Lavender Field watercolor beginner landscape tutorial Video Lecture - Master

hi there Linda here the fergal crafter
today we're going to do a landscape and
we're gonna work on this long skinny
paper this is six inches by 18 inches
it's Strathmore 400 series watercolor
paper and I couldn't resist this long
skinny paper it was at a cheap Joe's for
like $4 and so I just couldn't duh I
don't even if I was on sale that I've
been the regular place price in the
catalog but I just I felt like I want to
try something new and that is what I got
now yeah I could cor I could cut down a
big sheet but I decided that I just
wanted to try this because looks like
fun
alright so I just did a little study of
the landscape that we're going to do
today and I'm working from a photograph
by Robin Lovelock from the website paint
my photo Ning comm and it's a it's a
wonderful website it's a group of
painters and photographers the
photographer's um post their photos for
painters to paint and it's just a lot of
fun I do encourage you to check it out
if you're looking for a source of good
reference photos that you can reproduce
without with you can you can paint them
and you don't have to worry about
copyright or anything like that you can
you know reproduce their you can paint
the photos and you're fine to do that
yeah there we go okay so what I'm gonna
do is actually sketch on my my scene
here with a water color crayon going
about two-thirds of the way up and just
kind of putting like a rolling Hill roll
roll roll rolling hill alright
and um just kind of really um bold like
kind of shape line in there and please
I'll put a link below the photo and you
can go check out below the photo just
below the video description
and you can check out this photo
yourself you can print it off or open it
up on your screen or whatever so you can
see the actual the actual photograph I
hope the guy from to show that on the
screen alongside my tutorial so why
don't you do that if you're very curious
I really recommend you do because it's a
lovely photo and then there's these
little as a field of lavender it's
called Tasmanian lavender fields and
it's as cool a photograph of these
beautiful lavender fields obviously and
so I'm just sketching it on with this um
watercolor crayons I it will help me
kind of lock in
some shapes and values while I'm at it
all right now I've got some trees over
here so I'll make sure I get that
indication of trees
okay now I'm also working with a
different brush this is a half inch
Princeton Neptune oval wash also known
as a cat's tongue and I've wanted to try
this brush for quite a while I thought I
was using a Neptune I thought I had
ordered a Neptune it was a different
Princeton brush and it was just a
regular synthetic this is a synthetic
squirrel so if you want the the feel of
a squirrel brush but you don't want to
support you know the fur trade then this
is a great substitute it's really nice
it's not as stiff and snappy as a
regular synthetic brush or it's probably
a kolinsky sable but I think it probably
does replicate a squirrel brush fairly
well I don't buy the natural bristle
like that the Sables and squirrels
because I don't want to support the fur
trade and you know I do have hog bristle
brushes and their byproducts for the
meat trade which you know my family eats
meat I don't but you know I figure while
I'm in the hole anyway might as well use
a whole animal so here I've got some
ultramarine blue and I'm just adding it
to the top of my paper and working it
just kind of letting it bleed down all
right just kind of carry it down don't
worry about that Brown if you sketched
it in you could sketch in with a pencil
seriously you don't have to use a water
clock ran I wanted you to be able to see
it because I know sometimes when I
sketch sure the pencil you can't see it
and I feel like I on my little test
there my little study I I actually did
it on camera but I kind of got half way
through and I'd lost some of I I got
things in the wrong spots I guess let's
just call a spade a spade here I got
diagnosed and I thought this would help
me keep on track a little better now I'm
going to blot off some clouds remember
you always blot never rub your paper and
it's kind of a cloudy sky so I just want
to get a few nice white spots in there
and now I'm going to all the paper still
a little damp I'm going to mix up my
ultramarine blue I'm going to add some
yellow ochre to it and then I'm also
going to add some that light red
I'm gonna get myself a nice natural kind
of grayish color so I'm not you can use
burnt sienna I'm using the light
register I follow you I wanted something
a little bit different today but you
burnt sienna if you don't have light red
that'll be fine fine and cherry wine
alright so I'm putting in some of these
darker clouds here there's kind of the
the bottoms the shattered parts of our
clouds leave some of the you some of the
white in there I like to mix my grays
you could use Payne's grey if you if you
want to but I find that if I can mix my
grades what I already have on my paper
then my compositions a little bit
stronger and it seems harmonious you
know it doesn't seem like a like that
gray doesn't go there you know seems
like it fits I'm just gonna soften up
some areas this brushes a little floppy
here that I'm used to it's nice to try
different things just like you different
sided paper you know even if it's just
cutting the paper you already have it at
a different size just cool to try to try
some different stuff then you know this
is a 20 minute painting so I'm not gonna
get too fussy about anything really
alright I think I'm happy with that
okay I want to UM do these clouds back
there if you're gonna let that sky dry a
little bit so I think I'll come over in
here I got some SAP green and some lemon
yellow I've already mixed it I'm just
gonna throw in some of the shapes I see
in the background here these are
lavender field so I just want to make
sure I get is pretty bad stress I go see
what she's barking at alright nothing
serious just some kids wandering down
the road I am going to just kind of a
little bit of this light right in here
so these these blurry abstract shapes
here in the background are just um you
know kind of lavender fields in the
distance I believe now it's kind of the
funny thing about working on with
somebody else's photograph is that you
don't exactly know what's going on in
the picture yeah I mean you know you can
see what you can see but there'll be
something that you can't really tell
what's happening so that's kind of you
know it's it shows you why it's
important to to take your own reference
photos and to get out there and paint
from life whenever you can but it's also
it's also different it just challenges
you in a different way I think okay
gives you a nice respect for those
people that take photos I think it's so
nice that um that the photographer's
over there share their uh their skill in
their talent so freely
I've just been I joined the group like
last night so I've really contributed
anything yet I won't be good for making
photographs to tell you that I might not
very good um but I think it's really
really a cool thing so first impressions
of this brush is that it holds lots of
water and I really like that is a little
different getting used to but I like
that too really I like I like having
something different no and again I
should I was out of painters tape so I
didn't take my paper down and I kind of
wanted to use I want to go right out to
the edges of my paper as well so I might
have I'm gonna have a little buckling I
know I am stressed more you know it's
not it's it's only hundred forty pound
and I do a really long piece of it so
it's not going to be quite as uh as flat
as some of my other papers but you know
what I know that you can go to the store
you can find Strathmore paper and you
know what you know it's going to give
you an accurate representation it's
gonna give you you know an accurate idea
of what you can do with the supplies
just at a regular craft store okay so
it's my sky is still not quite
completely dry I'm gonna go in here with
some more of this lavender I'm gonna get
some of the fields blocked in here and
this is a mix of mauve and ultramarine
blue I'll put a list of the colors I
used under the video too in the video
description if you want to check that
out that way you can make sure your
mixes are the same as mine but if you
don't have the the same colour on your
palet please don't want that stop you
mix color colors from what you have used
totally different colors it's really
more some important
paint then you have exactly what I have
it's more important that you just
experiment and use what you have you
know don't let lack of supplies stop you
from doing any of this I'm gonna grab a
little yellow ochre yeah see you could
kind of see how my brush doesn't doesn't
hold a tall point like it what if I was
using a synthetic brush so it's just one
of the you know one of the trade-offs of
using a you know it's it is a synthetic
brush but I mean you know using is a
trade-off of using a natural hairbrush
or a UH one that's supposed to emulate
natural hair is just a little different
ah not good not bad everyone's gonna
have their own your own favorite so I'm
gonna go ahead and liquefy this little
patch here while up watch it alright and
now I think I will go ahead well
actually want to cut a little bit of
that a lemon yellow and SAP green is
right in the foreground here let's get
some of that in there someone ought to
stare it up plain paper there will more
that mauve and ultramarine mix
there okay that's pretty good for now
actually you know what I can go in
because this did have a little bit more
of that brighter red I'm wondering what
these little plants are growing in here
their money of blueberries how blueberry
feels like you oversee the blueberry
fields after harvest day that bright red
blazing red almost that's what it
reminds me of um I'll throw in more SAP
over here I really urge you to go check
out the this woman's photographs Robin
Lovelock she is very talented and then
you can also see the photo I'm going by
so you're not coming like oh my gosh
since he's totally lost her mind what in
the heck is she trying to paint it with
cuz I can I tend to approach landscapes
very abstractly a little bit more than
mom I wake up my computer there wake up
my computer I'm super throw that in
there too I don't care if some of those
colors mix and mingle cuz I'm just kind
of basing it in right now refine a
little bit later alright so we have a
couple mountains back here and I'm gonna
paint the farthest one away first let's
do some of that English red or light red
it's your redder it's like burnt sienna
it's more red and ultramarine blue and
we're gonna go in and paint these
faraway mountains and I'm gonna just try
to liquify that uh
crayon I drew it on with it was just a
Karen - watercolor crane it was a very
burnt sienna ish looking color you don't
have to reload your brushes often with
these which is kinda nice ah you might
wanna use I just want to see if I could
do this all with one brush just cuz I
really want to put this brush to its
paces and give it a give it a good whirl
and then this other one here it's much
more blue in the photograph is much
darker
I don't know if I really wanted that
blue so let's see I think maybe I'll add
some of that mob to it so I can warm it
up a little bit I don't I just didn't
want as blue as it was and that's
artistic license you can you can tweak
things a little bit write this on this
paper does not absorb as much as it's
not artists does it's definitely wants
to do a sizing on it which is handy for
lifting that needs to go in there
further know that I paying a little more
attention to the photo I can see that
and I just want to make sure that I did
liquefy all that water color crayon or
as much as I could um okay I think I
need to let this dry and I'm gonna pause
the camera dry it and write back alright
we are back I'm gonna take a little
ultramarine blue take some burnt sienna
mix it all up get a nice pine green kind
of color here nice dark evergreen color
and there is a bunch of evergreen trees
in front of this mountain and I'm just
gonna wiggle-waggle those and dab dab
dab dab dab dab dab dab dab dab dab dab
ah oh yes there we go so very easy to
paint are just with pine trees tap tap
tap well I imagine there's some sort of
evergreen it might not be pine cuz this
is not for Maine I don't know if I grow
lavender in May and I've never really
seen any I think I grew something the
lavender with something at one point Rob
was amazed when gret I do not have this
skill in the gardening area tapped more
these little guys and here probably
these were planted for soil erosion
purposes cuz there's lots of lavender
field so I think that would get them get
really roaded but then again what do I
know I'm not a botanist I would put a
few more little clumps of trees in there
make them a little bit bigger as you
come forward like if you have a clump or
something looks like a tree can make
them a little bit bigger if they're
individual ones you come forward
a few in there but over background his
background and don't worry about it too
much don't try to you know make it to
detail dirts gonna lie foreground and
then it's gonna make a picture look flat
okay alright so I also want to get a
little bit of some darker areas in here
again I'm treating that background very
abstractly just putting little dabs
where I see gobs of color I don't want
to put something there that's not there
I want to UM let's pick it up old on the
yellow and then getting in that dirty
green there I just wanna there goes that
dog again boy it's it's a beautiful day
so while the neighborhood kids have just
gotten home from school um and they my
kids are still sports but and they're
all like you know riding their bikes
everything my dog is going what's that
noise hey there's kids around weren't
they playing with me like vicious golden
retriever I think what having a golden
retriever you don't have to worry about
the moat
you know out in your yard I like to
leave my cellar door my Studios on my
basement I like to leave my uh my little
studio door open so that my dog hazel
can go in and out as she fancies and she
does um I think I have a little kid that
color though right there's butts in
there yeah alright I need a little bit
out light red I think I need something
to just give me a little pop a little
bit of light red there English red or
light red they're very similar and I
also want some of that over here because
I see it the picture and it looks
awfully nice yes it does alright not
really gonna start painting the
foreground I think the background is
good I think about the strap or paper
also is that you splash water on it and
you blot it it will probably lift up the
paint underneath so just watch out for
your splashes I could stay in now I've
been sitting out it's very very awkward
I guess stand up I can't see my picture
for pot sitting down all right you know
let's grab a little move move Amahl what
do you say what do you say mom move I
see mom sometimes I think about it what
do I say oh right
tap-tap-tap ah so one brush how many
colors have we use when we use that many
colors quite a frugal painting I'm just
using my I'm actually using the sex I
know we sit on my desk
can't fit on my table with my computer
that I'm looking at the photo on and uh
with my paper and other stuff that's
that's reason why I do love my I usually
use em gram paints but there's somebody
good paints out there really I mean the
thing is just paint just paint don't
worry about what brain you're using
especially if you're beginner just paint
you know once you get through that first
set of paints I'm telling you what
you're gonna be a good painter and you
know then go ahead and splurge don't cuz
sometimes when you buy really expensive
paints it makes you feel um kind of
afraid to use them because gosh so much
money you don't want to waste it I'm
gonna grab some more of the mauve and
blue mom watch mine blue yeah it's the
most important thing if you want to
learn how to paint it's just a paint
alright so I'm just tapping so I'm
getting this nice uh this nice shape
just by tapping with the edge of my
brush got a lot of paint you can hold a
lot of paint with this brush which is
really really nice grab some more of
that we're going to be using a credit
card scraper in a minute so just you
don't have that handy you're gonna want
it some nice bright to mauve and really
there's not much left to this painting
to do alright I want some sat green so
grab a couple good amount of SAP grain
mice up green thing wants to hop out of
it's a little spot on my palate and just
go throw a little bit in amongst the wet
paint in here some in between these
little rows back here alright now grab a
little bit of lemon yellow just to
brighten it up
some of that in there and then we're in
scrape just scrape up all these little
grasses of lavender step step-step shape
look at that almost got 20 minutes
alright so what I want to do is let this
dry where you come back and the last
final touches on this painting so hang
on just a moment alright final touches I
blotted a little bit above the scraping
lines that I made it mixed up a nice big
oh well of my purple and I'm just
tapping on the colors here the more
those purple lavenders are up towards
the front and that is all there is to
this very simple what a color of
lavender fields check out the link below
to find that photograph please give me a
thumbs up and subscribe if you liked
this easy landscape tutorial and you
want to see more and um thanks so much
for watching and as always happy
crafting