Learn to Paint Chinese Lanterns in Watercolor Video Lecture - Master

hey there Lindsey here the frugal
crafter today we're gonna do a very
quick project we're gonna paint some
Chinese lanterns here and of course when
I'm looking for a subject I knew I
wanted to paint Chinese lanterns I went
to paint my photo and there are a few
illustrations I liked and this is by
this is by Nicola B this uh the UH the
photograph that I'm going from I am kind
of plumping them up a little bit because
they seemed a little less plumpie in the
photo so I'm just kind of sketching on
this heart these heart-shaped little
guys here it's kind of putting on some
basic shapes I'm not gonna be doing a
lot of erasing I'm just sketching and
very very quickly here I've actually got
a an adult watercolor class tonight and
I've been hemming and hawing about what
I am going to teach for this class and
I'm like you know what my sister had
wanted a painting of Chinese lanterns
and I figured that's those great great
colors this time of year this is a leaf
up here by the way okay so it wasn't
obvious by the fantastic job under and
roaring she wanted a picture of Chinese
lanterns so I thought this would be a
great opportunity and I'm gonna put a
few more leaves and actually are there
because sometimes you have to do that as
an artist you have to add a few little
extra things to make it balance and
maybe I'll put a few extra over here
that aren't in the photograph um so you
know as long as you get the basic shape
of them right you're gonna be alright
and I am a very loose sketcher and
that's kind of what I wanted to go from
go for here all right now something else
I want to do you can erase some of these
extra lines later I wanted to use
masking tape that is packing tape
where's the masking tape right here and
kind of mask off a little frame so that
even though I'm working on a block you
could also just you know cut your paper
to size and tape down the table I
thought it made you something cool with
a border at a later date but right
Friday it for today I'm just gonna do
this um
I will actually kind of want to go over
that a little bit mirror I line this up
if I line the block up on my paper might
be even easier to get a nice straight
line or maybe got their eyeball it cuz I
don't trust my I don't trust my grid
because like I'm kind of not looking at
it at a perfect angle and kind of a
little bit of a parallax because of the
way I'm standing so I'm just gonna
eyeball it here so if I sound crazier
than usual I've been on the phone all
day talking very inspiring fantastic
people and I will have more to discuss
on that at a later time but oh my gosh
you know days like that I'm actually
feeling quite quite giddy cuz we should
have our other kitty cat today we're
supposed to get him yesterday but he
hadn't had a shot yet so today should be
the day and it actually works out better
cuz we were gonna have to turn around
and leave him at home because my son had
this court of Honor for Boy Scouts so
you didn't have to do that now that is
kind of smudgy so what I'm gonna do is
grab it oh my gosh I'm actually
struggling with the tracer it was
somehow stuck in the bottom of my supply
supply tray and I'm just going to erase
a few things and I know the water pumps
gonna start any moment because I have
like the dishwasher going I'm like
multitasking to the extreme today grab a
clean dry brush and brush off the crumbs
all right Wow edit you know what I'm
gonna do press down my cape here and add
some water now I'm not gonna show you my
water buckets because honestly I really
should've run upstairs and got fresh
water this is the freshest of the water
I have currently down here but I think
it'll be fine oh right I'm gonna go for
some ultramarine blue the blue I use
most often and a book time about time to
refresh that and I'm putting around the
edges and the reason I want to use that
is because it'll be I really make the
flowers pop there I want some um
yellow ochre I think I'll put that right
in the center just to warm things up
and I am gonna take a little of I'm
gonna use CAD orange for the for the
flowers but I want to show you something
kind of cool take a little cadmium
orange which is any sort of warm or it
weighs well it's a war you can use any
warm orange I'm using cadmium orange
medium and I'm gonna add some
ultramarine blue to it and probably
you're gonna have this crazy wild purple
there Lindsey but actually what you get
is almost a grey because because I'm
using a I'm using such an orange red
that it's almost like an opposite of the
purple and I'm just gonna add some of
that in I'm gonna drizzle it in here
around the bottom add a little visual
wait I don't want it right on top of the
flowers but I'm just gonna kind of put
it in there to add some interest and
then I want to grab a little SAP green
good thing oh you know it's funny you
might wanna try this that's totally
funny I have friend of mine told me she
watches all videos except for mine on
like double speed and you can do that if
you click the little gear underneath the
video be like under there right around
there I think this little gear and you
click that you can change how fast or
slow something is and it's all I put
mine on like to speed and I said like a
deranged chipmunk it was pretty crazy
I'm just dribbling a little that SAP
green in there no I'm gonna grab the
paper towel one you believe I have my
paper towels handy today it's totally
freak coincidence cuz I I must I left
him there from something else because I
didn't fetch him beforehand and look I
can lift up most of the color on these
Chinese lanterns so I'm gonna do that
and I am getting a little bit of
puddling because I have super super
saturated paper but instead of blotting
that with a paper towel where it's
puddly what I'm gonna do is dry off my
brush here and I'm gonna set the brush
in the puddles and that will soak up a
lot of that without without completely
lifting it off in fact I can go in and
replace a little bit of that color while
it's still so wet you want to do this
anytime you're you're doing this you
want to make sure you if you're touching
up the background you want to do it
before it starts to dry because once it
starts to dry you're going to get blues
which are very interesting sometimes it
will work out in your favor and other
time
it's a big ol mess so if you are gonna
do any touching up of the background you
don't want it's really wet and you know
try to get your pedals right away or the
puddles turn into blooms too so if you
want to avoid the blooms that is what
you want to do okay there we go so here
we have our little background let's just
hit that with the heat gun for a minute
actually I'll pause it will come right
back it'll be dry okay it's pretty well
dry I want to show you I did have a
bloom right there that's what I was
talking about so that kind of ruffled
edge um so there was a puddle there I'm
gonna dried it kind of gave you that
little ruffled edge so that's the bloom
and I decide to leave that right there
so I could show you what it looked like
yeah I planned it see no it didn't
wasn't a mistake that I forgot to blot
up no it was on purpose plan
O'Shea this is kinda cool I have no idea
how these work I mean I know how a brush
works obviously derf but what well I
broke it
uh oh we okay I'm I don't use your teeth
I use my teeth to pull it out I'm gonna
put another stray in there or something
but anyway I don't know where these came
from but I found her in my stash and
they're like little brushes this didn't
saw each other so I thought they might
be no good I know it came from tell you
the truth but I'm gonna use some CAD
yeah I don't think this is gonna be any
good but I'm gonna use some CAD yellow
and I'm gonna go ahead and add it right
on its own I'm not winning the paper
first I'm just painting it with the
cadmium yellow this first focal point
one there we go and then I'm going to
switch my brush off and grab some of
that cat orange
I'm sorry CAD yeah uh derf derf
oh my gosh big word of the day CAD red
and I'm just gonna kind of add it in
there and let it bleed around and I'm
gonna be switching this brush in a
minute cuz this really isn't I don't
know I'm gonna do with these he's not
like all right so I'm really got there
and grab another brush it's neat how
they fit in it's neat how space-saving
they are but they're not the best they
don't come to a very good point I'm sure
all using for something let's say
hopefully use this alright and I'm just
gonna kind of help it around a little
bit now you can see on if you're
noticing this but by the cadmium college
a very opaque
you can kind of see how much they cover
up the pencil lines quality because it's
a it's a mineral color and it tends to
they tend to have larger particles they
tend to be easy to lift because they sit
on top of the paper instead of soaking
in and staining it and then um I think I
want to shape this a little bit it's
list a little too bland
you took my brush to bring it down to a
point there we go I'm gonna give it a
highlight with my paper towel but first
because my favorite tool and I'm gonna
scrape in some of the lines it's like
I'm sending all like completely crazy
I'm feeling very crazed today it was
slow I don't know why it's low star I
guess I'd a lot of things to do today
that um a lot of the kind of pottery
things and then I'd be like well I
really should be using my time better
and then I'd go work on solve the thing
and then I got my little highlight there
which went to almost white but we're
gonna let that dry and it'll lighten up
a little bit everywhere else and we're
gonna do the same thing on the other the
other flowers what'd he call them called
flowers you call fruit so I'm not
exactly sure I'm just gonna go ahead and
add a bunch of that light that CAD red
that CAD yellow having a dyslexia don't
know my colors day not to be confused
with the dyslexia not knowing my right
from left from the other day
oh it is such a yeah such a fun journey
my brain sometimes I don't really have a
dyslexia I don't want to uh I don't
think I do anyway I just don't know my
right from left on like you know when I
have to guess quickly or someone gives
me directions when I'm driving which
people usually don't make the mistake of
riding with me twice actually I'm a very
safe driver I haven't been in an
accident since I was a you know in my
early twenties and none of those were
serious just a driver experience type
deals okay I'm just oh I kind of like
this look at that kind of painterly I
feel like Matisse you know what I like
like Moreau he was such an upbeat
painter you think of artists and you
think of them being all dour and gloomy
not Moreau
he was very upbeat he said his wife
would go to the store go to the market
he didn't liked it you didn't like to
work on a fresh white canvas or fresh
white piece of paper and his wife would
come home from the market with you know
the meat wrapped in butcher paper and he
would steal the butcher paper from her
and he would start painting on it cuz he
loved that mess he had already had a
mess on it he didn't have to you know
worry anything he did - it was gonna
improve it and that's kind of like I was
talking about the art journal page the
other day when I was talking about I
love it when I get to this point where
I've totally wrecked it because then
everything I do is gonna be an
improvement and so it's kind of that
same that same philosophy it's Mir oh if
you ever look at look him up he was
quite prolific did a lot of it was more
abstract but uh he was a contemporary of
Picasso he was he's just he's cheerful
he is sunny and wonderful alright um a
little water here and kind of help that
flow because sedimentary colors don't
flow quite as well as our dark dye-based
counterparts will this get in there and
give it a little swish swish with our
brushy brush but they are very liftable
so you know that's that's how you kind
of learn about your different colors I'm
just blotting off all highlights I'm not
gonna fuss with it at all alright now
we're gonna do the stems I'm gonna worry
about that drying
we'll grab we've already used some
yellow ochre so I'm just gonna grab some
yellow ger and I'm gonna grab a little
SAP green in there and I'm gonna go
ahead and paint in some stems
and you know I might even go into some
of them go right up right over the what
are we gonna call them fruits or flowers
folks you have to let me know in the
comments they have fruit are they a
flower is it a plane there's a Superman
I don't know what my furnace isn't too
loud good lordy I was so cold this
morning my feet were cold my nose was
cold I had to go up make cup of tea and
heat up a rice bag because I was just
like I am cold I'm gonna ask Santa Claus
for a heater well I have a heater my
studio down here just need some
insulation or something holy moly it's
all it's it's you know mellow November
and I'm already cold come January I'm
gonna be freezin maybe I'm just getting
old it's hitting me harder this year so
cold one thing you're working it's
usually when I'm procrastinating that
I'm feeling chilly because once I get
working it's like I don't even notice
that I'm cold it's like when I'm just
kind of like oh well pushing paper
around and you know playing with Mod
Podge and string and not really like
committing to anything then I'm kinda I
don't know what's that listen you need
to eat into a craft I am I'm good to go
that's a set like hemming and hawing
which I tend to do way too much this
week has been the hemming and hawing
week I think it's just I have so many
projects halfway done then it's like
what do I start well like my whole time
to finish it so I better not start that
and it's just you know you're getting
the what you should be word for that
it's craft delay itis or something I
don't know I know that there needs to be
something going on here we're gonna do
we're gonna do let's do that see there's
an invisible one somewhere we're gonna
do something all right I'm gonna grab my
credit card scraper not some things in
here
actually have a little bit extra time
today which is needed because I prepare
for my class I just couldn't I won't do
something I was excited about that's a
thing with me is I can't just teach the
same thing over and over again if I'm
not feeling it if I'm not excited about
it then there's no point in me teaching
it because I'm not going to inspire
anybody with it so what I'm gonna do and
then I remembered my sister wanted
Chinese lanterns and like that's it
that's what I'll do
all right so what do we got here how are
you this kind of look at this not too
bad all right I'm gonna do some wet into
wet here I'm gonna go back with that
round and I need some shadow but I don't
want I want it to match so I'm gonna do
is take that ultramarine blue and that
CAD red I put a list a little bit of
ultramarine blue
that's the greg agency right there I can
also add green to the red and get a
different Brown okay cuz green and red
are opposites and that red is oranjee
enough that the blue can kind of be an
opposite so I'm not gonna get a true
grey with either of them but I'm gonna
get some nice dark shadows and I'm gonna
use that to add some details in here
it's almost going to be like a Chinese
calligraphy painting because I am just
approaching it with such an economy of
brushstrokes because there's a there's
I'm teaching a beginner watercolor class
and it's an hour and a half long but I
find that something that takes me 10
minutes is about perfect for it now and
a half long class because I think it's
hard to be decisive when you're a
beginner and you can spend so much time
just just fussing around with paint so
at least this way if it's a quick
project you have time to fuss with it
and you even have time to redo it if you
need to I'm really liking the way this
brownish color that I made with the red
and green looks in the in the leaves and
I'm gonna add some of that into these
little flowers here now this brush I'm
using is in royal brush by the world
company the same company that makes the
Aqua lon this was a super cheap brush I
picked up at a stamp show I think I paid
$10 for a set of I know seven or eight
and then somebody else told me they paid
five for the same
that Michaels so it's a super
inexpensive set they're not quite as
nice as the Aqua ones but but you know
they're there they're working fine for
this they don't have the quite the snap
and the Aqua ons have but they're
definitely a viable choice if you're
looking for a you know starter brush or
a brush for you know have in your travel
bag or whatever something to play with
alright and I lost my highlight on that
one so I'm just gonna lift that up a
little bit and this might be a little
too wild and wooly for you but sometimes
you gotta have a wild gotta let out your
inner wild child alright I am just gonna
blot off a little bit of a highlight
there yeah this colors lifts so easily
because they're sedimentary they're a
mineral based color some of your your
more steini colors or dye or plant-based
and they it can be more fugitive to the
the mineral based colors are much less
likely to fade on you it's like the
brighter the color the more likely it is
to fade and you know what I think I'm
kind of liking that alright so I think
really this way it is it's a very quick
and easy demonstration took us 18
minutes to do which will be good for the
class I'm gonna do I'm gonna take off my
tape here and I need your opinion
because I'm thinking I sometimes like to
do things in the borders like when I've
taped something off like this so what do
you think should I do some stamping in
the border should I do some writing
journaling in the border what should i
do at the border of this but of course
we'll go in and erase any pencil lines
after it's completely dry but I'd love
to know what you think leave a comment
and let me know and if you enjoyed this
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that you can enjoy and I certainly hope
you do I hope this was a fun loose
freeing painting project for you that
has inspired you to try your own and I
just wanna thank you so much for
watching and spending some of your day
with me today and as always happy
crafting