Friday, July 11, 2014

Wet-on-wet watercolor tutorial

Hi everyone! I finally made my first tutorial, which demonstrates my typical workflow for wet-on-wet painting. This tutorial promotes spontaneous and expressive watercolor painting technique, without preliminary contour drawing. Hope you will find it useful and enjoy the process as much as I did!



Materials I used for this tutorial:

1. A block of Arches cold press 140lb 9x12 inches
2. Squirrel blend flat wash brush 3/4'' and sable pointed round brush size 4
3. Watercolors: Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Gold, Light Red, Perylene Maroon, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine.

Wish I had some rowan branches here on my table, but unfortunately I'm gonna have to work from just a photograph.

Speaking of which, I recommend that you do not copy reference photos, but rather, do your personal interpretation of reality and show how it makes you feel. The camera documents all the details, but it's up to you to decide which of them are worth including in your painting. I love the quote by Charles Reid, one of my favorite watercolorists, "Painting is about illusion. A painting can't copy nature. You can't paint what you see. The details you see in a light flower can destroy the essence of a light flower. Are the details in the flower more important than the essence of the flower?"

To get you started, here are the key points of this tutorial:
  1. Keep it simple and paint from big to small, focusing on shape and value.
  2. Try to work as quickly as possible, making free and easy brushstrokes.
  3. All work should be done on wet or damp paper. If some spots happened to dry out completely before you finished, you may damp them using a wide soft brush and clean water. Be careful with the damping process, do it with one light stroke, and make sure not to blur anything.
  4. Limit your palette to achieve unity and color harmony.
Note: In making this tutorial, I assume that you are familiar with basics, such as color theory, aerial perspective and composition, and know what negative painting is.

Step 1. I take the flat brush and start with a light wash of Yellow Ochre.


Step 2. I paint the background leaves, using mixes of Ultramarine and Light Red for gray shades, or Ochre and Cobalt Blue for green shades. At this stage, I also outline the composition.

Step 3. I shape the rowan clusters, using Quinacridone Gold for a smaller one, and the mix of Ochre and Light Red for a bigger one. Note that the lightest spot of a bigger cluster is left untouched.

Step 4. Using the same flat brush, I continue to define the clusters and leaves. I don't overwork the surface but let the colors flow and mix on the paper.

Step 5. I work on the clusters, placing darker values, and paint leaves on the foreground using the mix of Quinacridone Yellow and Ultramarine. Btw, as you probably know, squinting your eyes from time to time during the work helps to see better definition of shape and value.

Step 6. I take a round brush and paint some leaf stalks using Ultramarine and Light Red.  Remember that the paper should be damp at this stage, so the stalks could blend in. Painting darks on dried paper would make them foreign.

Step 7. I start working on the foreground, by adding a few brushstrokes on the focal point (a right cluster of rowan berries). Note that I apply aerial perspective to this painting, which means that distant parts appear cooler due to the atmosphere between them and the viewer. This method helps to emphasize the closer objects and bring them forward, thus creating illusion of dimension in the painting.

Step 8. I add a few more detail to foreground leaves. The idea is not to overwork them.

Step 9. With quick brushstrokes, I paint thin branches, using mixes of Perylene Maroon, Ultramarine and Light Red.

Step 10. At the last stage, I do some negative painting in order to add structure to the focal point.

A few more touch ups here and there, and the painting is done!

If you have any questions, I will be glad to answer them in the comments section.

28 comments:

  1. Really fascinating to see how you work, thank you so much for sharing this!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fabulous step by step. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. Una acuarela preciosa y una secuencia de fotos muy didáctica. Mi felicitación.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loved this thanks so much I paint each day with hopes of mastering Watercolor.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh , Thank ,Maria i love your style and your palette

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you very much for your tutorial. It's superb!!!
    Have a good time!
    mcarmen

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for your step by step and tones of inspiration radiating from each of your works! Only beautiful soul can create such amazing and touching works..

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fabulous and Thank u so much, Maria! Cheers, Sadami

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks! I enjoyed this, love your style.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love your work, Maria, and can't wait to try this! Thank you so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Спасибо, очень интересно!
    А есть какие-то ухищрения, чтобы подольше сохранить бумагу влажной? (Увлажнять по ходу работы кистью с водой как-то боязно - все поплывет. Или это от сорта бумаги сильно зависит?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Алена, вообще-то да, зависит. На некоторых сортах бумаги краска очень легко размывается. Но у меня ни разу ничего не поплыло (в такой технике я обычно работаю на Arches). Главное - чтобы слой краски полностью высох.
      Если работать на незакрепленном листе, то вариантов больше: можно положить бумагу на влажную ткань, или смачивать лист кистью с обратной стороны, по мере необходимости.

      Delete
    2. О, спасибо за подсказки :)!

      Delete
  12. Просто спасибо, что делитесь! Совсем недавно начала рисовать вообще, это для меня целый новый мир. Очень полезно посмотреть на стадии ведения работы, чтобы потом понимать лучше, с чего начинать самой!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you Maria for sharing one of your watercolor techniques. I really enjoyed reading your post. More greetings.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hello Maria - Thanks for sharing your tutorials. Your paintings are lovely with so much of freshness in them. The soft colours and strokes - more so due to the blending method - works great.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for this tutorial. Your paintings are fantastics !

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank-you so much for sharing! Love your work!

    ReplyDelete
  17. If only I could paint as well as you, sigh! Beautiful! I am going to try to follow your tutorial. Thank you for sharing Maria :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Really appreciate this tutorial. Your work is very beautiful and inspiring. I have two questions I hope you can answer: What are the brand names of watercolor that you use? And, will you ever make tutorial videos showing your process? Thank you very much for your time to share your work with others.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thank you for this post! I'm also into watercolor but I'm still learning... I really appreciate your tutorial...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Антон Шихов в контакте http://vk.com/lucky43 организует вебинары http://vk.com/zhivopis_online Может покажете сирень по-мокрому?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Присоединяюсь к Tea Tamara Rajala, я была бы счастлива поучиться у Вас на вебинаре. Или еще лучше купить Вашу книгу. Мария, ваши работы восхитительны.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you Maria I am scared though I am not confident I can do it but I will try definitely.I have fabriano cold pressed 400gsm paper u think Its OK to try on this paper ad practice

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thank you Maria I am scared though I am not confident I can do it but I will try definitely.I have fabriano cold pressed 400gsm paper u think Its OK to try on this paper ad practice

    ReplyDelete
  24. Прекрасная техника.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Great tips and beautiful result! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete