Southwestern Landscape EASY Watercolor Painting Tutorial Video Lecture

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
today we're gonna do a watercolor
painting of a beautiful landscape and
I've got my Lucas artist grade 1862
watercolor canes I'm working on artistic
Oh watercolor paper and I've got this
pocket of water it's actually an aqua
tote by Jerry's Autorama I thought that
was kind of fun and I've never used it
before so I thought I would give it a
try so I'm going to start off by adding
some water to the snow top half of the
paper or so I'm not gonna let the whole
paper because I'm kind of working Alla
Prima here which is typically what you
you know you would the term you'd give
to oil paintings being done on one
sitting but I'm going to do this
watercolor all in one sitting and I got
a little stray here there so I'm just
gonna rinse that off haven't used this
brush before so awesome times that
happens I'm going to go in with this um
it's kind of us rule Ian looking blue
and just kind of add that to the top
here in the corner
dance it across keeping it mostly to the
top and the right hand side I want to
get some nice morning colors in there
grab a little bit of magenta pretty
color get that some of that in there too
I'll put a link in the video description
for the reference photo that I'm using
it's by Terry Dekker over at paint my
photo I thought was really pretty and um
that's more of a Western and Southwest
landscape and something I get a chance
to see very much so
or it all around here where our
landscape is very different so I like to
see different things now keep in mind
this is going to dry lighter so you may
want to adjust and work a little bit
darker I know some going pretty light so
I'm going to add a little bit more
darker of color here and I'm using a
filbert which is like a flat but it's
rounded at the top just because I know
it's naturally going to give me more of
those kind of cloudy shapes and I do
kind of want some like kind of sunrise
um cloud shapes in here
I'm going to go in with a little bit of
CAD yellow and add some of that down
here filling in this area that doesn't
have any color in it I don't want to go
on top of the blue because if I do it
you could turn a little green even
though the blue I'm using the blue I'm
using is a little bit more greenback
biased but this yellow is a little more
orange bias but still it could still
turn a little green on me then I'm going
to go in a little bit of magenta and
kind of tap in some hints of some clouds
and if things bloom well when it dries
that'll be fine because it will give me
that it'll give me a cloudy
a cloudy look and will give me some
highlights so I'm alright with that now
I want to have a little bit of a path
here because that is what is in the
photo and I thought it was really pretty
so why change it if it works and I'm
going to go in a little bit of this um
English red because out likes to stay
put it's a very heavy color heavy
mineral you know they don't want to move
around on you too much I'm going to just
throw in some ground here working on the
draw okay oh I did what the path area
but I'm work this is pretty dry and I
take a little bit of try that cerulean
color that I was using and mix that with
the whoops I lost that came out of its
spot there oh I hate when that happens
if that happens to you pimp
press in the little prong there and then
you can snap it right back and I'm gonna
get this all of my fingers but there we
go you can hear the snap ooh look at
that
maybe I can just look at that waste not
want not folks on the frugal crafter I'm
picking that paint off my hands wash my
hands my water bucket you can't take me
anywhere I'm such a gone oh my gosh okay
we're gonna go in with a little bit
we're gonna do it that's wrong color
we're induce really and we're gonna do
English red and see what we gets if we
get a nice gray that's what we're going
for here neutral neutral gray a little
bit more cerulean my bucket of water to
get an awfully messy
there we go that's gets kinda what I'm
looking for
little bit that into my path pull that
in maybe in my rocks to a little bit
still use that same big brush kind of
twisting it and getting some organic
shapes there I think I'm gonna switch
brushes here I want to have a little bit
of a I'm gonna do a little mixing I'm
gonna see what I get if I do the
cerulean blue with um some chrome oxide
green and I'm gonna add little convinced
of that around the path I just I don't
want a super vivid green that's why I'm
going in with this had a few requests
for a landscape lately so I did want to
oblige I don't do that many landscapes
I guess I'm much more excited about
doing a landscape on the stick or the
color of our to use I'm more excited
about doing a landscape when I am out in
the landscape when I'm outside I guess
that's my deal um but that will be
happening more and more as the weather
gets better our trees are blooming now
so it's not all gray and yuck everywhere
which is nice
a little bit more of that over here go
this little punch color and um I think I
want to do some faraway mountains I
don't know I think I'm gonna let that
dry up just a touch more because I am I
want it to be maybe a little fuzzy but I
don't want to bloom into my sky so I'm
gonna let that dry up a little bit more
back there before I attempt any
mountains and I think I'll go maybe make
myself with some darker gray I mean I
could different the Payne's gray if I
want to but I'm going to see what I can
get where the colors have already used
just because I don't like to introduce a
new color if I don't have to and let's
see if I add a little bit the magenta in
there and a little bit more blue what we
get Oh see that's a nice gray it's not
as transparent as I always like but
that works so a crazy thing happened
today I will chat about that um so my
cat brought him but brought a bird
downstairs to my studio and my studio is
in the basement of my house and um
the bird got away thank goodness and I
had the bulkhead open and a couple
windows I thought oh he'll go outside no
big deal
he flew upstairs and then he flew into
my son's room so I um I opened up the
shades I opened up the windows so that
you could get out and I tried to coax
him out but he was too nervous so I
actually just went I left the room and I
left both windows open I left the room
and I shut the door so hopefully the the
bird finds its way but it was crazy I
couldn't believe it that poor thing I
hope he doesn't have a damaged wing or
anything he seems to be flying around
fine but he just kind of just confused I
think trying to find his way out but um
so that's been the exciting around here
today very exciting I just wanna give a
little texture to that path I probably
should have done that when it was still
wet but that's alright oh and something
else I want to do is flick on some paint
a toothbrush works really well for this
I happen of the stencil brush here I'm
gonna just pick up some of this colors
if I have enough on there so I flicked
some on there I might need to let it dry
completely before before it works really
well but that's a great way to get some
texture on your painting like if you're
doing a dirt path or you know pebbles
anything like that let's see if I can
get those mountains in now and I'm gonna
go to my round brush and I'm gonna grab
that cerulean um and a little bit of
magenta my brush doesn't have to be
super clean because this is far away and
I'm gonna grab some of that gray that I
mixed in there too and I'm just gonna
start and I think we start we down here
start building this little mountain
range
bringing across if I want a thick line
to hold my brush more at an angle like
that if I want a thin line I can go
right up on the tip and hold it at a 90
degree angle with my paper so that works
really really well
and it's going to be shadow and kind of
like a bigger mountain up here so I'm
just kind of painting in my shadows
skipping around a paper like this is
kind of weird because I do I'm something
else is coming in through here so I'm
just being mindful to kind of keep some
of these spaces open and available and
then below that I'm going to do a little
more magenta in that color I want it to
be um more purple and I'm going to go
right underneath that and do another
layer of landscape and I kind of look at
a landscape I'm doing it almost as an
abstract piece and I go okay what does
this need what sort of shape should I
have here what would make this look
better and that's kind of how I approach
it and going into some of that uh
English red I'm going to just add some
of that in there let it do its thing
I took my paper give it a good tap let
it make some cool shapes over here the
mountains up top are going to be warmer
they're going to be more lit by the Sun
that's not the yellow that I used when I
go back in the way that yellow that I
used get a little bit of that light red
that's a little too watery
Pete in these hot these brightly sunlit
Peaks
and a little magenta I think look at
those sky colors that should be
reflected
I like magenta want a little more of
that in there so I'm gonna put it in
there it's my world I can do it your
world you can do what you want to do
that's what's so awesome about art guys
that's gonna need a little more detail
later that's alright for now you can
bring a little bit of that color over
there cross pollinate a bit we're gonna
we can touch up the stuff later and now
what I want to do is get um some middle
ground and here hopefully I can do it
without disturbing too much there this
isn't typically how I work but um but
that's okay sometimes you try something
different this is how I wander this is
how I wanted to paint this I want some
gray it's a lot of gray in this
landscape in the gray will help
everything else kind of pop so my gray
was this was that cerulean blue color
and my English red you could also use a
Brent Sienna they're very similar very
similar to an Indian red as well
different the pigment combinations
different paint companies have different
names for things but as long as you're
getting something that's in the right
ballpark it's in the right color family
you're going to be alright
wanna have some green over here um you
can do a little mixing on there too if
we want
during that Nair
it did not the colour a bit it's not
natural looking tube greens or pre-mixed
greens I found often except for SAP
green for some reason I tend to look
quite quite dead for some reason so you
usually have to alter them a bit or mix
your own to get a really nice color I'll
click up nice and fresh that looks a
little too much water on there if you
want to shake up your painting styles
I'm just fun to try different brand of
paper that can really make things you
know give you new outlook on things and
why that is exactly but I think just
sometimes using a different colour than
you used to or different paper can
really help you kind of grow as an
artist or some music technically doesn't
been working in the materials that
you've been using just by trying a
different type of paper it can really
make a big difference
wanna have some of this foliage and the
foreground going to come up we'll do
branches a little bit after the after
the mid-ground is dry but just to kind
of place hold a little bit it's fun to
see the paint hit wetter areas and kind
of meld around I like the way that does
little bits a yellow and brown in there
get that southwestern look okay
and I wonder oh good my heat gun again
and I just dried this area really quick
and then we're going to go in and just
like a landmass structure here I want to
get in like a little outcropping of rock
so I just need to have this area dry in
here to make that happen I love the
little blooms that are coming from like
a damp paper the wet paint paint next to
the damp paper it takes a really
interesting marks in there and textures
and I really I like that I'm going with
it I'm switching to a flat half-inch
these are all fne splendors I'll put a
link to the kit that I was using here
that all these came out of I'm going to
need a pretty dark color I'm going to
start off with my magenta and
with my blue which isn't a very dark
blue it's actually got a little more
opacity to it and I typically like but
I'm going with colors I've already used
so that I can come up with a harmony in
my painting and I'm gonna go with this a
little more blue and see what we get
that's really not as dark as I want it
but I think once it's on the paper it's
going to be alright
and you know I'm doing this you probably
Lindsey you're messing up your palette
all I have to do is wet clean my brush
and wipe it across there and I will
clean that right up so don't worry about
that okay I'm gonna start just by kind
of sculpting this area and also it helps
me not put too much water in when I do
it that way twisting my brush so I get
some interesting shapes there and
pulling this outcropping across and
pulling it down and then we're going to
pick it up over here again it's kind of
like you're on this path maybe you're
wandering along this path and and you
look out you see some beautiful Vista
you're on this road here that we're
going to define a little bit more in a
moment there okay so now we've got a
little bit more happening in the
mid-tone and I'm when I just kind of tap
on some rocks so I do need a little bit
more water on my brush to do that some
don't want to get rid of all my little
shapes on the little tumbleweeds on my
little blooms I don't want to get rid of
all that but I do want to kind of
scruffy it up a little bit give a little
texture those little plants in there let
them let that mix on the paper - I'm not
doing everything on the paddle and some
nicks on the paper now when we go back
in with texture on the road so I'm going
to pick up all this dirtiness on my
palette and flick it on you can use a
toothbrush you can use an oil painters
brush there we go
you can use more colors if you want to
than I did that's that's fine to you I'm
gonna kind of you pounce some of this on
there with that brush because I feel
like I just need a little bit thicker
application here and there and then
sometimes you want to do something a
little bit different right I'm gonna use
a song emphasis thick if this is stiff
enough for it but oh yeah I'm gonna just
kind of drag up some scruffy let's drag
up some scruffy foliage here so let me
mix up some more that dark I really
should have had a darker color in here I
should have used a Payne's gray or
should have introduced something darker
it's truly now really to do that but but
that would been smart because now I'm
really limited to the dark that how dark
I can get that's the darkest kind of um
that's a darkest I can seem to get right
now so I'm kind of regretting that a bit
let's so I'm going to throw in some of
that just kind of flick my fan brush
some grasses get nice and juicy on there
and just flick it and see what happens
with the fan brush disease these
bristles splay apart and you can get
some really cool effects I'm going to go
in a little bit of green
yes there right is there some people are
going to be horrified with my palette
right now it'll clean Joe chill out
people chill out imaginary people that
have problems with my ballot flick that
up and none of those going to trip in
some colors into that because we got
this nice juicy paint so I'm gonna drip
in some lube and drip in some yellow to
let it do its thing let it have fun in
there
but it surprised us when it dries what
are you going to do paint what do you
know what are you going to make for us
today
highlights along the path light the way
later way along the path and we will
flick some of that up so we have a
little texture there and I want to do
some final branches I think I need to
blast it with heat tool for a moment
okay so now I'm going to my flat brush
and I'm gonna bring some detail into the
mountains far away I'm going to work
myself forward in the painting starting
here at the horizon and I'm going to
start with some kind of purply colors on
the jente magenta and blue here and I am
just going to kind of carve out some of
the shapes back there not a ton of
detail just a little bit just to say
yeah we've got some get some mountains
back there now I'm going to do more of
the purple and I'm keeping I'm mixing
right on like the area where I've
already had some like browns and grays
and stuff I want everything to feel like
it's all from the same area so that's
why I'm doing that I want to get this
little mountain layers of mountain range
in here I feel like that needs a little
bit more Brown to it especially to bring
it and pull it forward Browns a little
bit warmer than that bluey purple so I
want to bring it forward
so we can start to see um we could start
to see the layers of the landscape the
levels and the layers now I wouldn't see
my brush in pinching off the extra water
and then I'm just gonna pull that out a
little bit just to kind of let it fade
away fade as it comes down doing that
again pinching out the extra water just
pulling this out okay so over here this
really is lacking a strong focal point
so I feel like there was a small bush
over here so I think I'm going to
accentuate that I'm gonna I'm going to
examine exaggerate it it please excuse
um mumbly today I don't know why it's
probably because I've been I've been
just like working by myself all day
prepping a workshop so I've just been
kind of like uh I don't know just
la-dee-da in my own world all day so I
apologize so I'm just kind of mixing up
some of this dark so I kinda have a
silhouette um color it's kind of my
darkest dark which you know if we've
gone over that not not my brightest
moment and that it's not darker but it's
gonna it's gonna be fine it's gonna have
harmony so I'm going to put this kind of
like I'm making it bigger than is in the
photo and again photos linked in the
video description um I'm just kind of
trying to get an interesting shape and
I'm thinking like maybe this poor tree
has been battered down by the wind it's
had a hard life and yet it still is
hanging in there it still has hope
please excuse the the ferns why the heck
is the first coming on it's like 77
degrees out there one day posite let
this dry we'll come back and finish it
up after my furnace shuts off okay we're
back I'm really that branch day and a
tree there just the way it is for the
moment and I want to do a little more
refinement on the path somebody grab
that same gray that I was just using
with a flat brush I just want to get a
little bit um more distinction along the
edge of this little path this little
road because it doesn't really look like
much right now
I'm just going to kind of get some get
some wear marks on the road here and
that may not be dark enough we might
decide that we have to go in there later
and and darken it but that's alright and
then I feel like I want to lighten up
this little kind of area in here let's
go in with this yellow and a little bit
of that dirty brown color we have up
there maybe a little bit of green so
it's got like some moss or even growing
here let's just kind of reef reclaim
this Hill in front of the outcropping of
rock and I'm just kind of pushing the
paint around I think I'm going to need
some rocks in there to UM mix up a nice
grey again get a rocks in there it'd be
hard to see with the glare sorry if it's
hard to see with that glare little
pebbles very rocky pebble II landscape
alright so let's go and add some
branches to this little shrub over here
and maybe a little more color there
these colors I put up really well boy
these I got this like a week ago and
it's already a mess my pallets always
look so so messy I'm sorry now I'm not
building a Museum of our supplies here
these supplies are meant to be used
right guys more water my plant my if
your paints not flowing throwing a
little more water
there go
and then I think now that I've given a
place for that to sit I'm thinking I
want to dark in the kind of dark in the
area behind there um boy Andrews in
every color in the box I'm not using
every color in the box I'm using every
color that I've already used though I
feel like I just want to push back some
area here some way with this cooler
darker color and I'm just kind of
reclaiming that area and well I'm at it
I feel like I still want some more
speckly there we go back in with a
stencil brush though because that's not
stiff enough to move or anything is that
Oh straight hair and let's take a look
let's see what do we think of this I
still feel like it needs a little
something and I noticed I spattered some
stuff into the sky so I think I'm gonna
take the opportunity to throw some birds
in there flying over the beautiful
morning landscape someone to mix myself
up some more dark so I did the magenta
and I've got the blue and actually I
think that'll be dark enough let's let's
do that
grab a little bit that Indian red there
English English red they call it and I'm
just gonna put some some birds too some
birds like my lovely uh bird is
currently upstairs in the house one oh
maybe he's made it out I'm not sure
there we go it kind of like bats yeah it
can be a bird or it can be a bat
whatever you think give it the little
bit more a little bit more defined wings
there I think I'm also gonna maybe
darken up the trunk of this a little bit
more and feeling like this isn't
substantial enough our lone tree on the
mountaintop there we go
I was think it's funny when like people
that aren't from the coast paint
lighthouses cuz like you know you'll
just see things like oh yeah that
they're not from there not from here
you know and probably somebody from the
southwest is like oh she's not from here
we can tell that for sure maybe put like
a bird in the UM in the tree here just a
little one just uh enough just only
enough that's horrible
I mean well it's put another one in
there that wouldn't look so horrible at
so another bird in there um yeah what
that Cap'n dear Oh
let's give him a beak there we go that
kind of looks like a bird now a little
bit maybe give it a little bit more
branch to perch on okay now the tree is
gonna become bigger see this is what
happens this is where you run into
trouble guys you're watching the down
downward spiral of a painting right now
when ya like oh I'm just gonna have this
one little thing see what I should have
done was you know went made myself cup
of tea and then my like well let's think
about this see what the painting needs
maybe it doesn't need anything but
instead I prefer to charge right ahead
and potentially ruin some people say how
do you know you're painting to come out
good I honestly don't know I mean I hope
and I've have enough experience that
usually turns out alright but there's
really no no knowing for sure but I
think our little birds gonna be alright
there we're gonna fatten her up it's
been a good good good winter in the
desert that breads done alright oh my
gosh what do laughs we're gonna leave it
that's fine it was better before I made
the big a big honking nose on it but um
a couple more little definitions in the
past I think we need some directional
lines and they are otherwise people I
really gonna know what's going on here
it's a path people won't know that it's
like it's some direction going there but
it I think we're done I think that's I
think that's that I hope you like to
help you try it and use those paints
have fun with them
and until next time had the crafting