Masking Trees & Rocks With Tape Autumn Watercolor Tutorial Video Lecture

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
today I'm gonna do a little painting of
a photograph that I took when I was out
kayaking the other day and I'm gonna be
using some new to me paints they are by
White Nights and I just kind of swatch
them out this is a little swatch sheet
that comes with it but I decided to move
around my paints differently so i swatch
them out in the way that I like to use
them I'll have a full review on those
some other time probably in a week or
two after I've had a chance to paint
with them a little bit more and form an
opinion but for right now I'm just gonna
paint them paint this cute little um
scene and I've got some just some artist
masking tape here and I am going to mask
off a little stand of trees or I want
the bark to be kind of light so I'm just
taking this tape and just tearing it
lengthwise and I've just tacked this
down on on the on my table with a couple
little pieces of tape on the corners I'm
working on some aqua bead watercolor
paper it is a 140-pound hon percent
cotton nothing too fancy though you can
use whatever you have I just wanna get
that little little stand of trees in
there okay and I think I might actually
mask off a couple rock shaped because
sometimes I find that if I mask them off
I get a much more random look so you can
just kind of tear your masking tape and
I also get a nice flat bottom when I do
that so I have a nice water line as long
as I keep it horizontal to the edge of
my paper so if you've been having issues
with with rocks give that a try that
might that might kind of break you out
of that I might kind of break you out of
having you know two perfect rocks you
can always use any little bits of tape
that you have the of leftist tear it's
smaller for smaller rocks doesn't need
to be perfect the water line is really
low so actually all these rocks have
like this um kind of white mark on them
from where the water line usually is but
we haven't had very much rain in Maine
this year so it's been kind of a
you can really see those those marks
okay so that's all I really want to mask
out right now I just want to go over
with my fingers make sure then my edges
are are pushed down well and I think I'm
gonna start off just with a you can use
whatever you'd like to use to wet your
paper I'm just gonna use this 1/4 inch
flat mimic faux Klinsky sable brush I
like the the folk olinsky's for a couple
of reasons because animals weren't
harmed and making them they're a lot
cheaper and they really perform well my
paper here now what I'm gonna do is
actually this little salt palette comes
with my trace you actually have a couple
of mixing areas here I'm gonna pop that
right back on and you'll be able to see
my mixing area while we're painting I'm
gonna start off with um ultramarine blue
and I'm gonna put some of that up in the
sky area most of this isn't gonna show
it's just gonna be so that we don't have
a super super bright white just wanna
kind of tone the paper there and I'm
gonna use a little bit of this under the
rocks cuz they're gonna have kind of a
gray reflection and so well those uh
those trees so I just want to get that
in there
I'm gonna grab some Russian green it
looks an awful lot like SAP green that's
not the right color
and I think add some yellow ochre to
that and this is a new palette I haven't
like I haven't wiped it down with a
magic eraser or anything so
so the paint's probably gonna beat up on
it that's just kind of what happens in
plastic palette I don't have a problem
with plastic pallets a lot of people are
really against plastic pallets but it
doesn't bother me a bit
so I'm gonna go ahead and put in some of
the colors I know I'll be using in the
scene I'm gonna want some nice warm
yellow
the cadmium yellow here I'm just looking
at my reference photo I just wanna make
sure that I'm gonna have this reasonably
close to where my colors are going to be
I'm keeping my strokes horizontal
because I want that kind of Ripley
effect in the water I'm gonna do like a
little red or scarlet there's some of
that over here I know I'm gonna have
some from that that focal point tree
there is gonna have some cadmium and I
can always go in and dance a little blue
in here if I want to later so don't
worry about that if you think that you
know it's looking not not woodsy enough
I'm going to go ahead again with that
Russian green and I'm gonna top in some
tree shapes these are all gonna kind of
feather out and that is fine now once
I'm going right off the top of the paper
to just a little sketch here basically
great excuse to play with your colors
I'm gonna grab some yellow notice I'm
still staying with this big brush if you
wanted to choose a round brush is
nothing wrong with that at all
I find just by twisting the twisting my
brush I can get some interesting shapes
and maybe you think I want kind of like
an earthy Brown there I'm gonna go with
some of this in the second Indian red
like it's got a lot of color but it's
still really earthy and I can mix it
with a green and get it to go darker get
it to a really deep a Foresti color just
some that around my trees to really make
them pop right now I mean I'm looking at
my reference photo which I will put on
my blog when I post this tutorial on my
blogs usually a day or two after I put
it on you too
I will make sure to put that reference
photo there so you can print it off and
look at it and then go from there you
have some yellow ochre to get kind of
that vegetation that's kind of dried off
you know this time of year stuffs
disguised uh it's to dry off so I'm
gonna get some of that in there even
though it's right next to the water it's
still gonna dry off a bit
I like how vibrant these colors are I've
had the yucca st. Petersburg paints in
the past and I really liked them and
they do seem very similar to these I've
heard they're the same thing just
marketed to four different for different
markets and that could be the case I'm
gonna grab a little that color into the
reflections as well my people are still
wet I can drag some of that in there
don't switch to another brush this
softly pulled some of that down I'm just
using a dagger striper on its edge and
just pulling it down to get those
reflections in there it's a very soft
and easy way to do that and they didn't
realize I had bought this one on
clearance so I did have a smaller
striper brush that I got about okay I'm
gonna go back in with that nice bright
red and I'm gonna go ahead and add some
of that in here the paper still wet so
it is fuzzing a bit and that is fine
and I think I'll go a little bit of
yellow in there to maybe mix a little
orange take that take those two colors
add them together you get much more
sophisticated colors when you mix them
now some brushes have a beveled scraper
on the edge and these Ven brushes do so
what I'm going to do is use these to
pull out some more tree trunks now
sometimes when you use them you're gonna
get a darker trunk like I am there and
sometimes you get a lighter trunk it
depends on the the type of paper you're
using and also how wide the scrapers see
when I have a wider scraper I get a
lighter a branch
it's almost acts like a squeegee and
then when I'm using a narrower one like
the smaller script were there I was
getting a much darker because it was
like describing the paper so if you can
use both you can get a nice variety and
also might have to do with the pigments
that's on top as well I dunno it's like
a heavily sized paper this paper isn't
crazy sized it doesn't have a ton of
sizing in it I do notice that I get a
much a much brighter whiter color when
I'm using it on a heavier size paper so
what I'm gonna do at this point is dry
this and then we'll Remora masking and
we'll start adding some glazes you
always want to wait until your papers
dry before you attempt to remove any
tape because if you don't you're gonna
end up tearing your paper I didn't get
this paint pushed down as well as I
should have and I can see I've got some
wet paint under there but it's not
affecting pulling it off I think it'll
actually give me some nice definition on
the outside of the trunk so I'm not
worried about that it's coming off quite
easily and I'm gonna remove my rocks
here
and it will want to look those trees dry
because I do like that those hard edges
so I'm gonna let those dry before I try
to glaze over them but I can go ahead
and start working on the rocks and that
just helps us to keep those random areas
protected while we're painting I'm gonna
go with anything this is the number six
surround yep and I'm going to make a
nice grey with colors if I already used
so I've got my ultramarine blue and I'm
gonna grab that Canadian red color on my
palette blue in there a nice cool grey
there and I want I'd like to kind of
keep those those line that I told you
about on the rocks so I'm gonna cut it
try to paint around that water line
there I really find these paints to be
good quality they have a lot of color
payoff you get a lot of beautiful color
in there
I find differences between the colors
like I'm seeing the some colors
granulate more like the Russian green it
granulates a lot more than than other
colors and that's kind of what I like I
don't like all my paints on the lot you
know I paint line to be the same I think
when I see that it makes me think that
probably just synthetic dyes because
they don't have the individual
properties of the pigments would carry
so I like seeing that I'm gonna get that
water line in there too on that one oh
you can also take a paper towel scrunch
it up and and kind of dab it and get
some interesting texture that way this
paper I'm using is also very inexpensive
it's um it's came in a pack of 50 sheets
6 by 9 that's the size I'm working and
it was like I think I paid like $17 for
50 sheets which i think is a pretty good
deal for her
100% cotton paper and I don't think it's
I mean it's not as heavily sighs just
some papers but I don't find it to be
you know I don't my colors aren't
feathering or anything I don't find it
to be a problem again a minute just I
had that texture there I really like the
way that looks
turned out to drop your paint your your
brush on your on your paper if you can l
bit there's a little helpful tip there
there's actually a fairly smooth paper
for a for a cold press I think
and then I'm gonna want some shadows in
the water so I'm just going to water
that down if you go back to that dagger
that I was using earlier and dry it off
so I get kind of like a dry brush and
just kind of mess with the hairs there a
little bit pick up some of that color
and then I'm just gonna drag some of
that down
it's pulling it into the water and then
I think I'll take that color and also
just kind of ripple it a little bit add
some streaks that way getting used to
using these uh these these types of
brushes I think they I think they can do
some really cool things with for a like
plein air because you're not so fussy
with them not great for mixing colors
because there's such a fluffy brush so
you definitely want to go back in if you
want to make more of a color and mix
that with your like a regular brush
because it's just too fluffy and then
I'm gonna go in add some texture just
some of these rocks then you'll have to
you know you'll go through and you'll
just your reflections as you need to
your reflections are gonna be much
duller than what you have than what you
have before the color of the actual
object so keep that in mind these
reflections are gonna be so much a
dollar Donna in color okay now I do want
to add and I think cuz this is such a
skin gauge of such skinny trees I'm not
gonna try to go into the flat brush I'm
just gonna put some gray bits in here
just kind of scribble on the paper let
the limit kind of catch some of the
texture of the paper rinse the brush
then just kind of brush over it so that
it distributes some of the pigment but
sometimes it stays where you put it and
something that's really cool about the
daggers is that you can do some really
cool branches because it gives you that
gnarly random look so I can just kind of
pull off some really natural he branches
it's like it's so it's so effortless you
could turn your brush and get a couple I
side by side branches because you get
those little you get the little hairs
kind of on the edge that that will allow
you to do that they'll don't split apart
and then you get these fine lines I also
want to put some kind of like some
grasses growing but I want those kind of
dead colored grasses so I'm giving the
yellow ocher and some of the Russian
green kind of looks like a hookers
really across between two hookers in the
SAP green it's a very warm green I have
to double-check the pigments on that cuz
I had the pigment that they use up for
that it might not be the most it had a
good late frost rating on the package
but I think handprints said that the
pigments they use is not the best again
I will do a full review on that we'll
look at all the color swatches I'm just
playing around with it right now
I honestly I have to do some recording
in front of the camera but I'm waiting
for my hair to dry I just didn't want to
go through the ordeal of blow-drying it
it's such a it's such an ordeal it takes
forever it's funny because he probably
realized the color of my hair and it
makes your hair more porous and I
recently found out that synthetic
brushes the reason the difference
between a white synthetic brush and like
a golden is just it's the same stuff
except the golden or the brown synthetic
brushes have been colored and as you
color them it makes them more porous
because it pits the the shaft of the of
the brush and that's what makes it more
porous and that's why it holds more
water so that's why the the colored
synthetic brushes behaves better so I
thought that was really interesting
because I didn't know that so now I'm
gonna grab some more tree colors here's
lovely red so Michael that's kind of
cool that's intranets probably why I
like the water brush is that the white
hairs don't tend to like look that
waters
rides right off of them they don't hold
as much as like our mimics and sons and
things like that do plus I mean they
probably been extra treated to tack that
way now yellow paint tend to be more
opaque so I can go in here and dab on
yellow branches even on top of those
dark greens because if it settles on top
of the paper it's going to still gonna
show up that's something about yellow
specially cadmium yellow like I'm using
here and the CAD Reds those are just
more opaque and they are going to I'm
gonna stand out better for us so kind of
keep that in mind when using like
transparent watercolor is that you can
get some opaque effects if you use the
pigments that tend to be larger and more
opaque even though they're still
considered transparent watercolors
they're gonna have those characteristics
the downside to that and you might
thinking well we just use those all the
time is because sometimes opaque colors
well opaque colors usually tend to be a
little muddier so you just wanna keep
that in mind
I've got a few more grasses
and I want to do a little bit more with
my reflections and I think I'm going to
want to add I'm just gonna basically
just kind of going in and adding little
little details I'm noticing my tree here
I do want some some more texture on the
bark I'm just gonna dab a little bit of
that in I want some more reflections you
can mix up small amounts with your with
your dagger don't don't be too rough for
them though they're just especially
these are Neptune's are very very
thirsty brushes they're very floppy
brushes so you don't want to damage them
and you just want to make sure that you
are you're careful with them I'm going
in adding some ripples in the water it's
a good idea to darken up the bottoms of
the rocks too so they have a little bit
of a a little bit of weight like you're
seeing where the water is wet on the
edge of the rocks are gonna be a little
bit darker there you can also go in and
add your ripples that way
take some of that ultramarine blue cuz I
have used that and I am going to throw
some ripples of the blue in there just
to really give it the watery look and
plus it's gonna make our orange in our
painting stand out a little bit more it
was such a beautiful day Saturday out on
the kayaks we spent like two hours out
of fields pond it was just so nice it's
right on an Audubon borders and Audubon
sanctuary so there were so many birds we
got really close to a loon in the kayaks
and we startled a bunch of ducks and
they flew out of the thicket because
there was an area where he could go
through and I thought we could actually
go to a nearby lake but it was the the
water was too low but we were able to go
kind of through these thickets and loose
titled some ducks and it was just so
neat to see them fly up really really
beautiful and I think maybe just a few
little branches just on their own gonna
do it with this with this tiger striper
you can do like really tall long
branches without having to reload
because it holds these tapered bristles
come to a point they hold so much a
little bit into the water this would
have been a fun one to paint on location
you can see we're not spending a ton of
time we're taking her time and enjoying
it but it really doesn't take a long
time to do this
and I hope you give it a try like I said
when I post this on my blog it will be a
couple days after it comes out on
YouTube I will have the reference photo
there so you can check it out and I have
something to go by I'm gonna drag that
out a little bit cause it's a little too
uh one or two splotchy do a little bit
over there too and remember anything I
feel like I'm stuttering and stumbling
with my words I'm sorry
and anything you do in the above the
horizon line you can repeat in the water
area as well so have fun practice
reflections it's just a piece of paper
guys there's nothing to worry about here
play with it until you're happy with it
you either have you you never fail you
either succeed or you learn one of the
other so so have fun with it and enjoy
the process I hope you found this
helpful and I hope you enjoyed this
tutorial and I will have a full tutorial
on the York of watercolors coming up but
for now at least you have to see them in
action thank you so much for watching
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time happy crafting