MATERIALS
• Large Watercolour Paper (rough) 37 x 55cm
• Mop Brush
• No. 3, 8, 10 Sable brush
• Paints: Permanent Yellow,Permanent Orange, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, Light oxide red, Permanent Red Violet, Vermillion, Permanent Green, Sap Green, Viridian, Phthalo Green
STEP ONE
I do a thumbnail sketch of the composition I have in mind. While the thumbnail sketch shown is very loosely done, I have at the back of my mind a very detailed vision of how the finished painting will look like. This is in part because I love painting nature landscapes and am quite experienced with the subject.
STEP TWO
I do not tape my watercolour paper. I simply place it onto my easel at a 70 degree angle. I draw in the horizon line and the shape of the river. I usually paint with little or no pencil sketches. I like to draw and paint directly with my brushes as I feel that it makes the painting more dynamic and forceful.
STEP THREE
I paint the sky with a mop brush using Yellow Ochre and Cobalt Blue. While it is still wet, I paint in the distance trees with a mixture of blues and green to cool the trees so that fade into the background.
Going from left to right: The bushes are painted with a mixture of greens and Permanent Red Violet. The lone centre tree is painted with a mixture of greens and Yellow. Permanent Orange is mixed in when painting the tree so that it will stand out.
The trees on the upper right are painted loosely with a mixture of greens and browns. I intentionally painted the bottom right in a light wash as I want to paint in shrubs later.
STEP FOUR
The river was a light wash of Cobalt and Cerulean blue.
Going from left to right: I used my no. 3, 8 and 10 sable brushes and painted in the darks to define the bushes and trees. The darks are the previously used colours but with little water and sometimes mixed with Burnt Umber, Viridian and Vermillion.
The shrubs on the right are painted with a mixture of greens and browns.
FINAL STEP
I painted the upper right tree with Burnt Amber. For this section, I decided to just paint in the branches without adding in an additional layer of leaves as I wanted the viewer to be guided by this tree into the centre of the painting.
I finished off by painting a few birds in the distance.
