
what you see is that you're going to
paint from memory a lot better because
you really are forced to observe and be
kind of in the landscape and of the
landscape while you're painting it so
it's it's a great exercise and I know it
can be a little bizarre I there's a
couple people that were watching me
paint yesterday and I offered to let
them try like you want to try it and I
think they did but I think they're also
a little bit a little bit afraid of you
know how it would come out and if it
didn't turn out well they would be
embarrassed
there's no need to be embarrassed
everybody starts somewhere and I don't
think anyone would would watch you paint
be like oh she doesn't what she was
doing they'd be like oh I wish I had the
courage to try it so you know think
about that just don't let fear stop you
from doing what you really want to do
alright and then I want to flush out the
side of the tree just like my hand and I
look at that it's gonna look real
natural now Oh accidentally natural I'm
gonna grab a little bit of the yellow
ochre and a little bit of that grayish
mix and I'm just going to start to kind
of throw in some of that here that's
kind of giving me a low you know since
we did our shadows on that side this is
going to give me the more lit up side
okay let your colors right if you want
you the drier your brush the more it's
going to catch the texture of the paper
and give you a cool give you a cool look
that way they're kind of like that and I
would just kind of try to keep it simple
now if you happen to have your credit
card scraper which is something I wish I
had in my thing yesterday and I've
cleaned off my table ah here it is I'm
gonna put one of those right in there
right in my thing and after notice it's
going right in there because I really
want to have this wood thing you can
really get some cool defined lines with
this and I couldn't do that on my one at
the beach because I didn't have one of
these I don't have any credit cards my
wallet to cut up could make my own
oh yeah so that kind of gives you a cool
look and then when you let that dry in
add more layers of of depth and darkness
in there like this is nice and dark here
so if I go and add that I can get some
really cool dark areas and just you know
go out there and paint what you see and
have fun and don't worry about what
anyone's I'm gonna say if they see you
painting on the beach I probably like
that is so cool if you want to put some
you can throw in a background but I
don't even really want to bother with
that um so what I'm gonna do is just
throw in learn a few more branches I do
like my branches because then you can
really get used to handling your brush
so you can kind of like use it up on its
tip to give you some nice defined lines
or you can kind of push and drag it and
get some you know wider lines this is
looking creepy like it creepy creepy
tree creepy J yeah okay so so it doesn't
look so creepy we got to put some
visible leaves on it so doesn't look so
menacing a whomping willow the whomping
birch shoutout Harry Potter fans so
let's use some let's just dab on some
leave so we're you know we're just gonna
give the impression of leaves
I did do birch leaves while I was there
and if I did to show that one right here
this is what birch tree leaves look like
um it was very a very leafy tree
I was sitting under in the shade I got
there early so I got the most coveted
spot on the beach I'm usually not I I
got to start going later because I have
a hard time leaving the beach and so and
some of my kids so it's really hard to
want to leave the fun having them at the
beach so I guess start going later so
that I'm not in like the direct sun rays
my kids aren't in the direct Sun for so
long put in some of these brighter
greens it's kind of movie brushes you go
so you don't get too much um say me say
me so it looks more natural and I like
to let the colors flow give a little bit
of this uh
limo limo yellow ha
I'm actually part French so I hope not
running a French people I am actually
good a good portion of me is um is
French which is probably why I don't
completely crisp up in the for being as
light as I am that I don't completely
turn into a lobster when I get in the
Sun it's got a because I'd like to be in
the Sun a lot I'm quite lucky I'm not a
wrinkled old leather hide here alright
so I made it gone a little bit overboard
but you know I can tell until the next
day that's what that's what I think
about what paintings can't really tell
if you've gone too far until the next
day and you know what I want to put some
little graphs in there it just appease
paper who cares if you go too far you
know I mean have fun with it
don't let that dry before you can paint
me blades of grass over it and they're
really too little um well they weren't
dandelions they were like those ones
that are like dandelions but they're not
so fluffy then more of like a UH
actually more like a cadmium yellow we
always called them Indian paintbrushes
and we would paint on our skin with them
we would like um rub them on our skin
like um kind of cuz they're kind of like
like India ink hues I think yeah that
I'm being completely politically
incorrect if so I apologize I don't know
what that day band they come in orange
and they come in red and they really
neat they don't they didn't seem to go
by as quickly as dandelions either
alright so I feel like I need a little
something there I think I'm able to
squeeze the extra pink off paint off my
brush a little bit there and just maybe
there was something there we go so there
you go birch tree hope you enjoyed it
thanks so much for watching please give
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liked this tutorial and until next time
happy crafting