Aesthetic Landscapes : A 6-Day Watercolor Series

1. Introduction: Imagine completing a cohesive collection of six atmospheric landscapes, each capturing a different mode of nature in just six days. Hi, everyone. I'm Nishita, a watercolor artist and educator known on social media as Bombaypaintingclub. Welcome to my six day watercolor journey on aesthetic landscapes. In this class, we are just practicing. We're building a cohesive collection of six atmospheric scenes. To make this journey easy and sustainable, I'll be uploading one new lesson every single day. This way, there is no pressure to finish everything at once. Just 20 minutes of daily practice to build your creative habit. I've structured this class to be a technical roadmap before we dive into our daily landscapes. We'll start by going over the essential materials I use in my studio. Then we'll move on to a dedicated master class on watercolor washes. We will also spend some time on swatching our color palette before we head on to our six day watercolor journey. Let me take you through day one to day six. Cottage In The Meadow. Pink twilight by the stream, golden Peak reflection, Cloudy Valley farmhouse, hazy highland ridges. And lastly, the lone tree under the stars. The series is designed to be easy to follow and highly structured. However, if you're an absolute beginner, I'd suggest taking my easy watercolor landscapes for beginners class. You're on Skillshare. It's a wonderful warm up for what we're about to create. By the end of these six days, you won't just have a grid of six beautiful landscapes. You'll have the muscle memory and the artistic toolkit to continue your watercolor journey on your own. So if you're ready to master the art of light, haze, and atmosphere, let's start painting, and I'll see you in the class. Bye bye. 2. Materials & Paper Prep: Before we start, let's go over the tools that will make our six day journey a success. So for this class, I'm using a 300 GSM, 100% cotton, cold press paper from Ash's. The size of the paper is around five by 5.5 ". It's almost in a square format. Feel free to use any brand watercolor paper. Just make sure that it is 300 GSM and 100% cotton, as it can hold multiple layers and heavy wet on wet washes without wopping. Now for the color palette, I've curated a selection of professional grade pigments from some of my favorite brands, including Holbein, Sinea, white knights, et cetera. Don't worry. We have a dedicated color palette lesson where we'll swatch and explore these colors in detail before we begin our first painting. In terms of brushes, you'll see me using a flat brush for the background and the sky. This is from Princeton Heritage in size three fourth inch. Next, I have a mop brush from Brusto in size two. This holds a lot of water, so it helps in covering larger areas. Next, a round brush. This is from silver brush Limited, black velvet series in size six. You will also need a small detail brush for intricate elements like tiny pines and rocky textures, and this one is from Fumi and the other one is a Chinese calligraphy brush. Now let's have a look at the other materials. You will also need two jars of clean water, one for rinsing your brush, and one for keeping your mixtures pure and vibrant. You will also need a masking tape to tape down your paper. A paper towel, a small clip or any tiny object to place it under the board. Angling the board allows the water to flow downward, and it brings the pigments along with it, which creates smooth background washes without overworking the paper. Next, here, I have a mechanical pencil. You can use any pencil that you have a needable eraser. Okay, and a mixing palette to mix your paints and a spray bottle just to keep your paints moist at all times. Now that we have covered all the materials, let's prep our paper. In this section, I'll demonstrate the taping process for our first painting. Once you see how it's done, I recommend having your paper measured and taped ready before each day's lesson. Okay? So with my masking tape, I'm just eyeballing the borders and applying it on one of the sides. Okay, return the board and repeating the process. Whenever you're applying the masking tape, make sure to run your fingers a couple of times. Okay? Make sure that your paper is flat. I've torn the board again and working on the other side, stretch your tape. And apply it on the border. Keep checking for some air pockets that are usually formed. So run your fingers a couple of times, especially the corners. Okay. And we have our paper ready. I'll see you in the next lesson. Bye bye. 3. Essential Watercolor Washes: Welcome, my dear friends. Before we dive into our daily landscapes, let's practice some essential watercolor techniques. These aren't just for this class. They are fundamental skills that will help you complete these six scenes and support you throughout your entire watercolor journey. So let's start with a flat wash with wet on dry technique. This is one of the most common watercolor technique which is used to create a smooth, even solid layer of color. So I'm taking a flat brush and applying a generous amount of ultramarine blue, creating a bead at the bottom of each horizontal stroke. Keep pulling the pigment as you move down until the bottom with the same horizontal stroke. Okay, to create a seamless, consistent color without streaks or patchiness. Okay. And for the next one, we are going to do a flat wash again. But here we are going to wet our paper before we start applying the paint. I have a little bit of pigment left on this brush, that's okay. We're going to use the same color. Okay? And I'm going to apply same ultramarine blue. But I'm leaving some white space in between just to show some clouds in the sky and this gives a beautiful effect. With a wet background, you can see how instantly we've got a super soft sky. So I absolutely love working with this technique. Now, moving on to the next technique, we are looking at graduated wash or a graded wash. Okay? So starting the same way, going to wet the background. And this time, I'm going to load my brush with Vandyke brown. So graded wash typically progresses from dark to light. So starting from the top, making it more concentrated at the top. And as you move down, without washing my brush or loading my brush, I'm just going to smoothen this out. Okay? And as you move down with the same horizontal strokes, you can see that the pigment appears to get lighter. Okay. And if you feel that you need to make the top more darker, you can do so while the paper is wet. Okay? So here, we've got a beautiful graded wash. Now the next wash is called the variegated wash. This is similar to a graded wash, but involves transitioning between two or more different colors rather than just one color to white. Okay? So in a similar way, I'm going to wet the background, okay? And first, I'm going to load my brush with the lighter color. So here we will try to practice the sunset that we're going to be painting in one of the landscapes. So applying some Indian yellow. Okay, starting from the bottom of the paper. Okay. And halfway through the paper, I'm going to add in a lighter value of vermilion hue or orange, if you want to use that. Okay? And applying a darker value right on the top. Okay? You can see that this itself gives a beautiful blend between yellow and the orange. I'm going to add another color right on the top with burnt sienna. And finally, I will add some streaks of van **** brown. Just trying to show some dark clouds in the sky. Okay. We'll add in more streaks and more depth to our sky in our final painting, but this is just to give you an idea on how to paint two or three colors together. Now moving on to the fifth one, we're going to practice one of the skies that we'll be painting on day four. Okay, so this is, again, wet on wet technique, but we're going to paint this with negative space and some lifting if required. Okay. After wetting your background, you're going to drop in a lighter value of Indian yellow at certain places. Okay. And then I'm going to drop in some vermilion yu again, a very light value. Dabbing my brush on the paper, okay? I'm just painting randomly around the yellow that I've painted. And next we will drop in ultramarine blue right on the top with a more concentrated value. Okay. And as I move down, I'm going to paint a lighter value and smaller clouds going to make this more dark. You see the bottom of the sky is super light. I can just go in and drop in some more clouds here and there. Okay, with a clean brush, I'm just going to smoothen this out. Okay. And next, I'm going to wash the brush and just going to dab all the excess water on my piper towel, and I'm going to lift certain parts of the cloud to make it look more softer. I'm going to add a more concentrated color right on the top. Okay? So this is the way we're going to be working on day four. Now let's practice the sky for day six, and I'm vetting this entire section. Okay? So we have practiced these day four and day six in particular because they are quite different from the other skies that we're going to be painting in our landscapes. So I just wanted to give you a hands on practice before we dive into our final projects. So I've just applied ultramarine blue, leaving some white space. Okay, so that's where the moon will come, and basically, we'll be painting around it. At the bottom, it's more lighter because we're going to show a tree there. Next, I'm applying indigo. So we want these treaks to be seen. So that's why I call it a free play because you can dab as much as you want, create different variations of blue from light to dark. And with my paper towel, I'm just going to lift off the center of the moon, and then I'm going to just going to give it a nice shape around the moon. Okay? And we go to show some clouds going over the moon as well. Okay? So I think you have a basic idea of how we'll be painting this project. See how instantly this creates that moody, swirly texture of a midnight sky where the light and dark pigments blend organically to create depth. In the final painting, we will finish off the sky by adding some stars. Okay. And once this is dried, you can peel off the tape. Now, you have a visual guide for every mood we are going to paint. In the next lesson, we will curate a beautiful color palette for the projects that we would be painting in the next six days. See you there. Bye bye. 4. Color Swatches: Now let's talk about the heart of our paintings, the color palette. For the six day series, I've curated a selection of professional grade pigments from brands like Sinea, the swans from Holbein. We'll also be using white knights watercolors and lastly, watercolors from art philosophy. Now, you can use any brand that you have as long as you are very close to the colors that we are using. So let's watch out all the colors one by one. The first color that I'll be swatching is Indian yellow. This color is super rich, it's so vibrant, as well as transparent. It's more like golden orange yellow. So in case you do not have Indian yellow, you can use gamboge yellow or cadmium yellow deep. The next one I'm going to use is yellow ochre. This is easily available in all the palettes, so should not be a problem. Next, we have vermilin hue. This is a bright orange red color that can be created by mixing either cadmium red and cadmium yellow. The next on our palette is Opera rose. This is a beautiful, florescent, vibrant pink. If you do not have this color, you can use quinacrodon magenta or any bright pink that you have in your palette. Next, we will swatch out mineral violet. This is from Holbein. You can also mix this color by combining ultramarine blue with either opera rose or quinacrodon magenta. My most favorite and used color is bright yellow green from Sinea. If you do not have this color, you can get this color by combining a cool yellow, like a lemon yellow with a very small amount of bright blue, like tailor blue or a turquoise blue. This one is permanent green light. This is from Holbein. This color is known for being a warm, bright green, and it is very similar to a saturated, permanent green light. So you can use permanent green from different brands such as Daniel Smith, Winsor Newton, Schmik, et cetera. Now, next on our palette is a sap green. This is easily available in most of the palettes. In case you do not have this color, you can use hookers green or any dark green that you have on your palette. Next, we will swatch out burn Sienna. This is a beautiful, vibrant color from Holbein. And then we need a darker mix of brown, I'm using an dike brown. You can also use burnt umber. In case you do not have a darker brown, you can add a little bit of indigo to burn sienna to get the darker shade of brown. Next, I'm going to swatch out indigo. This one's from art philosophy, and you will need this color for the starry night. Let's watch the next color that is ultramarine deep. This is from Holbein. It is an highly pigmented, warm, violet to blue. And it is known for being more granulating. In case you do not have this color, you can use a French ultramarine, or a cobalbluejep, or a royal blue. Lastly, we have ivory black, which I use sparingly for those final high contra silvetes the swat sheet will be uploaded in the project resources for your reference. We'll also be using white quash. This one is from Windsor Newton for highlights and to make the stars for the last project. And now that we have met our colors and seen how they behave on the paper, we have everything we need to bring our landscapes to life. Keep this sheet nearby as we move through the next six days. It'll be a helpful reminder of the glow and depth we are aiming for in each scene. A palette is ready, a paper is pred, and our techniques are practiced. Meet me in the next lesson where we'll begin day one of our series with a very first project, Cottage In The Meadow. See you in the next lesson. Bye bye. 5. DAY 1.1 Cottage In The Meadow: Welcome to day one. We're starting our journey with a fresh daylight scene. This space is all about building a foundation in watercolor and understanding how to layer simple shapes. Now, after taping down your paper, let's begin with a simple sketch. We're keeping the sketch minimal. Place your horizon line just below the halfway mark. Now, let's place our focal point, the farmhouse. We're going to tuck it on the right side of the paper. So let's first add the triangular roof. To make it look three dimensional, draw a very short side wall. Okay, so this is a very small tiny cottage. So keep the size in mind while drawing this. Not that I'm placing the roof partially above the horizon line. By keeping the house small, we make the landscape feel vast and wide. Next behind the house, we will add in a simple elongated sketch of a tree, okay? And just above the horizon line behind the tree as well, we're going to show some distant trees in the background. Now, let's add the stream. I should start wider at the bottom, left corner, okay? So I'm just making a curvsh line from somewhere off center of the paper and an irregular line going all the way to the right. Okay. And finally, we will connect these lines to the edge of the paper. Okay? Now that we have a good balance in our composition with the cottage being on the right and the stream being on the left. And if you notice there's nothing in the center, and that's how you should always compose your paintings by not having your main focal point right in the center. Now, for a touch of story, let's add a single utility pole on the far left. Draw one vertical line, slightly tilted and a tiny crossbar. Now that we are done with a sketch, let's start by wetting the paper. Okay, so just giving a good wash of water. We will wet the paper until this line of the trees. Okay? Now, I'm taking some ultramarine blue, and I'm just going to take a lighter value of this color. And starting from the top with a horizontal stroke, you will pull the color down. And as you get closer to the horizon, we're going to let the blue fade out. Okay? Just dabbing multiple times just remove the excess pigment from the brush. So you can see a very light value towards the bottom of the sky. Next we will work on the background trees. So I'm taking the lighter green. That is May green. Okay. And I'm just going to paint the edges first, and slowly, I will block this entire area. It's okay if it bleeds a little bit, into the sky. Okay. I'm leaving a tiny bit of white spaces in between. Okay, same thing on the other side as well. Okay, so I've directly applied the paint without wetting that area. And now with a darker green, we will go in and drop this color at certain places and let it bleed with the lighter green. Okay. Keep in mind that we want both the greens to be seen. The light, as well as the dark. This instantly creates depth in your paintings. In such a simple way, we have created the background trees as well. Okay. Now moving on to the next step. Going to quickly change the brush to a round brush. I'm going to add some burnt Siena right at the bottom. Okay. Just adding some early tones here. Okay, right at the bottom, and at certain places, it will overlap the darker green. Next, we will paint the tree behind the house. I've taken a lighter value of Indian yellow. Okay? So just at the top, I'm placing this color. To this, I'm adding the lighter green, the may green. Okay. And finally, we will add the darker green mixed with a little bit of brown. Adding brown to your green just makes the green more subtle than having a bright green. And now we will use the darker green to show the darkest value and to give the tree some depth. Once you're done with the tree, we will move on to the roof of the house. So I've taken some vermilion, and I'm just going to directly apply this color onto the roof. Okay, leaving some white space in between. Carefully painting the edges, showing the edge of the roof on the other side as well. Next with a clean damp brush, I'm going to wet the area of the wall. And I'm taking some Indian yellow and applying it to the front side of the house. Whereas on the other side, we will add a little bit of blue and a bit of brown going to show that there is a shadow on the side of the wall. That's why it's darker as compared to the front side. So basically, this contrast tells us that the sun is hitting the front and leaving the side in shadow. Now, this instantly makes our house look like a three D object, but we're going to go in and add in a darker value of Indian yellow after applying the color at the bottom with a damp brush, I'm just going to spread that all the way till the roof. We'll add in the details once the cottage is dried. Now that we have our background ready, in the next section, we will work on the foreground and the other details to finish the painting. See you there. Bye bye. 6. DAY 1.2 Cottage In The Meadow: Hello and welcome to part two of painting Cottage In The Meadow. Let's move forward with the foreground. So let's start with the green meadow. So for the greenery, we want a fresh spring green. So I'm adding a bit of Indian yellow right at the top near the horizon line. And then we will add in this bright may green. And we'll carefully paint this around the house and also blend it with the Indian yellow. I think going to take some more colour and just going to paint this entire block. Note that I've left some tiny white spaces in between. And I'm going to paint this smaller little green field that can be seen at the bottom of the page as well. Next with burn Sienna, I'm dropping in this color right at the edge of the green fields, okay? Just to show some depth. Okay. Next, without washing my brush, I'm loading the brush with the darker green. Okay. I'm going to take some may green and mix it with this brown, the lighter green and the darker green. So here we are trying to show that the shadow of the house is falling on the meadow, okay? It's very light value of this color. And I'm going to apply the same color here on the edges of the green field. Okay. And at the bottom, as well. I'm just going to make this part a little bit darker with the green. Now let's move to our winding stream. The biggest mistake people make with water is painting it a solid dark blue. In reality, water is like a mirror. So since our sky is very light, bright blue, our water should be even lighter. So I'm taking a very diluted mix of that ultramarine blue, mostly water and just a hint of pigment and painting it along the S curve that we sketched. Okay? As I pull the brush down the stream, I'm not filling it in completely. I'm leaving that white space in between, okay? These are highlights the spots where the sun is basically hitting the ripples of the water perfectly. Now with the same mix of green brown. Okay, I'm going to apply this color on the edges, making some thin horizontal dashes near the edges of the stream banks. Okay? This mimics the slight shadows where the grass meets the water. If your paint is still damp, this will softly blur and create a natural liquid look. So don't overdetail it. Let the simplicity of the white paper do the heavy lifting for you. Now with the same mix, I'm just going to add in some bigger dots to show there are rocks on the banks of the stream. Okay. Next, I'm going to take some ultramarine blue. Wow, I think this is too dark. Let me just I'm going to tone it down by taking some brown. Okay. This is still dark. I just diluted it with water. I got a very lighter value of gray by mixing some blue, some green and a little bit of brown. Okay. So I'm just going to apply some of this color, making some tiny streaks in water to show some movement and depth in the stream. Okay. Okay. With this, we are done adding the details to the stream. Next, moving on, we will add in the details to the farmhouse. So I'm making a thin line under the roof just to show some shadow, and we're going to add in the doors and the windows with the same color. I have not changed my brush in case you want to move to a smaller brush. Please feel free to do so. Okay, same thing on the other side of the roof. Okay. Okay. And we're going to add a tiny line on the edge of the wall. Next, I will change the brush to a thinner brush, and I'm going to take the same darker mix. You can also use black for this, and I'm going to make a straight line to show the utility pole. Okay? And a small crossbar. Now we're going to add in the wires. Okay. So we're just going to show the wires connected from the pole. Okay. So you see that I'm not painting the whole thing. One small line on the side, and we're done. Okay? Now we're going to show the shadow of the pole. So we're going to take a mix of brown and blue. And this shadow is parallel to the shadow of the cottage that we painted. Okay. Just go to make this more darker. Okay. Okay, so almost coming to an end, taking a mix of green and brown, a darker green. Okay, mixing it with a lighter green. Now I'm going to add some tiny dots on the green meadow to show some grass. Okay, roughly doing this. Some scattered dots here and there. Without washing my brush, I've loaded the brush with burnt tumber. Okay, I'm going to make some tiny birds. Again, just in the shape of one short line and one longer line, okay. And I'm going to add some tiny dots here, some dots and lines on the walls of the house. Okay? Just go to show some details. With this, we have finished with our first piece. This was all about clean washes and simple composition. Now, for the most rewarding part, the tape peel, pull it away slowly at a 45 degree angle and look at that crisp border. You have officially completed Day one, set this aside to dry, and I'll see you tomorrow for day two, where we'll play with some vibrant pinks. I hope you've enjoyed painting along with me. See you tomorrow in day two. H 7. DAY 2.1 Pink Twilight By The Stream: Welcome to Day two. Now that you've mastered the basic daylight scene, we're going to step it up. As we proceed through each day of this challenge, we'll be adding more elements, playing with bolder colors, and exploring more complex lighting. Today we are shifting from the bright blue of Day one to a vibrant atmospheric pink golden hour sky. A sketch today is similar to Day one, but with a more detail to handle. So place your horizon lines slightly lower this time, about the bottom third of the page. Now, above the horizon line, we will draw these jagged dense tree line. And finally, we will add the stream, which gets narrower towards the left side and broader as we move to the right side of the page. Okay? So just these two diagonal lines, and we are done with the sketch. Now, my paper is already taped down, so I'm going to wet the sky with a flat brush. Okay? With just clean water, we want a nice, punchy, vibrant sky, so I will be using opera rose from scenario. We will wet the sky until the horizon line. Just an even coat of water. If there are any pool of water on the edges, just simply tap your brush onto the paper towel and run your brush a couple of times on that area. Okay, now we will load the brush with the pink, and I will drop the pigment at the top and sweep it across. Notice how the water helps the color stay even. If you see tight marks or lines forming, quickly sweep your brush across again while it's still wet to level it out. Okay? Now, as you move towards the horizon, let the pink get slightly lighter. So what we're trying to achieve here is a beautiful radiant effect. Okay? Okay, I'm going to drop in some more pigment at the top as watercolor dries 30% lighter than what you see. So I'm just going to darken the top, but this flatwh is a great test of your water control. The goal is to achieve a perfectly soft velvet like sky. Okay. So I'm happy with the sky, so I'm going to stop right here. Next, I will change the brush to a round brush. Okay? And I'm loading the brush with ultramarine blue, and I'm going to drop this color while the paper is still wet. These are the distant mountains in the background. Now if you had too much water, this would have spread even more and gone all the way to your pinks. So having that perfect water control is very important. Okay, now I'm just dropping in the darker pigment right at the bottom, giving it some depth. Next, I'm using violet from Holbein, and dropping it on the right side, and slightly overlapping the mountains, okay? We're just giving the base of pine trees here. The brush movement here is off tall and short lines to show the pine trees here, we'll add in the details once the sky has completely dried. Now, as the background dries, we will move on to the foreground and paint the meadow. I'm using permanent green from Holbein. And with horizontal strokes, we will fill the field. Just blocking this entire area and going all the way until the streamline and just a passing thought that I would like to share that pink and green are essentially across from each other on the color wheel, making them complimentary style tones. So this naturally contrast is what makes the landscape feel so vibrant and alive that the warmth of the sky actually makes the cool greens of the field appear deeper and richer. Now loading my brush with ultramarine blue, and I'm going to apply this color right on the edges, and try to blend it with the green a little bit, okay? So since the green is still wet, this is giving us a very nice soft look on the field. Next, I'm adding a darker value of ultramarine blue. Okay, and just going to drop in this color on the edges. Now we will move on to the stream, and I'm painting this with a lighter value of ultramarine blue. Okay. Now, with just a damp brush, I'm just going to smoothen this out. I don't want a very dark stream. And only on the edges, I'm going to drop in the darker value of ultramarine blue, just to show some shadow on the banks of the stream. Going to make this a little more darker with some van **** brown. Okay, next, I'm going to clean the brush, and with a very damp brush, I'm just going to smoothen this entire area. Okay. And with this, we are done painting the stream as well. Okay. Next, we will again take some permanent green, and we'll paint the field on the other side of the stream. Okay. Sticking some more concentrated value of this color and just painting this towards the bottom of the paper. In the next section, we will add in the pines and the other details to finish the painting. See you in the next lesson. 8. DAY 2.2 Pink Twilight By The Stream: Welcome back, my friends. And now that our sky area is dried completely, we will start working on the pine trees. Okay? So I'm going to take a very concentrated color of the violet. Okay? You can change your brush to a liner brush or any thin brush. I'm using the Chinese brush here. And using the very tip of your brush, stipple the tops of the trees to create those pointed pine shapes. Make the pine smaller as you work towards the left side. And once you have the top ready, you can go in and just create these very loose strokes of the pines. Okay? These are very dark at the bottom, so don't worry. They're just going to appear as a silhouette. Okay? So you don't need to define them. Okay? If you feel that you need to define the top of the pines a little more, you can go in and do that now. Okay, now moving on further, and we will continue to create these spines until the violet that we have painted, okay? Okay. So first, I'm just creating these tops and alternate strokes on either side, slightly varying the heights of the peaks to create a more natural organic flow that leads the eye into the heart of the landscape. So if you see that only the top area is more detailed and the rest blends in with the violet at the back, and this creates a beautiful silhouette against the bright pink sky. And with this, we have completed adding the silvet of the pine trees as well. Towards the end, I'm just making these vertical strokes. I'm just going to darken this portion a little bit more and just going to extend the peak a bit. Okay. I think I need to just stop right here. And here we have a beautiful silhouette of the pine trees. Now let's focus on those small rocks tucked along the stream bank. So I'm loading my brush with Vandyke brown. When painting these, avoid making them perfect circles. Okay, so they are just irregular blob like shades. You can think of them as flattened ovals with slightly jagged edges. So I'm adding these rocks in different shape and in sizes. Now, while the brown is still wet, we will take some yellow ochre and just apply it right on the top of the rock. Now, since the brown is wet, the yellow ochre and the brown will blend naturally. And this creates a beautiful highlight on the rock. Now to make these rocks look like they're sitting in the grass rather than floating on top of it, we need a contact shadow. So I've taken a mix of violet and blue. With horizontal strokes, we're going to create shadows beneath the rock on the stream to make it look more grounded. Now I'm going to take some ultramarine blue, and we will apply another layer of this color. And this will also blend in with the shadow of the rocks. You can see that adding another layer of the blue makes the stream looks more vibrant. Now, we will continue to add more rocks on the other side as well. Okay. So with the same process, you're just making different shapes of the rocks. Okay? I think I'm just adding one more year. And now we will drop in the yellow ocher. That's it. I'm going to make the bottom of the rocks more darker, so I've taken a mix of brown and violet and just going to drop this colour on the bottom of the rocks. Okay. And now I'm going to add these tiny, small little rocks around the big ones. Okay. And that's it. Next, we will add in the grass. I'm taking a more concentrated color of the permanent green and making these vertical strokes. Okay? Just small tiny lines to show some grass. And on the bottom of this, I am just going to darken this with a mix of blue and green. Okay. And going to make one year on the edges. In between the rocks. I'm just going to darken this with some violet. You can also use or darker green by mixing blue and green. Then I'm adding these small dots in the stream to show there are tiny rocks around the bigger rocks. Okay? Just small dots here and there. Now, without washing my brush, I'm going to take some violet and green and apply this color right at the bottom. Okay? Making these horizontal strokes under the rocks. Okay. And then I'm going to wash the brush, and with a damp brush, I'm just going to blend this to show some shadow falling on the meadow. Now, we will add the highlights with white quash. This is from Windsor Newton. Okay, go to remove some on my palette. Using the same brush, you can use any thin brush that you have. Okay. And I'm going to apply this on the bottom of the rocks first. Okay. Just horizontal strokes, adding it on the rocks as well on the side of the rock. Okay? Same thing on the other rocks as well. Just a bit here and there, don't overdo this. Okay? Finishing off the highlights with a more concentrated gouache and just making these small dots on each of the rocks for a more prominent highlight. Just to add more texture to the fuse, I'm making these tiny dots. Okay, very randomly, I'm adding these. Okay, now without washing my brush, I'm loading the brush with burn sienna and a mix of green. And we will add in the birds. Okay. Maybe one here at the bottom. I'm just going to darken the highlights with whitewash. Okay. Next, we add in tiny dots to show some flowers on the edges. And with this, we're done with Day two. You can already see how adding a few extra elements like the rocks and the textured tree line has transformed the painting. Now, let's peel the tape. Don't you think those clean edges against the vibrant pink looks absolutely stunning? I hope you've enjoyed painting along with me, and I'll see you tomorrow for Day three, where we move in to a fiery org sunset. Until then, take care and see you tomorrow. 9. DAY 3.1 Golden Peak Reflections: Welcome back to day three. Today, we are tackling the Golden Peak Reflection. Before we even pick up a pencil to sketch, we're going to use a simple trick to keep our horizon line perfectly sharp. I'm applying a thin strip of masking tape exactly where the mountain needs the water. This allows us to paint and blend our sky with total freedom without worrying about the paint bleeding into our reflection area. Once the tape is down, we'll lightly sketch the silvet of our glowing peak. Let's map out our mountain range, okay, starting from the right side and moving across to the left, we'll draw this jagged line. And the next one is from left to right. This one is a little smaller as this will be in the background, and we're going to show one more here. Going upward and connecting to the first mountain on the right. Note that this peak sits slightly off center to the right to create a more balanced aesthetic composition. And that's all with the sketch. I'm starting by pre wetting the sky area with clean water, stopping right at the edge of a mountain silhouette. We want a soft even sheen, no puddles. Okay. This wet on wet base is what allows our colors to dance and blend without those harsh califler edges. So make sure that you have an even layer of water. One way to check is by lifting your board and to see that there are no puddles form, especially on the edges. Okay. Just run your brush a couple of times and remove the excess water. With our paper prepped, we're starting right above the mountain peaks with a vibrant wash of Indian yellow. So just on the edges, I'm applying this color with the tip of my brush. And I'm sweeping this across the horizon. We let it stay bright and clean for now. When you apply more of this color and take it a little more up. And then starting from the top of the sky, I'm dropping in a warm orange. This is vermilion hue and pulling the pigment down to meet and blend seamlessly with the yellow. If your colors are light, you can go in and add in another layer of the pigment before we add in more drama to the sky. Okay see how with a very soft hand I'm blending this we're aiming for a smooth, sun drenched gradient that feels like the height of a sunset. Now without washing the brush, I'll take some Vandyk brown and mix it with the yellow to give us a lighter shade of the brown. Okay. And then we will go in and add in the darker value of Vandyk brown, starting from right to left. And then we will go from left to right. Can you see that I'm not sweeping across the paper? It's just a few strokes on either side of the paper. Now, finally, to make this blend even smoother, we're going to take some Indian yellow and just apply it on the edges wherever you feel that you need to blend a particular area. You can see how instantly we created some deep, moody shadows in the clouds just by adding a few strategic strokes of Vandyk brown. And with this, we've got a beautiful sunset glow. Now let's move on to the mountains. So we're going to show the reflection on the mountains with Indian yellow. I'm just going to make this lighter and we'll apply this color only on the top of the peak here. And with clean water, I'm going to smoothen the edges. And then we will apply some ultramarine blue starting from the bottom of the peak. Going all the way to the edge of this mountain. The contrast between the warm Indian yellow and the cool ultramarine blue is what will give a mountain the three d sun drenched look. Now I'm going to wash my brush, and with a clean damp brush, I'm going to just blend this area with the yellow. Keep washing your brush to get a nice smooth blend. Next I'm taking a darker value of ultramarine blue, and I'll apply this at the bottom of the mountain. I'll paint all the way till the end. Next, I'm going to wash my brush and with a clean damp brush, I'm just going to blend the two with the reflection. I'm repeating the process until I'm happy with the blend. Going to go over the yellow and then blend the two colors. Here we can see different values of the blue. It's a beautiful way to show depth in your subject. Next I'm going to mix ultramarine blue with Vandyke brown, and we will paint this entire mountain. Okay. I'm just going to paint this entire block. I like the bluish black look. I think it's very close to when they go. Okay, and Okay, so we're done painting the second mountain, as well. Now we will paint the third one with black. Just going to cover this entire mountain with a thick consistency of ivory black. This one is from the brand art philosophy. Once we have finished painting the mountain, we're going to make these small horizontal strokes as we want to show some distant trees on the mountains. Okay? So just some short and tall lines. Using the tip of my brush to create these lines, you can also switch to a smaller brush in case you're comfortable with that. Okay? So with this, we have created a beautiful silvett of the trees on the mountain. Now, before we peel the tape, we are going to wait for the paint to dry. We'll shift our focus to the foreground in the next lesson. See you there. Bye bye. 10. DAY 3.2 Golden Peak Reflection: Hello, and welcome. Now that our background is dried, let's peel off the tape. Look at this perfect, sharp horizon where the golden peak meets its reflection. Now we build our water in layers. Okay? So I'm taking my flat brush again. I'm going to remove some more of Indian yellow. And now I'm not going to wet the paper. We're going to work with wet on dry technique for the water. Okay, so it's going to be darker at the bottom of the paper. And as we reach the horizon, we're going to lighten the yellow. We want the transparency of the paper to be seen. Next, I'm loading my brush with vermilion hue. And with a very light hand, I'm applying this color on either sides of the paper. Now, we add in the reflection of the mountains. I've loaded my brush with ivory black and keeping your brush on the flatter side, Okay, Leaving some gap between the horizon line and the reflection to take some more paint. Okay. And here we go. Okay, now we're just going to darken this. And as you move further, we're going to create streaks to show ripples in the water. Just making these small horizontal lines with the edge of my brush. Next, I'll wash my brush, go to dab it on the paper towel and load it with burn sienna and a mix of vermilion hue. And I'm going to add some more streaks here at the bottom of the paper. Okay. Don't worry. It's not going to look like this. And after this, we're going to wash the brush, and with a clean damp brush, we're just going to blend the streaks, okay? I'm going to take it all the way to the top. Next, I'm going to take some more vermilion hue, and again, going to go back in and add in more streaks of this color. Taking some mix of vandyk brown, mixing it with vermilon u and adding some darker streaks and blending it as I go. Okay, you can see the beautiful streaks in water. Now I'm changing my brush and taking the round brush, and we're going to show in a similar way the reflection of the trees. So again, making these small horizontal lines. You basically replicate what you have done on the top. Okay, I'm just going to talk in this bit. Okay, we're almost there. And finally, we will add the birds with Van **** brown. One small stroke and a longer one. Okay. And there's some white gaps here, so I'm just filling that in. We're going to show the reflection of the birds as well. So either you can turn your paper upside down or you can just mirror the birds. It does not have to be exactly the same, but somewhat to just give an idea that there's a reflection of the birds in the water. And here we go with the last one. Peeling back the tape is always my favorite part. It reveals those sharp edges and makes the golden reflection truly glow, doesn't it? By layering our tones from light to dark, we have created a depth that now feels perfectly framed and finished. Once the tape is gone, you can see how the multiple tones of gold and shadow come together to create a real sense of movement. And with this, our day three project is complete. You now have three beautiful pieces in your collection. I can't wait to see your golden reflections in the gallery. I'll see you tomorrow for day four. Bye bye. 11. DAY 4.1 Cloudy Valley Farmhouse: Welcome today for today we are heading to the Cloudy Valley farmhouse. This piece is all about what we don't paint. We're going to use the white of the paper to create those soft heavy clouds you see hanging over a quiet valley. Let's start by drawing a simple sketch. So we'll first place the horizon line about a third of the way up. Okay. And we'll add in a simple rectangular farmhouse. Okay? This is slightly off center. No Okay. All the sketches will be uploaded in the project section. Just making the windows and we'll make some faint lines just to give an idea of the distant trees. Okay? Okay. And before starting, I'll place a small clip under the board. Okay. And now let's wet the sky area with clean water. Okay. Just be careful around the house, okay? Just work very slowly. Okay. A nice even wash of water. If there are any pools of water on the corners, just run your brush a couple of times. Okay, and even that out. Okay? You can see here it's a nice even wash of water, okay? You see that is a good amount of water there. And then you just run your brush a couple of times and it will just give you a nice sheen, and that is what we want to achieve here. Okay, so while the papers wet, I'm going to quickly change the brush to a mop brush, and I'm going to load some Indian yellow, a very light value of this color. And just going to apply this color very randomly at certain places, okay? Next, I load the brush with a very light value of opera rose. Okay? And again, very randomly painting this on the paper. Okay? There's no plan as such. I've placed both these colors very randomly, okay? Go to show some here at the bottom. Okay. And finally, we'll load the brush with the blue. Okay? Jus taking a good amount of that paint on the brush, and we'll start applying this color from the top. Carefully painting on the top and not going to apply it on the other areas of yellow and pink. Okay. And you can see, I'm leaving some white space in between. Okay? So wherever there's a white space, a little bit, you can go in and fill that space with blue. As we move toward the horizon, let the blue fade in to a very light value. Just adding some smaller clouds in between. Okay. Now, would I take a darker value and just go above these clouds on the top. Okay, so that's about it with the clouds. And without washing my brush, I'm going to load the brush with the same blue, and I'm going to add a little bit of opera rose to this to make a nice violet. Okay? And I'm going to paint these distant mountains with this color. Can see, it's not very pinkish. I just love this color. Same thing on the other side. H Okay, blocking this entire area. Left some white space in between. Okay. Okay. And once we are done with this, I'm going to take a darker value of the blue. This is just blue, I'm just going to drop this color right at the bottom. Okay, showing some different values for the mountains and maybe some bushes around the mountains. Okay? And that's about it with this. Now I'll wash the brush. Now that our background is ready, in the next section, we will proceed with the foreground. See you all in the next section. 12. DAY 4.2 Cloudy Valley Farmhouse: Welcome to part of painting Cloudy Valley Farm house. Let's proceed with the green fields. I'm going to take my flat brush. And just going to wet this entire area, okay? We'll be working on the foreground now. We'll work on the farmhouse once the area around it dries completely. So meanwhile, we'll work on the foreground, changing the brush to a round brush. Okay. Just taking a bit of Indian yellow, and I'm going to apply it right at the top. Okay? Leaving some white space in between. And now I'm going to load the brush with a bright yellow green. While the paper's still wet, I'm just going to apply this color all the way till the end. I'm just going to take a bit more and using a more concentrated green and applying it at the bottom. Okay, now I'm going to take the darker green and just going to add the streaks from right to left and then left to right, making sure that the lighter green is being seen, okay? Next, we're going to cover the top area with a paper towel, okay? And we're going to create some splatters with just clean water. Okay? So just load your brush with some water and gently tap it on the area that you want to show splatters. This creates a beautiful blooming effect. And adds a lovely texture to the fields. Now, while this area dries, we will work on the farmhouse. So I'm taking some vermilion. Okay? And I'm going to just apply it on the roof. Okay, a nice light value of this color. Okay, I'm just going to block this entire area of the roof. Okay. And you're on the side as well. Okay. And now I'm going to add the darker value and just applying it on the edges. Okay, I'm just covered it completely leaving some white space in between, on the other side of the roof as well, just making one simple straight line. For the walls, I'm just going to first apply a clean wash of water. Okay? Going to leave this as white, but I'm just going to give a lighter tint of this color. Just going to quickly remove some burnt sienna on my palette. Okay, just a tiny bit is all what we need. And loading the brush with burn sienna, and I will apply it at the bottom of the farmhouse. What we're trying to show you is the stains of the red soil on the walls, okay? And just with a damp brush, I'm just going to spread this off and lighten this up. Once we're done with this, we will take a darker value of the blue instead of black. Okay? And we'll add in the windows and the door. And finally, we will add in the details to the edges of the roof. Okay? So just for the same color, I'll make a line here and maybe here as well. I think I'll just change my brush and use a finer brush. This is the needlepoint brush from Fumi. You can use any line of brush that you have carefully going through the edges of the roof and the walls and making these each wall more prominent. Okay. And we'll add in these lines on the roof just to show some tiles. Horizontal and some vertical lines. Okay? And finally, we will add some details at the bottom of the farmhouse, okay? And just randomly adding some dots and some tiny lines. Okay. I think we are good to go with the farmhouse. Once we have finished with the farmhouse, we will add in the last bit to our painting, and I've taken some darker green, and I'm just going to make these fine lines, okay, just to show some grass. And over these fine lines, making these tiny dots show some leaves. Okay. Make the bottom of the grass more darker. And we are going to do the same thing on the other side as well. Okay, you can see that the cross on either side are facing towards each other. That means they are inwards and little bit curvish. Okay, and just adding some dots on the field as well. And with this, we're done with the foreground, as well. And let's finish the painting by adding some tiny birds and using a darker value of the blue. A simple way of painting birds is painting in the shape of V, but one with a smaller line and one with a longer line. With this, we are done painting the birds as well, and just go to darken the bottom part of the grass with the same color. And now for the most satisfying part, as we pull the tape away, remember to peel at an angle to keep your paper from tearing. Look at how that white border makes a bright summer sky pop. By mastering this balance of negative space and soft blending, you have captured the essence of a bright, airy afternoon. Keep practicing those white space clouds. And with this, we've come to an end, and I'm super excited to see you tomorrow at day five. I hope you've enjoyed painting along with me. See you all in the next one. Bye bye. 13. Day 5.1 Hazy Highland Ridges: Hi, everyone, and welcome back. Today, for day five, we are painting these atmospheric Hazy Highland Ridges. Before we dive into our light to dark washes, we're going to start with a very minimal sketch. The goal here isn't to draw every detail, but to map out the staggered layers of our ridges. The simple skeleton will be a guide for where our tones should shift from light to dark, okay? I'm using a very light touch with my pencil almost barely touching the paper. Sketching your ridges, try to vary the heights. Don't make them perfectly symmetrical. From here, we will add in three distinct layers for the fields and a lower line for the midground, and one right at the bottom. This sketch will be uploaded in the resources section. In case if your lines feel too down, just take a needed eraser and gently dab away the excess graphite. Now that our light sketch is ready, we are going to pre web the sky area with clean water, using the Princeton three fourth inch flat brush to ensure an even glistening sheen on the paper. We want it damp, not soaking, so our colors can flow naturally. Notice how I leave plenty of space for the sky. That open space is what creates the hazy atmosphere. Just going to run by brush a couple of times to get an even layer of water. Next, starting at the sky, I'm dropping in a luminous, transparent Indian yellow. As you can see, it's a very light value. There's painting along those ridges. Now, while this is still wet, I'm gently introducing a touch of vermilion hue. Again, a way light value. Watch how they blend on the paper to create that soft glowing warmth of highland rice. Okay? As you go up, you can darken your colors. Now, before we even think about adding blue, we're going to transition into a soft pink. So I'm loading my brush with opera rose. If you have taken my whimsical winter glow glass, you'll remember why this step is so vital. Pink acts as a buffer zone here. By placing it between the yellow and the blue, we ensure the colors stay vibrant and clean. Without this pink bridge, the yellow and blue would mix to create a muddy green, which is exactly what we want to avoid in our hazy sky. Okay. And finally, we'll drop our ultramarine blue into the very top of the sky. As it touches a pink, it creates a beautiful, soft violet transition rather than a green one. And this is how we achieve that professional multitonal sky that feels airy and light. If you feel that your sky is light, this is the time that you work on adding more pigments only if you feel that your paper is still wet, you can go in and add in another layer. Okay, now moving on. I'm going to change the brush, and we will start working on the distant pale ridges. We'll start with the lightest, most diluted wash. So first, I'm going to take Indian yellow, and I'm just going to take a tiny bit of opera rose, and I'm going to apply this color right on the top. I'm going to show the reflection of the sky falling on these mountains. Okay, carefully painting along the lines. And to this, I'm adding a tiny bit bit of purple by mixing opera rose and ultramarine blue. Okay. So I'm just going to apply this color at the bottom of the yellow we painted a very light value of purple. Okay. Next, I'm going to take some ultramarine blue, and I'm going to drop this color right at the bottom, going all the way till the end. Okay. Just continue to paint. Since the purple is wet, the blue is blending in well with it. Okay, once we're done with this layer, I'm going to wash the brush, and with a clean damp brush, I'm just going to soften the edges. And this is how we create a soft, hazy, misty effect between the mountain ridges. I'm going to take some ultramarine blue and mix it with a bit of burnt sienna and applying this color just above the line of our foreground. Okay, we're going to show another small mountain ridge here. Okay. Adding the blue at the bottom. And I'm going to extend this dropping in some brown. And we're going to take this to the top and overlap the first mountain that we have painted. Be careful and not lose the hazy effect that we have created. And just at the bottom, I'm dropping in the same mix of blue and brown. M. Okay, defining the first mountain. And I'm washing my brush and with a clean damp brush. I'm just going to soften this area. Okay, with this, we have finished painting the background, the sky, the mountains, the ridges. We've created the hazy effect. In the next section, we will work on the foreground. I'll see you there. Bye bye. 14. DAY 5.2 Hazy Highland Ridges: Welcome to part two of Day five. Now that our background is dry, we're moving one step closer to the viewer, so we're going to add a bit more pigment to our brush. So I'm going to load my brush with burn Sienna and I'm going to drop this color just to in trop it near the base of the ridges. And I'm going to apply another layer of vermilinyu on top of this. Sounds strange, but that tiny bit of warm suggests wild heather or distant flowers, and it keeps green from looking flat. Next, I'm loading the brush with sap green. And I'm going to apply this color right below the red that we have painted. And I'm going to take this color to the edge of the paper. Next, I'm taking some burnt sienna, so I'm going to get a nice warm green, and we'll paint this just below the sap green. And you'll see how we have painted this entire midground field and how it's come together as one layer. Okay? Next, I'm going to wash my brush, and I'm going to load the brush with bright yellow green. And to differentiate between the two layers of the green fields, we are going to apply this color. Okay? And to this at the bottom, we will apply sap green. And paint this entire area. Still following our light to dark rule. Supplying this wash with horizontal sweeping strokes. And finally, we are reaching the foreground, the part of the field closest to us and applying a layer of Indian yellow. And at the bottom, taking a good consistency of the bright yellow green because we want this area to be the brightest. For the final touch, I'm taking some sap green and adding a few deep shadow accents from right to left. As the layer is damp, the light and the dark green will blend perfectly. Now, for my favorite part, adding organic texture. So vile fox Brown field is still slightly damp, I'm going to flick my brush to drop tiny droplets of clean water onto the bottom of the painting. You can see how we have created these spontaneous blooms. You can also do this by tapping the handle of your brush. Next, we're going to define our different layers of the ground. So I'm taking some sap green, and I will apply this color right at the borders with the tip of my brush. It is defining the different layers of the grounds that we have painted. Next, I'm going to change the brush and take the Fumi needlepoint brush. You can take any detailing brush that you have. And we're going to take a sap green. And on our furthest hazy ridge, we're just tapping the brush to suggest tiny clusters of distant trees. Okay, now moving to the middle ridge, I'm adding a bit more pigment to my saprene. Here the foilage starts to take more shape. I'm using the tip of my brush to create slightly larger staggered clusters. Notice how these darker greens immediately make the red feel like it's stepping forward toward us away from the haze. And going to add a small one there. I think I'm going to add another one here on to the right. Okay. And finally, we will work on our closes ground. That bright field we just painted. We're using a more saturated creamy sap green. Okay, so now these aren't just dots anymore. They are defined lines and textures of grass and shrubs. By repeating the same green across every layer, but changing the shape and the size. With this, we have created a perfect sense of continuity. For the final touch, I'm going to take some guash from Windsor Newton. And now I'm using my Chinese brush. Okay. And I'm going to cover the sky and the mountain ridges with a paper towel. We don't want any splatters to fall on the other areas of the painting. So I'm taking a bit of thick consistency of guash, okay? I'm going to bring the paper towel a bit down. Okay? I think that's about it. And I'm going to gently tap it against my finger to create a fine mist of white droplets across the bottom field. Notice how these look like tiny wildflowers, or maybe morning dew clinging to the grass. These dots and splatters act as a highlight that pulls everything together. Okay? If you feel like you want to add in more dots, just make some tiny dots with the help of your brush. Okay. I think these look like pretty wildflowers on the grounds. Okay. I'm gonna make tiny bit on the first layer as well. Okay. To bring life to our highlands, we are adding a few distant birds. I'm starting near the horizon with burn sienna. This warm tone perfectly matches our yellow and vermilion glow. But as we move higher into the cooler sky, I'm adding a bit of ultramarine blue to burn sienna. And this simple shift in color temperature keeps up birds in perfect harmony with the atmosphere. Okay, so use the white tip of the brush for tiny irregular V shapes, keep them small to maintain that massive sense of scale. And with this, our day five masterpiece is now ready for the tape pie. After every tape peel, these crisp edges always brings a sense of maybe satisfaction to your work that you've created. It just instantly transforms your painting, making a glowing Highland sunrise and textured feels truly pop. Now with the tape peeled, our day five hazy highlands are complete. Look at how that light to dark transition and the pink buffer created such a luminous, professional bloom. I can't wait to see your misty landscapes in the project gallery. We'll wrap up the series tomorrow by creating a beautiful starry night, so get your blues ready, and I'll see you tomorrow at day six. 15. DAY 6.1 The Lone Tree Under The Stars: Welcome to day six, our grand finale. Today we are painting this atmospheric lone tree under a vast starry night sky. This painting is all about deep cosmic blues and a single glowing focal point in the field. We'll start with a minimal sketch on *** paper. First, I'm going to draw a distant mountain Okay. And below that, we will draw a low, clean horizon line. Keeping the horizon low gives our night sky maximum room to breathe. Finally, we will sketch a simple skeleton for our tree. Okay? This is going to be a bit off center and not in the center of the paper. Just a few light lines for the trunk and the general shape of the canopy. And that's about it. We're done with the sketch. Let me quickly place my clip under the board. Okay. Now, let's go straight into our deep blues. And with my flat brush, I'm going to pre web the sky with clean water. Oh, a little oops moment here. A droplet of water just fell from my brush onto the paper. If this happens to you, don't panic quickly, take a clean, dry paper towel and gently blot the spot while it's still wet. Okay? Now, going back to the sky, carefully apply water around the mountains. Okay, going all the way to the top. Now you know the drill even wash of water. Okay, so make sure to run your brush a couple of times, especially on the edges. Okay. Now I'm going to change the brush. And this time, I'm going to take the mop brush. And we load the brush with ultramarine blue. This is a beautiful bright pigment. I'm starting with this color right where our moon will sit. So I'm going to paint around it to keep the center bright, letting the blue radiate outwards like a soft lunar glow. And as I move toward the top and the edges, I'm dropping in a heavily saturated ultramarine blue. We will first lay down this color on the top and paint all the way until the tree. Okay? Now, as we go down, notice how I've left plenty of white space, starting from the center of the paper to the bottom left, and this is where our tree stands. Now, while the ultramarine blue is still damp around the moon area, I'm going to create a soft luminous glow. So I'm taking a clean, crumpled paper towel and gently lifting the excess blue right from the center of our moon. By dabbing lightly, we aren't just removing paint. We are softening the edges so the white of the paper peeks through. So I believe this lifting technique is much more natural than painting a heart circle, as it makes the moonlight look like it's radiating into the deep night sky. And now we are introducing our deepest, most atmospheric color, indigo. I love this stage because it's what I call free play. We aren't trying to paint perfect. Structured clouds here. We're just letting the brush dance across the damp ultramarine sky. I'm switching to a smaller brush and with a clean damp brush, I'm just going to run my brush on the moon and create that circle and repeat the process of lifting, again, gently dabbing my paper towel on that area. Okay? Okay. Now I'm going to paint around the moon to define its shape. Now we will add more clouds around it. So I'm just dabbing and adding loose strokes of concentrated indigo into the wet paper. See how the pigment naturally spreads and blooms. I'm going to wash the brush and remove all the excess water. We still have the blue pigment. Okay. And what I'm doing here is I'm adding soft clouds on the moon. Like the clouds are overlapping the sky. Now that our moon area is ready, we can go in and add more of indigo around it, some darker clouds. Now we will add in more indigo on the left side, the bottom left. And same thing on the right side near the mountain. I'm going to wash the brush and with just clean water. I'm just going to smoothen this area. Okay? So you notice that there is a light value of indigo at the bottom of the canopy. With ultramarine blue, I'm just going to darken this area. And going back to indigo, we will add more clouds on the top. By working with a very light hand, we are creating those moody shifting clouds that only a night sky has. So don't overwork it. The magic of watercolor is in the spontaneous shapes that form when you let the paint move on its own. And we'll go back in and lift the area of the moon. Okay. And again, repeating the process. Going to give it some shape. After the lighter tones, we're going to show the darker ones, a darker cloud going over the moon and around it. Okay. I'm going to add some more darker clouds on the top of the paper. Wherever you feel that you have added enough clouds, you can stop right there. Okay, I think I'm done with the sky. Now let's move on to the mountains. Okay, now I'm loading the brush with ivory black, and I'm going to apply this color on the mountains. Okay. And going all the way to the right side. Okay, let me just take indigo and add some more tiny clouds overlapping the moon. Now, while our indigo and ultramarine are still glistening and wet, let's add one more layer of magic. So I'm taking a brush with just clean water and lightly splattering it over the darkest area of the sky, creating a beautiful, soft blooms and textures. With this, we have finished painting the background in the next section. Let's move to the foreground. I'll see you there. Bye bye. 16. DAY 6.2 The Lone Tree Under The Stars: Welcome to this section. Now that our cosmic sky is settling, let's bring some warm to the Earth. I'm applying a smooth luminous layer of yellow ochre across the entire foreground. Notice how this golden tone immediately complements our deep blue sky. Now, to keep that lunar glow we created earlier, I'm making sure the area directly under our tree stays a bit more watery and light. So I'm leaving some white space in between. Towards the bottom, we will add more pigment of yellow ochre. While this section is still damp, I'm going back in with burnt sienna. Now, by layering this over the ochre, we created a rich early glow that perfectly balances a deep blue sky. I think this is the secret to creating a truly grounded and a rich foreground. And I'm going to wash the brush and we'll keep it aside next. I'm taking the Chinese calligraphy brush, and it's now time for our focal point. So using the fine tip of this brush and a concentrated yellow ocher, let's define our lone tree. We are going to fill the tree by using a stippling or tapping motion to build the foilage. Make sure to keep some space in between the foilage now, once you're halfway through, we're going to take some burnt sienna. And we're going to go over the yellow ochre that we have painted. Not all of them, just at the bottom. We're going to show three layers of tones from light, mid value to dark. Next, we're adding the darker value. So I'm adding some andyke brown at the bottom of the tree and on the sides to show depth in the tree. Continue to make these small dot like foilage and from there on, we will add a thin organic chunk to the tree. Making some small branches here right on the top. Next, I'm going to pull the trunk down to the foreground, okay? Make sure that the bottom of the trunk is a bit thicker and taking out the roots of the trees on the sides, Maybe I'm going to show a branch here on the right side and one at the bottom. If you feel that you need to add more darker tones, do that right now. Now with the same dark brown, I'm adding quick flicking strokes to create grass. And try to keep these strokes sharp and varied in height. I'm just adding them randomly. Take some small ones here. Showing some more scattered ones on the right side, and some tiny ones towards the horizon. Okay, we're going to show a bit of shadow under the tree. By placing these dark grass blades over warm burnt sienna, we have created an incredible sense of depth and detail. Tua for Brown. Now that our sky is completely dry, it's time for my favorite parts, splattering white quash for the stars. So after loading my brush with white guash, I'm gently tapping it over my finger to create a galaxy of tiny sparkling points. While you're mixing your guash, remember that it should reach a creamy, ink like consistency. If it's too thick, it won't splatter. And if it's too watery, the stars will fade as they dry. Okay, so I'm concentrating more platters near the center where we did our free play clouds to suggest the milky wave. Keep adding more platters until your sky is completely filled. Okay? I think that's about it. And now for the final time in this series, the satisfying tape peel for the last time to reveal the crisp white borders. And as we are peeling the tape, we can see that the deep moody sky and the lone tree now sits perfectly framed, capturing that quiet ethrel magic of a vast night sky. I'm so proud of the atmosphere we have created in this piece. It's the perfect luminous end to our six day series. I can't wait to see our own cosmic skies and lone trees glowing in the project gallery. In the next lesson, we will conclude our watercolor journey. See you there. Bye bye. Oh 17. FINAL REVEAL & CONCLUSION: Looking back at our six day challenge, we've traveled through so many different modes from the soft pink buffer in our hazy highland ridges to the free play and water blooms of our starry night finale. We've learned to embrace the Oops moment with a simple paper towel and explore how the white of our paper can create a lunar glow that brings a landscape to life. Every layer you've added has been a step toward mastering these atmospheric water coalitic needs. Thank you so much for joining me in this class. It has been an absolute joy to paint alongside you and see your progress. Please don't forget to photograph and upload your full six painting collection to the Project Gallery. I'll be heading in there to see your beautiful work and leave my feedback until our next class, keep chasing the light and happy painting.