Spring stream watercolor tutorial Video Lecture - Master the Art of Watercolour

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
and we're gonna do a little painting
today oh I want to let you know that I
just finished doing this painting here
this mallard duck in this tutorial will
be available in my shop
Lindsey Stamp stuff and I'll put a link
below the video in the video description
if you want to check that out
alright so to begin what I'm going to do
is I'm gonna whip my paper just with
some clear water here in a 1 inch flat
brush I'm working on Fabriano rough
paper so it's got a little more texture
than um then your regular cold pressed
paper but you can use cold press
sometimes it's fun though to kind of do
something different so I grabbed this
out of my filing cabinet today and
decided to give it a whirl I'm going to
use some ultramarine blue but I want to
knock that down a little bit so I'm
gonna add a little bit of burnt sienna
to it just to kind of gray it up alright
you can kind of see how that's a little
bit more grey and I'm gonna go in at the
top of my paper and add some of this
you'll notice on the rough paper your
paint does not blend as well or as much
so I want to say well because that's
actually the effect I'm going for here
and we're going to paint a little stream
so what I'm going to do is just kind of
throw in here with that ultramarine blue
that's when I kind of have it there's a
horizon line kind of a little woodland
stream here put in some more blue one
it's oh maybe add a little bit of blue +
yellow ocher get kind of like a dull
green in there I'm just feeling like
having something something springy now I
want to add some SAP green here and
there just kind of let it all feed
around so just going to give me some
background just some background trees
that are going to blur out and I think I
also put a little bit of ultramarine and
there just to give it kind of some
brightness back here as well and then
what I do in the sky also want to do in
the water so I'm going to put a little
bit of that in there too
okay and then the paper is still wet so
I'm kind of limited to what I can do as
far as um as texture and stuff but I
think what I might do is mix up some
colors some just some dark grey and I
like to do that with my burnt sienna and
my ultramarine blue and I think I might
just kind of sculpt in some rocks using
my little bit of old a credit card
because it's one of my favorite
techniques and Plus this is just going
to be a quick tutorial so I'm just going
to slap in some paint here and then I'm
going to start scraping with my scraper
to give it some texture
just a little rocks here and there I'm
gonna be really hard to see what's gonna
become of these until the paper dries we
can add a little bit more texture to it
and then I'm going to blot a little bit
just so that I have some lines and I've
got some texture all right I'm gonna let
this dry and we're gonna come back and
we're gonna do some more to this picture
okay my favorite is pretty dry and use
my heat tool to dry it up a bit and I'm
gonna go in a with a little bit of this
um uh inky ultramarine plus burnt sienna
to kind of make it a little bit of a
grayish and I am actually going to put
in some of the contours on my stream I
know it looks a little bit a little bit
scary right now because we've got you
know crazy lines but don't worry it will
be fine I promise you so I just want to
figure out where with my stream to end I
think about my stream and then kind of
back there and I want to add some more
ultramarine in there just to kind of
blew it up and make it really look like
like some shadows in the water I want to
add some some definition back there to
show there's some trees and stuff so I'm
going to grab a sponge I'm gonna grab
some nice I think I'll grab a little bit
of cadmium yellow and also some
Green and I think I'm going to just kind
of DAB in some bushes here along the
edge
I think I'll grab some ultramarine and
then subset green for a nice dull kind
of color and add some up here so the
darker color will kind of make it tend
to recede a bit start a little bit of
depth there maybe put some right up here
going right off the edge if you've done
any hiking in the mountains you get
these you know these little streams that
kind of trickle down the mountainside
and I'm lucky to live in an area where I
can pretty much go in my back door and
find situations like this to hike there
we go add a little bit of this kind of
more reddish I sent out to do a spring
stream today but I do find myself always
wanting to go back to the lovely colors
of autumn there we go oh that's kind of
pretty and I love how I can be very
abstract with nature this little thing I
made it's I took a bunch of rubber bands
and I grabbed them together I put a
rubber band around and then I snipped
all the loops on one side so I got this
really interesting tool for for making
like foliage and washes and you just get
this really um speckly interesting
texture when you pounce it around so
that's something I kind of like to use
sometimes I'll use a regular old kitchen
sponge that I've cut up into different
shapes also to UM to sponge on some
foliage so you know look around your
house and see what you have you make
some really cool tools that way all
right I will go back to the water a bit
and I want to add a little bit of that
yellow since I did put some yellow in my
in my foliage I want to have some of
that in my water as well I try to keep
the colors in the water not quite as
vivid I feel like going a little bit
more yellow gray color in there
it's kind of mimic what I'm seeing
around I'm gonna put a little green in
there too sometimes I find it's easier
to do this with a larger brush because I
can't be fussing around with the tiny
details I apologize if I sound a little
off I've been extremely tired this week
I think that I've done if I if it's just
exhaustion drama from my kids being home
from school and just running around or
if I was coming down the touch of
something I don't know I've just been
been very tired this week there we go as
long as you get the colors and there
your stream is going to start looking
like a stream boy this is a lot easier
to do right side up I have to say I'm so
glad that I've figured out a way to set
my camera camera angle I think I would
put some tree trunks in there um but I
but I'm gonna kinda I kind of want them
to be kind of gray so I'm just picking
up some kind of dirty paint for my
paddle which is you know just my mixes
of like ultramarine blue and um and
burnt sienna I'm gonna throw in a few
branches here they're not going to be
really silhouetted because it's you know
not it's not a sunset or sunrise so I
can actually get some color into the
branches I just kind of throw them on
like that I did put a little burnt
sienna in that one I want to die like
that
the trunks that are closer to the
foreground to be a little bit warmer in
color because then they look a little
bit more natural the ones further away
can be a little bit more darker and
grayer I'll probably put a little bit of
foliage on and then if I want some
little tiny guys back there I could just
kind of tap them in with the chisel edge
of my brush it also helps to bring depth
through the picture
I know where my rocks are cuz I scrape
them in but I'm kind of kind of working
around them right now I'm gonna go in
with some more detail on those in a bit
it's the lost and found branches here
that I want to get in there
it's funny how trees and stuff will just
pop up wherever wherever they find room
between rocks next to the stream doesn't
matter they'll they'll find a way to dip
it in there it's just their way there we
go
oh my gosh I've seen so much lovely
wildlife we ahead two ducks on our back
lawn today it was it was so neat um we
had a mallard - mallards actually the
you know the male with a bright green
head and its mate and it was so cool so
cool to see all right now I'm gonna dab
in some leaves on my fault my foreground
branches here just my number ten round
I'm gonna alternate using my yellow and
my SAP green I don't want them to be too
uniform I just kind of want to get them
in there you don't see everything in
focus when you're looking at something
you see little bits here and there some
things will be crisp in and focus other
things will be blurry that's how we get
our depth kids are gonna be home at any
moment actually it's weird you the first
day back just go after vacation here so
you stuff them around and then them
house so quiet all right I want to add a
few rocks in the background I'm going on
my ultra marine blue my burnt sienna
it's gonna make a nice dark grey and I'm
just gonna throw these some of these
dark shapes all these a little more
Brown in there it's all too blue but
there's some of these little rocks kind
of dotting around here and there the
water still wet so I got to be careful
around that
bigger as they get closer to the
foreground a nice loose impressionistic
painting is a great way to either start
your painting day or to wrap up now I'm
going to grab some puddles of color and
I go back in with my scraper here
because then I could just kind of drag
them around a bit get some nice uh nap
natural shapes one of the smaller and
they're I would like to save my old gift
cards credit cards keep them for this
purpose it worked really well and so my
darker colors again adding some more
loose loose rocks it's funny cuz like I
know people think I'm getting nervous
when they're painting and they're like
it's not coming out right I just don't
trust that it's gonna come out right
what a mess I'm making it's getting
worse and worse but then all of a sudden
it starts to come around and you start
to have a painting and you're you know
you're surprised cuz you kinda get it up
won't really go I don't know it all this
is gonna come out but that comp that
comes with comp that confidence comes
with you know the more you do it and I'm
putting in some scraping marks here that
all define a little bit later I'm going
to go to the water's edge down with a
little bit of a bluish gray again just
using my ultramarine blue and my burnt
sienna I can go and kind of define the
edges keeping my stream I tend to look
at a look at landscapes kind of
abstractly and you know cuz if you're
working for a photo either one you've
taken or somebody else's it's rarely
ever exactly the way you'd want it to
look so you can kind of edit it and you
can go in you could do your own thing
you know get you know use a reference
photo for um you know an idea of what
you want for colors here get a little
burn see and I'm just going to go in and
throw in some
just some dirt around lit on the forest
floor here don't worry if it mixes and
mingles and with other colors things
should get more fuzzy as it gets further
away get a lot of light in this scene so
don't worry if you get some bleached out
areas if you have some really light area
that's fine can always go back in not a
little bit more it's green in there too
maybe some nice moss growing on a forest
floor maybe even on some of the rocks
right I think I want to maybe put a
little bit of um maybe some little
bushes in here
it's going in with my sponge not
worrying about it no point worrying
about it you're putting paint on paper
you shove fun and it's funny because
like I'm looking at this and like oh boy
this is kind of this kind of crazy and
messy but I look up at my monitor and
it's like you know what it's really not
that bad um no something else I like to
do um if I want some some foliage way in
the background as I'll grab a little
toothbrush and I will pick up some color
and I want it kinda darker like a lot of
color on there and I'll just kinda draw
my finger across the edge of the
toothbrush and sometimes I'll take a a
torn piece of paper and I'll use it kind
as a mask so I can really direct where I
want like I let it go and I'll do that
with a few different shades do a little
bit more with some yellow this so it
gives me the impression of some things
growing that aren't necessarily specific
well right now lots of foreground just
some kind of shrubs or bushes and I'm
gonna use burnt sienna a little bit of
yellow because burnt sienna has really
stood as my red looking for a finer
brush this is number six round I really
like that one um so I'm gonna use my
burnt sienna and my cadmium yellow and
you know I could introduce another red
at this point but I really I really try
to keep it kind of simple maybe I will
if I think these shrubs really aren't
standing out I think I'm gonna drive
this up hold on a moment I'm gonna drive
this up and and it'll be easier to show
that Mick - alright there we go I'm
gonna go in again and they'll great
those will paint those uh will paint
those little little shrubs in there
again there we go now it's showing up
cuz I'm on this dry paper things that
just haven't come into bloom yet so some
of those in and around our rocks no this
is definitely you know if you ever go to
a Katy National Park in me and you see a
lot of these at all it's a tall you see
a lot of scenes like this really this
little red I don't know which column I
always we used to always like to whittle
um we're kids you just little red
switches kind of going here and there
but it serves a purpose of giving us a
little a little foreground in our
picture I want to refine the edges of
the stream again and now that the
paper's dry can get a little bit more in
there going my ultramarine a little bit
of uh burnt sienna in there to kinda go
it down a little bit just kinda carve
out a little detail
right along the water's edge I can go in
my damp brush and drag some of that over
it really does you know it's just a
little trick gives you a lot of depth
and it's so easy and I can even throw in
a few little ripples in the water if I
want to just try to keep it I feel like
I'm working kind of in a weird angle
here I just try to keep it horizontal
I've got my paper tipped a little bit
suppose it's hard for me to tell if I'm
going perfectly horizontal or from
little skewed just went through a little
a little bit of a ripple in our tranquil
stream and then go back in and work on a
little bit more rocks because my rocks
kind of I lost definition some of them
so I just want to kind of go back in and
scrape them around a little bit
just a few here and there I paint rocks
I like putting rocks and it's good to
put a little bit of yellow ochre whoops
I'm running out of clean spots my palace
a little bit of yellow ochre on some of
them just to show where the sunlight is
hitting them all the times I go in I'll
put a bunch of paint in and then I'll go
in I'll rinse my brush off then I'll go
in and I'll kind of spread it around and
lighten it up and sometimes I forget and
then I go in and I'll see is it common
wonder would I put that splat of paint
there for like oh yeah that was supposed
to be a rock and I totally forgot to do
anything else to it but that's alright
those little tree trunks need a little
need a little hand kind of lost that guy
somewhere along the way this is what
spring looks like in Maine actually we
have a lot of bear branches that haven't
quite filled up yeah it actually
nothing's really quite filled out yet
everything's still pretty pretty brown
and gray until you get into May really
oh my goodness we're almost out of time
I'm gonna finish up this tree trunk here
and you know just find some photos go
outside ping me you see it's so much fun
I hope you enjoyed this quick little on
spring stream tutorial
sign your name did a great job if you
want to check out the Amer mallard duck
tutorial it's in my shop Lindsey stamp
stuff link below please give me a thumbs
up and subscribe if you like this video
thanks for watching until next time
happy crafting