Winter pond watercolor tutorial Video Lecture - Master the Art of Watercolour

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
with a very quick winter scene painting
tutorial for you by request and if
you'll get something new to paint it's a
little more complex this is my latest
tutorial that will be available in my
shop Lindsay stamp stuff over at my
graphic Oh comm probably later today
maybe tomorrow so I just want to let you
know that in case you feel like painting
something springy because oh I am ready
for the for the spring weather that's
for sure um alright so we're gonna do is
we're not drawing anything first I've
clipped a just a greeting card
oh what a color greeting card onto my
card my uh cardboard Punk or do you want
to call it and I'm going to wet the top
half of the paper just with clear water
you could paint this down up paint this
you could tape this down as well if you
didn't want to have it buckling at all
but for a card I think it's fine just to
flip it and then I'm gonna add a little
lemon yellow which is a cool yellow
because I want kind of a cool look to
this and I'm adding that um right next
to where I started to wet the paper
that's gonna be our horizon line I'm
gonna get a little crimson alizarin
crimson cuz that is a cool red and I've
added quite a bit of water to that and
I'm gonna add that kind of on either
side
see how watery it is very very light I
got a little hair in there there we go
and step off and I'm gonna take a little
ultramarine blue and I'm gonna mix that
with some of the crimson on my palette
and I'm gonna add that in and I just
want to kind of want to let it blend so
I'm just gonna tap my paper around and
to get some a soft blending going there
a little bit more of that and here I'm
gonna add some this is gonna make some
clouds but you know they're gonna blend
out a bit so I want that nice soft look
in the sky
and it's not it's turning more gray than
green because I have that blue mixed
with the UM with the red to make a
purple so that way that way I can go
over the yellow area and not end up with
green in my sky so what I'm gonna do is
start with my heat gun and then um will
actually know what well that's drying we
can actually work on the bottom of the
card I'm just making sure I have it
clipped as out to the edges as much as I
can so I don't not in the way of my face
here and I'm going to wet the bottom of
the paper we could do that while that's
drawing don't come right up to the UM to
the sky because then it will bleed and
we do actually need a difference in
color because we're gonna have this kind
of icy pond and we want to make sure we
have a little distinction there and
you'll see why in a bit I'm taking the
ultramarine and I'm gonna add that up to
the top on its own it's a nice uh nice
blue it's very it's quite neutral it
probably leans more towards purple than
anything but it is it's fairly neutral
and then in this area in the middle I'm
actually going to UM recreate some of
the colors from the sky we have some ice
there is going to be a little opening in
the ice but we're just getting our basic
colors mirror it in here we'll add the
detail the ice and a little bit and a
little bit that purple um and if you do
dab on some clouds just try to somewhat
mimic what you have going on in the sky
maybe a little trim them in there too
since I put that in the sky
everything is super watered-down though
because I I want it to be very soft and
we're gonna have some silhouettes in
here which are it really makes the
painting easy to do and it's um very
pretty
want a little more that crimson over
there where it is reflected from the sky
alright now I'm going to dry it with the
heat gun and we'll be right back to
finish it up okay the picture is dry and
it does dry a little bit lighter as you
can see now what I'm going to do here is
I'm going to be kind of cutting some
just putting this kind of Rocky
line here it's actually going to be the
bottom of some trees and I just did note
the flat brush because I mix my ally to
mix my color up with a flat and then I'm
actually going to pull up some stocks
half trunks tree trunks and just gonna
throw them in a random random way all
the way across I haven't been talking to
much today and then I'm gonna add some
little bristles just kind of by dancing
my paintbrush up and down here remember
this is just a greeting card don't worry
if it's not perfect it's fine it's you
know I love to start the day actually
I'm finishing the day with this because
I have a little bit of time for the kids
get off the bus but a project like this
is really great to start your your
painting day because there's no
expectation it's just a greeting card
you know if it comes out great wonderful
if it doesn't oh well you can always cut
it up and turn it to bookmarks or send
it to a friend and forget about it cuz
you know I'm sure you know if you don't
like it probably anyone else love to
have it so that's a thing you're you're
super critical but usually your friends
and family are not they're just you know
thrilled to get something handmade but I
really just love this you know you're
it's a great way to loosen up look at
that all I'm doing is just wiggling this
brush using thus losing the chisel edge
and using the corners and using the tip
I'm just kind of going back and forth
and making some trees I used a mix of
ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for my
black because I don't like to use um I
don't like to use black from a tube or
grey from a tube because I think it's
kind of um I don't know just doesn't
have much character and doesn't usually
match what you're doing know what I'm
doing here is just adding kind of some
rocks and just scruggy nests and this is
going to be on the edge of a pond so I'm
just gonna throw in just some
shapes they don't have to be
specifically alright now I'm going to go
into some ultramarine blue your just a
touch of that gray that I've been using
and water it now
now what sometimes you want to turn your
work around just soaking approach
something at the right angle so that's
what I'm going to do here so I'm turning
it around and you'll want to turn yours
around too because it's going to make it
so much easier and what I'm going to do
is put the contour of my pond in here
kind of where it's meeting up against
the UH the UM oars mini up against the
bank it can add a little bit of of that
great the nice thing about this black to
mixing up this black is that it's a very
liftable black because you have a
sedimentary colors and I mix it really
easy to get in there and fix some lift
if you need to all right I'm gonna take
this round brush with some blue with a
little bit of that grey that we made
that black that we made and I'm gonna
make um kind of like with the ice is
melting it's getting too thin for ice
fishin
let's start to melt out of there little
pond here and I'm just making some
random little squiggles that will kind
of separate iciness from the from the
open water and I'm here throwing in some
blue that's got a little to that grant
for my palette to make this kind of icy
looking I could throw a little yellow in
there cuz the ice would still reflect
our sky yeah we're still afraid oh I was
afraid I pulled that i was afraid that i
pulled the the whatchamacallit think i'm
painting on paper yes that's the word
I'm going for I was afraid I pulled that
a little close to me and then you won't
be able to see it ah Oh ready let's
and I like keeping that in the blues I
think I do want to put some of these
tree shadows into the ice though and but
I want them to be bluer they're
definitely going to take on the
characteristic in color of the ice a
little bit bluer with those and I'm
gonna look I'm looking at this tree and
I'm making that shadow look at that tree
I'm making that shadow and so on and so
forth but just doing this in the icy
areas since I've have that that of gray
mix and there's not turning my my
yellows to green so that's the only
thing I just want to make sure I don't
end up with green in here too much so
I'm just going along and as I'm pointing
with my finger you can see the tree that
I am emulating in my little shadows here
so you know it's just a little fun thing
to learn about reflections and let's see
I want to redefine my little line where
the bank meets the the edge of the pond
meets my little snow up there and then I
want to um color the snow a little bit
so got it's going to be separated a
little bit more I feel like it there's
not very much definition there so I
think I'm actually going to go in with a
little bit of that purple that we mixed
with alizarin crimson ultramarine blue
basically because I just need a
definition it's just too much the same
so I'm just going to kind of wash over
everything just go gently because you
don't want to lift up your rocks but I
just feel like it needs a unifying wash
and it would be shadows in there anyway
because a light source is in the back so
that works and also by having that
purple color it um it unifies everything
and of course if you're just watching
this and then you're gonna paint it
later you can actually sketch out this
little piece and not paint it um and
then you could color it whatever color
you want alright
and I think for the water in here we
definitely want more defined reflections
so I'm gonna go back and like darker um
my darker black why I'm gonna lift out
some of that black that's leading into
my snow banks there this is just a used
well it's a tissue I want to say use
tissue cuz that I didn't I was on it or
anything it's a used tissue is then I
used it for blotting at paintings held a
while ago oh boy um okay so I'm going in
with that dark color that I mixed with
my ultramarine blue my burnt sienna I
gotta make a little bit more so that's
what I'm doing over here there we go
well show you my palette in case curious
there we go see is my mix and um you can
either do this with the UM with your
flat brush or you can try it with around
I'm gonna do with around here I might
switch over and go back to the flat yeah
well sometimes I feel like I you know
it's might be hard to get that same look
with a different brush but I find that I
can do almost anything with a round
brush I really if I had to just choose
one brush like when I go painting um out
and about
I will generally shrink a round brush
you like a very stuttery today I'm not
sure why do I haven't been doing as I've
been painting all day I've just been
kind of zoning out catching up on some
some TV and painting pitches we've only
used four colors I really am a strong
believer in limiting your palette
because then you will you'll end up with
um you'll end up learning a lot more
about color for one thing and then
you'll end up with a more harmonious
picture and I'm just going to throw in a
few of these guys over here they're kind
of shorter than the other so I want to
sure I don't go too crazy so again I'm
you know kinda
so it helps if I point to it and lets
them go right off the page because then
that will give you the thought of it the
MDR black I'm having a really hard time
talking today did you ever think that
would happen I'm having a really hard
time um communicating good grief
actually with degree in communications
that's the sad alright and then I'm
gonna go in and redefine some of the
edges where the ice meets the water I
think I'll use a little bit more of a
bluemix here lost-and-found edges and if
you want to throw some birds flying you
can do that um still in frame you could
um do whatever you like it's your
picture and I feel like I want to kind
of maybe put some little grasses coming
up out of the out of this little Bank
area here I'm gonna do that with my with
that same gray mix that I've been using
hopefully it's dry enough just don't
feel it like that hope you can hear me
I'm just like very quiet today I get
totally getting a different um um yeah
it must be the right brain or left brain
remember that side is it takes over and
makes you incoherent or you know lose
track of time or just be all creative um
yeah just know lamella when I paint
there we go
alright I could look at this right setup
for a second just make sure it doesn't
look too horrible
um yeah well there you have it this will
make sure my shadows go all the way up
to that icy area so I'm looking at it
and you know what sometimes it helps if
you look at your work upside down if you
normally paint right-side up I normally
paint right set up and just not for
videos so you know if you if you're
thinking something's not right here what
what should I do look at it in a mirror
or look at it upside down and I
guarantee you'll be able to tell what's
wrong with your picture also one of the
best things you can do is to walk away
is to um you know when you're when
you're done painting just walk away it's
so it's really if you have children it's
really easy because you know you'll get
distracted by something else they'll
need you for something and then we come
back it usually looks so much better I'm
going to put my initials right here I
think LM W 14 the year and then that's
all set to send to one of my friends I
want to thank you so much for watching
if you have any questions leave them
below and I'll help you out and give me
a thumbs up if you like this video I'll
have also a link to my shop down below
if you want to see where you could
purchase that tutorial to paint the bird
it's a PDF printable tutorial with a
pattern and yeah thumbs up if you feel
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another video and until next time happy
crafting