Lets paint a bowl of tomatoes in watercolor pencils; crayons and paint Video Lecture | Master the Art of Watercolour Painting (English) - Art & Craft

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
today we're going to do a watercolor
watercolor pencil and watercolor crayons
and I'm going to begin by sketching on
my drawing with some Albrecht Durer
watercolor pencils I am using a
photograph from Lillian Bell over at
paint my photo dot Ning calm I recommend
any painters to join that site there's
so many beautiful reference photos that
our photographers allow painters to
paint it's really awesome and fun I want
to let you know that the bottom of that
colander is really going to give me
trouble during the whole painting but
you'll be able to see how I rework a
drawing and kind of roll with it while
I'm working and I'm putting in just some
basic circles for my tomatoes now I am
using a blue watercolor pencil to draw
in the drapes in the background and
there's also a little napkin on the
table that I'm going to be sketching in
here in a minute I'm using a red
watercolor pencil to give a base color
kind of blocking some colors on the
tomatoes I'm just throwing it in there I
recently purchased a set of Albrecht
Durer watercolor pencils from faber
castell they are gorgeous pencils I
haven't had a chance to really use them
too much I thought I might do the whole
thing in the watercolor pencils but
shortly thereafter decided I really
wanted to use some of my paint in some
of my some of my watercolor crayons
I am definitely most comfortable when
I've got big juicy puddles of paint to
work with now you can see where I'm
trying to mess with the bottom of that
colander some more it's still not where
I need it to be but it's getting there
and I'm not letting it really I kind of
move on when something's not working
I'll move on to a different area of the
picture and then come back and see if I
can get it back to rights so to speak
and I'm adding in some of the other
colors that I see from the photograph
I'll put a link below to that photograph
so you can go see it for yourself
I'm adding some of this kind of ochre
yellow in there to warm up the tomatoes
and put some nice reflections in the
silver colander which is kind of like a
warm silver and I'm in again with some
more red watercolor pencils now at this
point I'm kind of thinking to myself you
know I really wish I just switched over
to paints before here because I could
have gotten so much more in buying
now but I think probably seeing the
sketching out with a pencil may be more
beneficial for you guys at home because
you can really kind of see how I'm
laying in shadows that gray I'm using is
the shadows on the napkins and I'm just
filling in some more of the velvet this
is like a blue velvet backdrop and
that's what I'm doing there with that
pencil and this whole painting took me a
little over an hour to do just to give
you a little bit of information there so
you're not you know trying to keep up
with me obviously it's sped up and I
just wanted to kind of give you that
information as well I do tend to draw
fast anyway so then sped up it's just a
little bit crazier I've got my bucket of
water and look at that there's this
funny little fly that keeps flying
around and linnea my painting I don't
know if he thinks his real Tomatoes
there or what I won't think so yeah but
you never know that's what I get for
leaving the door to the studio open on
nice days I'm just liquefying my color
as you can see these colors it really
don't look much like what the finished
painting did if you remember that from
the beginning of the video the little
still shot there but I'm getting in
those basic colors I'm getting to know a
new supply which is those Albert drawer
pencils and I'm just having fun with it
you know I just turned on the camera and
I started painting I didn't attempt to
top my husband actually the day off so
he's puttering around in his woodshop
there's lots of activity around in the
house so I'm just kind of chill now
sitting at my table and painting I like
the color quality of these pencils I
think I can appreciate it more looking
at it watching it now than I did when I
was actually using it they are very rich
and saturated and I'm going to have a
good time playing with those I think so
those are the out bright draw pencils
they are expensive and I bought them in
my very own money they were a freebie by
the company or anything but I've wanted
them for quite a while so I finally I
splurged when I saw a good sale over at
cheap Joe's all right
so I'm just uh liquefying the shadows
there on the wet paper I'm using the
watercolor pencil to draw the spots in
the colander and there's a little flying
back again jeez go away guy so I'm just
putting those in now because a dry
watercolor pencil on wet paper is going
to give me a lot of control in really
dark lines that aren't going to really
wash away as I do more water coloring in
Morley
on top and so I was kind of using an
effect that watercolor pencils have that
are you that's usually undesirable I'm
using it to my advantage there so keep
that in mind whenever you want to have
some really dark lines you want to put
them down at the beginning of your
painting session and you want them to be
to remain there now I've switched over
to my watercolor palette I've got some
ultramarine blue and I'm going to be
mixing some burnt sienna with it to make
it nice uh that nice neutral gray and
I'm filling in the areas that do not
have the the blue backdrop just over
there on the side and I'm adding some of
that to my shadows in the blue since I
do have blue as one of the colors and
you know trying to minimize the bottom
of the calendar that is still continuing
to give me a hard time during this
painting and this is probably one of my
favorite steps of the painting is to
just lay down
juicy washes of color you can add you
can add some more that gray that darker
gray mix in with a brighter blue I'm
going over when I head with the
watercolor pencils I felt like I just
needed to saturate that color more and
make it a little bit crisper you can see
if you look at where the the gray that I
mixed is meeting up to the blue you can
see that my when you have damp paper and
your going up next to it you get this
really rough ragged edge don't worry
I'll be able to fix that later but just
keep that in mind that's because my
paper was damp and I went up to it with
wet paint so it's giving me a really
rough edge there so that I decided to
kind of dry everything with my heat gun
or at least the area I was working in so
I'd be able to build up some more um
some more color without it just running
all over the place on me but you're
gonna see here that when you're doing
mixed-media when you're adding
watercolor crayons and watercolor
pencils and watercolor you can really
fix most anything so please don't feel
like you're stuck or your paintings
ruined because you've gotten to a point
where you're not happy with how it's
turning out at that point it's almost my
favorite boinks it's like well what am I
going to do to it now that's worse I
could be I can paint with freedom
because you know I'm not going to make
it any worse adding some more washes
into the colander to get the reflections
I'm adding colors I've used throughout
the painting so that it authentically
looks like it's reflected silver
container I have to apologize I had a
sore throat while the kids who got the
kids a karaoke machine for the birthday
and I think I went a little overboard
the other night using it so either my
voice is raspy from all the ABBA I was
singing or I'm coming down with a cold I
really hope I'm not coming down with
cold but that's why it's raspy and they
are ma'am
intensifying the colors with some of my
water color I like the embryo mm Graham
brand of watercolors I've been using
them for about 15 years
they're supersaturated and I'm not sure
anymore but they used to be a lot more
affordable than like Windsor Newton and
some of the other brands so just to just
to give you that info there's so many
good brands out there though now if it's
an artist quality watercolor it's
probably pretty good so don't worry if
your brain if you're using different
paints than I am you know it's just
important paint not really is important
what you paint with now lifting off some
highlights I'm just kind of going over
that with a scrubber brush which there's
a stiffer type of brush and I'm just
kind of wetting it and scrubbing out
areas and blotting off never rub your
paper when you're lifting colour off
always blot so straight up and down with
a dry paper towel and that's going to
work really well for you now I've
switched to a skinnier oil painting
brush and I am lifting out some of the
highlight right at the ridge and I can
also kind of round out any areas of the
colander that have become flat because
of my you know devil-may-care approach
to watercolour painting and I kind of
you know do you know obliterate my lines
and I'm adding some highlights to the
bottom of the colander which is starting
to kind of look normal and not so weird
anymore hopefully it gets better we'll
see I think it does hopefully that's not
as good as it sometimes you know you do
something and then you completely undo
it when you're done and it goes terribly
wrong but I think it turned out okay so
again with the red watercolor paint that
is cadmium red medium so it's kind of
like a tomatoey orange color already I'm
adding in my most intense reds and
leaving spots where I'll put some yellow
ochre later there well there's that
yellow ochre right now la-da-da there it
is put that right in there and this is
kind of the medium layer of the painting
we're going to be going over everything
with watercolor crayons well not
everything but most of it
but quite a quite a bit of it that's
it's just it's just fun I really enjoy
using watercolor crayons but I also
really enjoy using the regular
watercolors because you can cover so
much ground so quickly and then I'm
working on the reflections inside the
Collin just kind of splashing down some
of the shapes that are reflected so I've
got the the shapes of the tomatoes
mirrored at the top of the calendar
because it's concave in there so it's
going to kind of give you an upside-down
look an upside down you know image of
the tomatoes so you kind of see it up
there on the top instead of right next
to the tomatoes if that makes sense I
hope it does I hope my voice is not too
scratchy and annoying almost someone
left a very rude comment on my channel
and said I should shut up so mean person
I don't approve of that I think it's
very mean and you shouldn't have posted
that on my channel although probably a
lot of you are saying oh you know uh
she's got a point there um and I'm just
adding some of that yellow ochre into
the calendar as well to warm it up and
I'm adding some of that color on the
napkin there that to you know warm up
the sunlit areas or the the light spots
on the wrinkles in the napkin get
another nice dark mix there the
ultramarine with a little bit of burnt
sienna and I am just refining the edge
remember that edge that got really rough
when we had wet wet on to damp paper and
it got really um you know really jagged
and ruffly so there I was just fixing
that up and I'm also deepening my colors
and refining my edges so I get that rich
intense color that I saw in the
photograph again I will put a link below
to that photograph underneath in the
video description and also on my blog so
you can go over there and check it out a
beautiful photograph by Lillian Bell and
she has so many gorgeous still life
photos it's almost like you look at it
and you have to like click on it and
look at it big and make sure it's not a
painting because it's so perfect it's
amazing and I'm just adding some more
wrinkles more depth of color into the
wrinkles in the background on that
velvet fabric again with the ultramarine
blue and burnt sienna sometimes they'll
drag a little of that red over there
because that red is really close to
orange and will give me a nice dark I'm
going right in on the wet paper with
that I'll bright draw a pencil I am
barring on the little stems on the
tomato those little you know those
little leafy stemi things just drawing
them right on there with the pencil so
that it will kind of grab on and
permanently mark my paper and I'm
deepening the shadows because those
tomatoes are weighty heavy solid objects
I want to make sure they have that
shadow on the napkin underneath now the
fun begins I love using watercolor
crayons and it's so much fun to go over
and under painting done in watercolor so
here I'm using a medium yellow and I'm
going in and adding all the kind of like
under the highlights area of the tomato
it's really going to make them nice and
bright and juicy looking and I've got
some Tomatoes on my windowsill right now
my sister has a green thumb and my
windowsill is covered with tomatoes I've
got gourds and squashes and pumpkins
from her they're gonna show up in a
painting tutorial I think so now I'm
just liquefying some of that water color
crayon just with a small flat synthetic
brush when I'm using watercolor crayons
I like to use on what what are called
brights and they're a flat brush but
they generally have a little bit shorter
of bristles so they're a little firmer
and they really help push the pigment
around and you don't want your brush too
wet otherwise you'll just wash it away
so you just need to I kind of like to
dip it in the water and then squeeze the
bristles to get all the extra water oh
and that's perfect for blending
watercolor crayon so I'm just layering
different shades of orange red and
reddish-brown to build up a nice solid
tomato there and then just gently blend
them with your damp short flat brush
it's really fun it's very relaxing
watercolor crayons are so much fun to
use and Karen - my favorite but they're
also very expensive I've had my set for
about 15 years and there's a lot more
now than they were then but I did find
that Lyra Lyr a is the brand and I
picked up a smaller set from blick a
couple months ago maybe a month ago
because I wanted to see if they would be
comparable to the Karen - and they're
very nice they're really soft and
buttery and not maybe not quite as
opaque and as firm as Karen - but I
think you'd be very happy with them
they're half the price or less than
Karen - and the sticks are a little bit
bigger so I would recommend trying those
out if you're on the fence
if you try those out and you don't like
them at all then don't buy the Karen -
because you're not going to like them
either but if you try them and you use
them Ilan you say geez I really kind of
like this then you may invest in the
Karen - you may want to just buy a few
sticks open stock to build up your
collection that's a great way to get
started without spending really big
bucks because it's you know if your
funds are limited and you're trying to
decide between supplies you want to make
sure you're not going to make a costly
mistake
I'm just taking white here and adding
some highlights all over the painting
all over anywhere I see um you know see
a bright spot so these highlights on the
tomatoes are going to be your soft
highlight not your really really bright
one we'll save the really really bright
highlights for towards the end of the
painting you can see when I wet my brush
and I lift pigment right off the
watercolor crayon it's very opaque it's
almost like I'm painting with gouache it
almost has a look and it's almost it
feels like when you're painting with it
it reminds me of painting with oils
because you really can sculpt the
watercolor crayon around it's it's quite
thick and manipulative Bowl manipulable
manipulative I don't know exactly the
right word when I say manipulative it
sounds negative but this is a very
positive thing when you manipulating
that color around you're just kind of
pushing it and shoving it and making it
behave and you're dominating the color
it just sounds negative no matter how I
say it I'm sorry but it's fun to do with
your watercolor crayons I'm adding some
indigo watercolor crayons to deepen the
shadows in that velvet fabric you can go
kind of wild and wooly with it it's
going to dissolve really easily the
paper I'm using is arches oh and turn
your paper around so that you can reach
in everything and you can be comfortable
I work flat on a table when I'm shooting
a video but if I have my druthers I
actually would prop up the edge of by
the top of my picture on a couple of
books so that I had a little bit of a
slant not so much of a slit that my
paint is sliding and pulling all over my
paper but enough that I could kind of
see it without any a distortion so I do
have sometimes have that problem with
I'm working flat that I kind of look
across to skew at my picture and it it
will distort a little bit for me but I
can always look up at my monitor if I'm
recording and see if I'm if I'm getting
some perspective issues but that's just
a little tip for you put a couple
books underneath the top of your
painting so you can have it tilted
towards you a little bit you can see how
creamy those watercolor crayons are as a
buildup the fabric because you're you
know getting a nice depth of color I can
make long broad strokes the colors
aren't running all over the place
they're very smooth it's just a really
fun medium to work in and you know they
do have kids versions of watercolor
crayons they don't perform quite the
same but but those Lyra those lyric
rants I mentioned earlier are very
high-quality almost just goes to Karen -
and they are very creamy like that water
soluble oil pastels would also be a
great bet to do this project with the
portfolio water soluble oil pastels you
can get a set of twenty-four for about
ten dollars at blick or amazon cheap
joes any of those places sometimes
staples used to have them Walmart might
have them but they are really they would
give you a lot of the same results so
you could totally try this project with
those and I'm working upside down again
apparently yeah just because I can get
the chisel edge of that brush right up
against that colander and fix it now I'm
softening the the bottom of the colander
because it looks a little too stark to
me and now I like that much better
because it's kind you get the
lost-and-found edges from the lighting
from the photograph that I'm working
from and I think because we have a
silver colander here you can really have
fun spend some time in the reflections
and the shadows that you see really look
for you know the highlights and you know
other objects in your scene being
reflected it's um it's a lot of fun I
really recommend you try painting metal
and glass sometime alright so I follow I
just held it up so I could kind of see
it because as I mentioned it's hard to
tell when it's flat on the table now I'm
taking some white water color crayon and
just adding high highlights to the
fabric which I'll blend in and a little
bit you can also add some to the napkin
if you feel like you just need a little
bit more richness of color it just makes
the watercolor crayons make whatever
your coloring feel a little more
substantial so it makes your tomatoes
feel a little heavier and more opaque
and I think that's when I'm looking at a
piece that I want to paint and I'm
trying to decide the medium I kind of
look and try to figure what is the
feeling of the piece
and how will I best represent that
attitude of the objects in a painting or
the scene that I'm painting I'm adding a
little bit more detailed with a handle
there it had a little bit of a dip in
the our little point in the middle and I
want to get that in back in with the oil
painting brush to kind of push some of
the pigment around round some the edges
of the colander where I've lost it now
back to the softer brush and I'm just
blending anywhere I need to blend if the
brush is damp I can really get a nice
blend in there how many times should I
say blend I've set it a lot and there
that's just some kind of a soft pastel
yellow and now some nice bright orange
building up colors some more it's fun to
do I probably could have stopped earlier
but my it's fun so laughs why not what
the heck keep blending keep on blending
if that's what you want to do the haters
keep haters hatin the blenders keep
blendin blandin I don't know that was
just an awful analogy I don't know there
are a little more reflections in there
and adding blending out my shadows in
the napkin and there I'm putting some
indigo watercolor actually no that's
charcoal gray that is charcoal gray not
indigo sorry that's a really nice color
it's not quite black so you don't get
that black hole look in your picture but
it does give you a nice matte dark
shadow so that's kind of a nice color
that's again the Karen Dasch watercolor
crayons and I can drag some of that
shadow over the blue see how I'm doing
that so it doesn't seem like that
background is not part of the picture so
I'm kind of cross-pollinating my colors
there and I did that right over there on
the other side so it wouldn't feel like
I had this huge weighty dark area on one
side and not on the other it's very
important to be mindful of balance in
your painting so if you have something
dark on one side you might need to put
something that is heavy on the other
side somehow balance out the pictures so
when people look at it they're not
feeling awkward or uncomfortable then
again if you're painting something where
you want to have like some sort of
political message or something you want
to give some deep meaning to impart then
then you can use those sort of tricks to
make things feel off-centered off
balance make them feel a little a little
bit uncomfortable so those are just some
tricks you can use to your advantage
now that you know what you know makes
them look like that you know that yet
know the rules so you can break them I
guess as the old saying goes and I'm
adding some of that light yellow around
just again if you get too much on there
or if the paint's too wet just blot
straight up and down with a paper towel
I have used like old t-shirts and rags
that I've cut up as painting rags but I
for some reason a paper towel does
really well it does better than like
cloth rags for you lifting up on your
watercolor paper and there I'm just kind
of like holding it so I could see it
properly okay we're getting pretty close
to where we're gonna want some high
highlights so I'm adding a medium high
light matting this the creamy pastel
yellow onto the stems of the tomatoes
just doing a little blending to soften
things in so that's not my super duper
high highlight now I'm going in with the
whites which are my super high
highlights these are like the cherry on
top so you use a sparingly anywhere you
want to add a little sparkle to your
picture and it just really makes it look
polished and finished and I really hope
I did Lillian Belle's photograph justice
with this because it was such a pretty
photo sometimes it's kind of hard when
you know the photograph photographer is
gonna see you're painting you're kind of
like oh I hope then that they feel like
it was worth sharing their photo after
they see what I did with it but I'm
happy with it I think it was so much fun
to paint and that's the most important
thing regardless of how it turns out I
really hope that you enjoyed this
tutorial and it inspires you to paint
something for yourself today if you want
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inspired as best as we can thank you so
much for watching until next time happy
crafting