Dance with your Brush : Learn to Paint a Stunning Northern Lights with Watercolor

1. Let's go!: If you ask anyone about what's on their bucket list, there will be one thing in common, what else other than watching Northern lights? I know you are also dreaming about witnessing this magical dancing lights one day just like me. Hello everyone. My name is Zaneena Nabeel. I'm a mother, an artist, an architect, and an art instructor. I'm originally from India and I'm currently residing in Dubai. In case you just happened to join this class and if you don't know much about me, I would recommend you to follow me on Instagram. That's where I post about my wins, my feels, and everything that's related to art. It's been three years since I decided to quit my architecture career, to pursue a filtering art. I think it is one of the best decisions I have ever taken in my life. I sell my artworks, I do exhibitions once in a while, and I also do coaching classes for other artists. But more than all of this, I enjoy teaching art, whether it's in-person or online. That's something I'm really passionate about. Over the past years, I have got the opportunity to teach more than 50,000 students from all around the world and that's an achievement I'm really proud of. Today, I'm here to invite you all to a beautiful journey where you're going to experience watercolors like never before. We are going to let go of the control that we have over the medium, and we are going to allow the colors to dance on the paper and create a colorless northern lights. It's going to be a short and relaxing class. We will start by discussing about the materials, and then we will take a deep look at the color palette. Choosing the right colors is really important to get that magical feel for your northern lights, otherwise you won't get bad contrast. So that's something we'll explore in this class. Using the colors we have chosen we'll paint a gorgeous northern lights. If you're ready to give it a try, come along and join me to experience this card northern light. 2. Class Overview: [MUSIC] Now, let's take a quick look at how the class is organized. We'll start by learning about the different materials that you will need. I will be explaining about each and every material that you will need in detail. Then we will look at the color palette. Again, this is also a very elaborate session where I will explain about each and every color with their pigment number and properties. From there we will straight away get into the project. You don't need to master any specific techniques to paint this course's northern lights. I'll be teaching everything as we go. Each and every step will be explained in a detailed way so that you can follow along. We will learn to paint this turning sky, and we will also learn to paint a gorgeous mountain, and then we'll also learn how to add more full grown elements to make our painting look more beautiful. In short, it's a fun and relaxing class which is packed with the right amount of information so that you can paint this charming northern lights without stressing a lot. [MUSIC] 3. Before we begin: [MUSIC] Before we start pouring the paint onto the paper, there are few quick things that I want to talk about. The first thing is, in order to get the best results for your northern lights, you should stop whenever you feel like you're happy with the blend. This may sound a bit silly, but then it's absolutely true. I have spoiled many of my paintings by overworking on the sky. Whenever you feel like you're happy with the blend and you have got that beautiful contrast, just leave it there. I may apply another layer or I may add some darker tones, but just ignore that. You should be the one deciding on whether you want to apply some darker tones or whether you are happy with a blend. That's something that you need to keep in mind. Just because I'm adding another layer or I'm dropping in more darker tone, it doesn't mean you need to do the same. If you feel like your paper's drying or if you feel like you're happy with the result, that is it. You don't need to add any extra paint or any extra darker tones just because I'm doing it. You should be the one taking decisions for your painting. That is one thing that you need to keep in mind. Because I personally have spoiled a lot of paintings by overworking the sky. Literally just few seconds back I was loving the sky and few seconds after, just because I added a lot more paint and that didn't blend properly, I had to discard the painting. I don't want this to happen to you and that is the reason why I'm telling you this earlier. Whenever you are happy with your blend and whenever you are happy with your sky, that is it, don't overwork on your sky. Now, the other thing that I want to talk about is the shape for your dancing lights. For the painting that I'm doing today, I'm going with a very normal shapes for the dancing lights. If you want to go with the more swirly and curvy line, that's totally up to you. You can decide on the way you want your dancing lights to be. The last thing I want to talk about is the color choices for your northern lights. I have chosen a green and blue color palette for my northern light, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you should be going with the same colors. You can choose the colors that you want to work with. After all, you're doing this painting for yourself, not for me. If you want to go with pink or violet or purple or any other color, just go with that. Just follow your gut and go with the colors that you would like to work with. 4. Materials you'll need: Thank you so much for joining. I'm super thrilled to have you in here. First of all, let me take you through all the materials you will need in detail and I thought, it will be easy for you guys to understand the materials if I have the real class production front office so that you can relate and understand the materials. It is not really necessary to have the exact same brand of art supplies that I'm using in this class. You can go with whatever you have, just kind of similar. Here you go. Start with the paper. I'm going to use Arches cold press watercolor paper, which is 100% cotton and this one has 140 LB. It's an artist-grade watercolor paper. Today I'm going to do the painting in one whole sheet. So that means, the painting is going to be 23 centimeter by 31 centimeter. You are free to choose the size that you want. You can go for a much bigger size or a much smaller size. It's totally your choice, but I would suggest you to go with any artist-grade watercolor paper. It can be any brand but go with a paper with some 140 LB minimum and it is 100% cotton to get the best results. Now for the painting that we're going to do today, you will have to fix your paper onto any backing board. It can be a piece of cardboard or a writing board or an old magazine. Anything that you can fix your paper onto. I normally use this MDF panel, but the painting that I'm going to do today is quite huge, so I'm just going to use the backboard of this Arches watercolor pad. Just grab anything that you can fix your paper onto. It can be slightly bigger, or of the same size of your paper. Now to fix the paper onto the board, I'll be using a masking tape. This one is a very normal stationary board masking tape. It's not a painter's tape or any expensive tape, as we'll be using multiple layers of water and paint that is stone cut and with that you will get a clean border, so for today's painting the purpose of masking tape is just to secure the paper onto the board. Just use any of the masking tape that you normally use. The next thing is the colors. As you can see here, the sky is going to be a combination of green and blue. I have added details section where I'm explaining about the colors, the brand, their pigment number, and automate shapes, if you don't have the same color. So you will find all the information there. Next, you will need a mixing palette to mix the colors. So this one is a ceramic mixing palette, which has three notions and I think it was just perfect for the painting part we're doing today as we have made majorly working with three colors and we need to turn them into a liquid form. The design of this palette is just perfect. I would suggest you too go with a palette which has a bigger division so that you can prepare that liquid mix of the color, if you're using a palette, which has smaller divisions, there are chances you may run out of paint in between and this may defect the blending of the colors. You can go with either ceramic or plastic. It doesn't really matter but having bigger divisions really helps so that you can prepare enough of paint in advance. Now just in case if you don't have a pallet with bigger divisions, don't worry, just grab some small cups or small bowl from your kitchen. Just be sure to clean it properly and keep it back. Now let's talk about the brushes. The first brush you will need is a hake brush or any wide flat brush. As we're going to do a wet on wet technique today, you will need a bigger brush to make the entire paper wet. If it is a wide brush, you can apply water onto a larger area quite easily. If it's a smaller brush, you will have to apply multiple times. That's the only difference. If you don't have a hake brush, you can use any of your normal flat brush, but just be sure there is no paint on your brush. Clean it properly before you apply water on your paper and just be sure there is no paint stains from your previous painting. That one was to make the people wet. Now, these are the other two brushes I'll be using to apply paint onto the background, both of them are round brush. This one has size number 12 from silver black silver brush. I'll be using this brush to apply this green streaks. You can use any of the mediums to bigger size high strong brush, the brand doesn't matter. It is just to apply those streaks. The next brush I have here is a quill brush, size number six, and it is from Princeton. As you could see here, this brush is quite huge and it can hold a lot of paint, and that means I can apply paint onto a larger area quite easily. That is the main reason why I'm using this brush today. I'll be using this one to apply the blue paint onto the sky. What I did is, I kept one brush for green and one brush for blue. This way I don't need to clean my brush in between. If you don't have two brushes that's absolutely okay. You just need to clean the brush in-between. That's the only task. Now, let me show you the other brush you will need. This one is a flat brush, is a half-inch flat brush from Princeton. So the first step is to apply green and blue onto the sky, we are just going to drop in that wet paint, and after that, we need to smoothen those dancing lights, this flat brush uses mainly for that. I'll be using these brushes to paint the sky. Then to paint the snowy ground, I'll be using a wider flat brush. This one is a three-by-four-inch flat brush from Zen art. As the size of the painting was quite huge, it is easier for me to paint using a vital brush and that is the main reason why I'm using a bigger brush flat to apply paint onto the ground. This way is easier to blend and I can apply the paint onto a larger area quite quickly. Finally, you will need a smaller size, strong fresh. This one is size number four, and it is from silver black velvet brush. You can use any of your medium to small-sized strong brush, it would be great if it has a pointed tip so that it is easy for you to apply the details and when you're painting the tree, it will be really helpful. Otherwise, you can use a detail brush to add those branches. So those are the brushes you will need for today's painting. I know it is quite a lot. It is just that I don't want to waste any time in-between washing off the paint from my brush, I'll just quickly run through all the brushes one more time. This one is a two-inch heck brush and I'll be using that to apply a clean coat of water onto the sky as the last onto the bottom. Then I have these three brushes which I have kept mainly for the sky. The first two are two round brushes, one is to apply green and the other one is to apply blue so that I can apply them continuously. I don't need to wait in-between to wash out the paint from my brush. Then I have this flat brush. Once I apply the green and the blue, I'll be using this brush to clean them off. This is just to make that colors look smooth. These are the three brushes I'll be using for the sky. I have two more brushes. This one is a three-by-four-inch flat brush to apply paint onto the snowy ground. Then the last brush is a smaller-sized round brush to apply the details. I hope now it is clear. You can choose any similar brushes. Feel free to reduce the number of brushes if you feel like you can use the same brush in multiple situations. The next thing you will need is two jars of water. Whenever you're working with watercolor, it is always recommended to have two jars of water. One has to stay clean and the other ones are supposed to help the paint from your brush. I normally use heavy transparent glass jars so that I can see when the water is getting dirty and I can easily replace them. Because if you use muddy water for your painting, it will affect the freshness of the colors. So it is really recommended to use two jars of water. One has to stay clean, otherwise, you can keep replacing them quite often. We need to add a simple sketch of a mountain, for that you will need a pencil and an eraser. Last but not least, you will need a paper towel or a cotton cloth to dump off the excess amount of water and paint from your brush. Alright, so that summarizes all the materials you will need to create these gorgeous dazzling lights. Go get them ready and let's get started. 5. Let's choose the colors: [MUSIC] We had a look at the materials we need, but we're here to look at the colors, so let's check them out. [MUSIC] It is quite obvious that I'm going to use green and blue for the sky. I'm going to give you the exact pigment number, the brand, and the name of the color, so that you can get something similar. I absolutely love this color combination. It has a beautiful contrast, all which is what northern light is all about. Here are the three gorgeous colors that I'm going to use for this dancing lights. The first one, that gorgeous green, is phthalo green light from Sennelier. It's a very pretty, vibrant, and intense green. I absolutely love to use this for Northern light. Then the next color I have here is phthalo blue red. This comes from rembrandt. This is one of my favorite color. I use it quite a lot for skies as well as for seascapes. Then the last color I have here is indigo. This one is from the brand Shinhan. I think you all may have indigo, maybe from a different brand. The other two colors are not that common, but don't worry about that. I have alternate colors for you, just in case if you don't have the same color. Now let's perch out all these colors, I will start with this green. You can see here it's a very pretty, vibrant, and intense color, which is just perfect for our northern lights. Here is a closer look. Look at that. Such a pretty color, right? I love to use this color for northern lights. It brings that contrast and very magical feel for northern lights. This one is called phthalo green light, and the pigment number is PG7 PY153. I'll be using green to add these dancing lights, you can see that here. Now, just in case if you don't have this color, you don't need to worry at all. I'm going to show you a way you can create a similar color using lemon yellow, and any blue you have got. First, let me squeeze out a bit of lemon yellow onto my palette. I'll just take a little. Now, I'm going to mix a little love phthalo blue with lemon yellow. The blue that you are using doesn't need to be phthalo blue. I'm using phthalo blue just because I have that on my palette already. You can use Prussian blue, cerulean blue, or ultramarine blue, or any of the blue that you have caught. Just mix a little of blue with lemon yellow, you can see that green here already. The color that I added first looks slightly yellowish, I wanted more of a greenish color. Keep adding more blue until you get the perfect green for your northern lights. You can see the variation of the color. The first one is more yellowish, and as I come down, I added more blue, and it turned out more greenish. I just use some lemon yellow, and mix that with phthalo blue-red, and I created a green similar to phthalo green light. Try this out using different blues that you have got, maybe cerulean blue or ultramarine blue gives you a much more vibrant green and Prussian blue. So give it a try, and understand the color that you can create by mixing them. I'm going to give it another try. I'm just taking out some paint directly from this tube, and I'm mixing that with some blue. Let me swatch that out. You can't see that gorgeous green, this is exactly what we need for our northern lights. We'll be adding some taco blue next to that, to bring in that contrast. The green has to be really bright and intense. This is the color we need. If you don't have phthalo green light, just mix some lemon yellow with any of the blue that you have got, and create a liquid mix of this color. I hope that is clear. Now let's take a look at the second color, which is phthalo blue-red. I'm just going to keep this aside, and I will take another piece of paper. Now, let's swatch out phthalo blue-red. This one is from rembrandt. It is this blue you see here, it's a very pretty blue. It is really vibrant and intense. You don't need to worry if you don't have phthalo blue-red, we just need an intense and vibrant blue. It can be ultramarine blue or Prussian blue or cerulean blue or any other blue that I have got. Don't worry if you don't have the exact same color. Any bright blue will work. Now, I'm going to swatch this out. When you are painting northern lights, you need to really work on the contrast of the colors. It is that contrast which brings that magical feel to your painting. It is really important to work with the contrast of the colors. Take out a piece of paper and try out all the blues that you have got, and go for the bright and the intense one. Maybe you can try spelching your blue next to green, so that you can understand which one looks better with the green. Here's a closer look of the color. The pigment number is PB15, and it's a color with a single pigment. You can see how well these two colors are going together. It has a beautiful contrast. This is what you should be checking when you are swatching your colors. Go for the colors which are highly pigmented and which really stands out. [NOISE] Now we have one more color left for the sky, which is indigo. I'm quite sure you all may have indigo, maybe from a different brand. The one I'm using here is from the brand Shinhan. You can use any indigo that you have got. The brand doesn't really matter. We'll be using indigo mostly towards the outer corners, to bring in a really great contrast, and will be using the same color for the snowy ground as well as for the mountains. Here's a closer look of indigo. This one is also a color with a single pigment which is PB66. Those are the three colors I'll be using for the sky. If you want a similar feel for your northern lights, you can try out colors in a similar range. Maybe just look at the pigment number, and choose the ones which are closer to these. But according to me, your major focus should be on the green. Try and create a green color using different blues and lemon yellow. So put your major focus on the green and get that right, because it is these dancing lights which brings that magical feel to your painting. That green color really needs to stand out from your entire painting. Otherwise, you won't get that contrast in your painting. For the blues, you can use any of the blue that I mentioned earlier, but put your major focus on the green. There are two more colors you will need for this painting. The next one is white quash, we'll be using white quash to splatter some stars and also to paint the mountain. Then we'll be using the same to add some details as well. You will need white quash. If you don't have white quash, it is absolutely okay to use white watercolor. Then the last color you will need is black. I'll be using black to add this tree. If you are someone who don't like using black, you can use Payne's gray instead. Those are the colors you will need for today's painting. Quickly go get them ready. I really can't wait to pour them onto the paper. [MUSIC] 6. Prepping the Paper & Colors: [MUSIC] Now, it's time to get into action. I have a jar of clean water here and my palette is also ready. Now, I'm going to take out my paper. Just like I mentioned in the Art Supply section, I'm going to use a full sheet of paper for my watercolor pad. This one is 23-centimeter by 31-centimeter. It's a cold-pressed paper which is 140 lb. I'm going to use one whole sheet. You can decide on the size that you want to work with. It can be much more bigger or it can be much more smaller, it's all up to you. I also mentioned that you will need a backing board to fix your paper. It can be a piece of cardboard, a magazine, or anything that you can fix your paper onto. This watercolor pad just has one paper left. I'm going to fix my paper directly onto this board so that I don't need to run and get a board of a similar size. There is one single sheet left in this particular pad. I'll just tear off the front cover and I will fix my paper onto the board using a masking tape. Depending on the size of the paper you're going with, find a piece of cardboard or a writing board which you can fix your paper onto. It has to be slightly larger or have the same size of your paper. Obviously, it shouldn't be smaller. I'm going to tear off that front cover. I have one single sheet left on this paper pad. Now, I'm going to grab my masking tape and I'm going to fix the four sides. You can use any masking tape that you normally use. As you are using quite a lot of water and paint, there is no guarantee that you will get a clean border. Just don't worry about that. Anyway, I'm planning to cut the border and I'm going to frame this painting. I'm going to do this for my studio. For me, it doesn't really matter if I'm getting a clean border or not. I have applied the masking tape. Now, I'm going to fold that masking tape back and I'm going to fix this onto the backside of the board. I'm running my fingers along that masking tape to make it firm. Also, there won't be any gap in between if you do this. You can also use a ruler instead of your fingers and do the same. Get a backing board, choose your paper, and apply a masking tape onto the four sides of your paper. Right here, I'm using a board which is of the same size of my paper. That is the reason why I need to bring that masking tape to the other side to fix it. If your board is bigger than your sheet, you can fix it the way you normally do. You don't need to do it like this. Just apply masking tape onto the four sides of your paper and firmly fix that onto any hardboard. Just be sure not to fix your paper directly on your table. We'll have to tilt and turn the paper to get the best result. If you fix your paper onto a table, this wouldn't be possible. Let me quickly fix the other two sides. [MUSIC] My paper is ready. I have firmly fixed that onto a backing board. Now let's take out the colors. I already mentioned the colors that we're going to use in today's painting. First, I'm going to squeeze out some indigo. This one is from the [inaudible] The next color is phthalo blue. I already gave you alternate colors, if you don't have phthalo red. Take out any alternate blue if you don't have phthalo blue. You can use Prussian blue, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, or any other blue. We have taken out a dark shade and a medium shade. Now we need to take out our lighter shade, which is the green. The one I'm using here is phthalo green light. This is from Sennelier. Again, if you don't have this color, you know how to create a similar shade using lemon yellow and any blue. Don't worry if you don't have the exact same color. It can be any green and any blue and can be from any plant as well. I have indigo, phthalo blue red, and phthalo green light. Now, I'm going to squeeze these colors onto my palette. Now, if you want to try out the same painting with any other color combination, that's absolutely okay. Get any lighter tone which can be pink or yellow or any other bright and light color. Then you need a medium tone, then you need a darker tone to bring in that contract. Just choose a light color, a medium tone, and a darker tone if you want to try out the same painting with a different color combination. I have squeezed out indigo, phthalo blue, and phthalo green. Now, we need to turn these colors into a liquid form. I will just drop in some water onto these colors and I will turn that into a liquid form. Let's do that. I have a jar of clean water here. I'm taking one of my brush and I'm simply dropping in some water. Don't add a lot of water, just a few drops is all you need. If you add a lot of water, the paint will look really light and it will lose its intensity. We want the colors to be really bright and intense, so just add a few drops of water. Now, you can give it a good stir and make it into a liquid form so that our task is easy while we're painting. We don't need to spend any time preparing the color, we can right away drop that onto the wet background. Choose your paper, fix that onto a board, then choose your colors, turn them into a liquid form and join me in the next section. [MUSIC] 7. Masking the Mountains: We have our paper and colors ready here. Now, I'm going to apply a piece of masking tape a little below the center of the paper. Three-fourth of our paper is going to be the sky and just one-fourth is going to be the snowy ground. Apply a piece of masking tape a little below the center of the paper. Once you have applied the masking tape, just run your fingers on top of them just to be sure there is no gaps in between. We have differentiated between the sky and the ground. Now, we need to add a pencil sketch, which is a mountain. We are not going to make the mountain too huge, we are going with some low-lying mountain. Now, I'm going to add the pencil sketch. You can add the mountains however you want to. You don't need to follow the same profile of the mountain. Maybe if you want to go with a bigger mountain, you could do that. I have added a small mountain on the left side. Now, I'm going to add another one towards the right. I'm continuing that line. Towards the right, I think I will make the mountain a bit taller. This will make our painting look more interesting. Just be sure not to add all the mountains in a similar shape and similar height, go with a very organic sheet, which will automatically bring in some realistic value to your painting. The sketch is ready. Our next task is to mask out the mountains using a masking tape. Instead of a masking tape, we can also use a masking fluid if you prefer that. Our intention is to retain the paper white of the mountains. We just need to cover that up. You can either use a masking fluid or a masking tape. There's going to be a masking fluid from Daniel Smith. If you're having masking fluid, you can cover up your mountain, but you will need quite a lot depending on the size of your mountain. I would prefer using a masking tape. If you're using masking fluid, you will have to leave your painting for drying for a couple of hours. You will use quite a lot of time. I'm going to cover up the mountain using a masking tape. If you have a more wider masking tape, that would be really great. The one I'm using here is one masking tape. I will need to use some more for the right side. In case if you have a masking tape off two-inch or more, you can directly use that. I have covered the mountains. I have applied masking tape on top of it. Now, I'm going to crop my pencil and I'm just going to copy that outline. You see that? I have just traced that outline onto the masking tape. Now, I will remove the masking tape and cut it out in that shape. I can stick it back. This is a really easy method. I would prefer using a masking tape instead of a masking fluid. I have taken out the first piece. Now, I'm going to grab a scissors and I will just cut that shape out. Then I will stick it back. If you're using masking fluid, you will need quiet a lot to cover up the entire mountain. With a masking tape, the task was quite easy. You just need a small piece of masking tape. Save up your masking fluid for some other complicated painting. For this one, we just need a piece of masking tape. I normally use masking fluid for the shapes which are very difficult to cover using masking tape. Those cases, obviously, you will need to use masking fluid. But for this one, the shape of the mountains are not that complicated. You can see it here. I easily cut the first piece. Now, I'm sticking that back. I will follow that outline and I will gently press that back onto the paper. It's on the plane. Now, I'm going to take out the other piece. In similar way using a scissor, I will cut that mountain and I will stick it back. Please be sure not to put a lot of pressure when you are applying the masking tape first. Once you have added the outline and once you put it back, you can put more pressure. You can run your fingers multiple times just to be sure there's no gaps in between. This will prevent the water from seeping into the mountain. In the first round, you don't need to put a lot of pressure. I hope the idea is clear. Now, let me quickly finish this. I have one more piece left. This one has nearly done. Now, [MUSIC] I'm going to stick it back. Our pack task is done. Now, I'm going to grab an eraser because the second mountain I stuck onto the paper, it's not really in place. There is some table pencil lines, I'll just erase that off. That's done. Now, it's time to pour in the paint onto the paper and play with them. 8. Let's dance with the brsuh: [MUSIC] Now I think it's time to get messy, choose your colors, add some water and turn them into a liquidy form and let's pour them onto the paper. I have already prepared the liquid mix of the colors here. I'm going to take out my hake brush and I'm going to apply a clean coat of water onto the sky. Choose any of your bigger size brush, this way you can apply water onto a larger area in a single stroke, otherwise you will need to run your brush multiple times to make the entire paper wet. Just like I mentioned in the art supply section, I have two other brushes ready here, two round brushes. One is for green and the other one is for blue. This way I don't need to wash my brush in-between and I can save up a lot of time. According to the size of the painting that you're doing today, choose your brushes accordingly. If you are doing a smaller painting you don't need such a huge brush, but if you're doing a bigger painting like mine you'll need to have bigger brush to apply paint onto a large area. [NOISE] First I'm going to apply a clean coat of water onto the entire sky. We have covered up the mountain so you don't need to worry at all. You can simply apply coat of water onto the entire sky. Make your paper evenly wet. Run your brush multiple times just to be sure the water has reached everywhere. I normally use this hake brush only for applying water onto the paper so it is always clean. But in case if you're using a brush that you normally use for painting just try it on a scrap piece of paper and be sure there's no paint still on it from your previous painting. The paper is evenly wet, now I'm going to grab my round brush. This one is a size number 12 round brush from Silver Black Velvet brush, and I'm starting with green. You can see my paint is not too watery. It is still very intense and thick. Now, I'm going to drop on this green color onto the paper. I'm going with very simple curvy lines. I'm not making it too swirly, but if you want to make it too swirly that's totally up to you. Now let's make it a bit more thicker because when we add paint next to it, it will get slightly thinner. Now I'm going to add the other line towards the left corner. That is it. I won't be adding any more green. For the remaining area I'll be using teal blue and to make it more darker I will be dropping in some indigo onto the corners. That is green. [NOISE] Now I'm going to wash all the paint from my brush and I'm going to switch to the second color which is teal blue. I'm using a quill brush for blue because there's quite a lot of blue that I need to apply, and with this brush, I can apply blue onto a larger area quite quickly so that I can apply the paint before the paper dries up. I have taken enough of paint on my quill brush. This brush can hold quite a lot of paint. I'm going to add this onto the area we have in-between the green. There is nothing complicated here it is simply to fill that area we have in between. We have a larger area on the right side, let's fill that up as well. Take enough of paint and simply fill that up. Now the anterior sky is filled with color. We have applied teal green as well as teal blue. It looks like a lot of green on this corner so let's apply some blue over here. So we have applied paint onto the entire sky, now we need to add more darker values to bring in that contrast. I'm not washing the paint off from my brush, I'm directly going with indigo. So I'm taking out enough of indigo on my quill brush. I'm applying this onto the corners to bring in that contrast, you can see those bristles, it is full of paint. That's the main reason why I took this brush for the blue part because it can hold a lot of paint and I don't need to keep refilling my brush. I'm going to apply this onto the corners, some over here, add a little over here as well. Wherever I had applied blue, I'm going to apply some indigo and I'm going to add any onto the green part. We'll only be adding darker values onto the blue, we won't be adding any onto the green. We are going to leave it as it is, we want the green to be really fresh and vibrant. In case if you want to add more darker values you could do that. I'm going to add a little next to the green. This is basically to give a shape to that dancing lights so run your brush in a swirly way. We still need that green so don't add a lot of blue. I'm going to keep this brush aside and then I'm going to grab my flat brush. We need to smoothen those areas where we had applied blue next to the queen. This one is a half-inch flat brush from Princeton. It's a clean brush, it doesn't have any paint. Our next step is to smoothen out those dancing lights, right now it doesn't have any shape. You need to keep a paper towel next to you, and we are going back with green. Take out some paint on your brush, dab it on a paper towel, make sure it is not too watery. We have some green which isn't that watery, using this brush I'm going to clean out those dancing lights. So from the top I'm running my brush until I reach the bottom. I'm not stopping in-between, this is something that we need to keep in mind. You can see that blue color spreading into the green creating a feathery effect here. This is what we are getting rid off by running our brush from top to bottom. See that? You can see the difference from the top and the bottom. Every time you do this clean your brush on a paper towel and go back put some green which isn't that watery then keep running your brush in a swirly way from top to bottom. Don't stop it in-between. It is more like you're dancing with your brush so take out some green paint on your brush and run that in a swirling way but keep in mind not to stop it in-between. You should be doing this swirly line in a one single go from top to bottom. You shouldn't be breaking that in-between. So that's a smaller one, now we need to do the same thing for the bigger dancing lights as well. Don't put a lot of pressure, gently run your class from top to bottom in a swirly way so that it can smoothen out those colors. Your background might be still slightly wet so make use of the time and quickly run your brush. We are not going to touch the blue part, we will be leaving it as it is. We will only clean up this area where we have those dancing lights. You can keep repeating the step until you're happy with the result, but don't overdo. The moment you feel like you're happy with the result or the moment you feel like your paper is drying that's a sign that you need to stop. I got my sign, my paper is drying so there is no point me repeating the same step and I think I'm happy with the result as well. There it is, now I'm going to leave the sky for drying. I hope you guys enjoyed painting the simple gift card with Northern lights and I hope you guys are happy with the result as well. 9. Splatter splatter splatter!: This guy has dried completely. Our next task is to add some stars. I'll just clean this green area. Now I'm going to squeeze out some white gouache onto my palette. I'm using white gouache for the stars. If you don't have white gouache, you can also use white watercolor. But gouache is more opaque and the color won't fade away when it dries. That is one of the main reasons why I always recommend using white gouache instead of white watercolor for adding stars as well as for adding highlights. But if you don't have gouache, that's okay, let's go with watercolor. No matter whether you're using white gouache or white watercolor, squeeze a little onto your palette. Now, I'm going to use a smaller brush to splatter the stars. This one is a size Number 4 round brush, add two drops of water, and turn your white paint into a slightly watery consistency. Don't add a lot of water. If you add a lot of water, the paint will become too loose and it will lose its opacity, so don't add a lot of water, just few drops is all we need. To get the right size of the stars, it is really important to work with the right consistency of the paint. It shouldn't be too thick and it shouldn't be too loose as well. It should be something in-between. Whenever I'm not too sure about the consistency, what I do is I take out a paper towel and I gently dab my brush on a paper towel multiple times to remove the excess amount of water from my brush. The simple trick is really helpful to get those tiny stars, you won't end up creating bigger stars. Take out some paint on your smaller brush and if you're not too sure about the consistency, dab it on a paper towel. Now, take out another brush and gently tap on the brush to create tiny splatters. I'm gently tapping on my smaller brush where I have taken paint. You can see the size of the stars, they are really tiny. If you're still not sure about the consistency of the paint, maybe you can take out any old painting of yours and try splattering on that to see the size of the stars. When you're really sure about the consistency, you can splatter on your main painting. Splattering the stars onto your Northern lights, it is a really fun process, but it is a really messy process as well. I would suggest you do keep away all your expensive belongings, because this can create a real mess. I'm going to apply some more stars, mostly on the outer corner where we have those darker shades. Towards the bottom, we have lighter tones, so the stars won't be really visible. I'm focusing more on the outer area where we have applied indigo. Looks like I have added in enough stars. Now using the same brush, I'm going to add some bigger stars as well, which means I'm just adding some bigger dots. For this step instead of your brush, you can also use a white [inaudible]. Maybe that will be more convenient. Anyway, just pick some random area and add in some bigger dots. [MUSIC] I have added enough stars. I'm really happy with the way this guy has turned out, especially the color combination that we have used. The next step is to peel off the masking tape and paint the snowy mountains. I will catch you in the next section. 10. Snowy mountains: Here we are. I just feel like I should have added some more darker tone to over here. That might have brought a more contrast to our painting and it would have really enhanced those dancing lights, but never mind. Anyway, our next task is to paint the mountains. I'm going to slowly remove the masking tape. Looks like there were some gap and some paint has seeped into the mountains. Never mind, we can fix that with white gouache. The rest of it looks fine. First, we will paint this new ground, then we can paint the mountains. I will just add a line over here, which is the horizon line. We have a clear separation between the mountain as well as the ground. I will need to take clean water. Both of them has [inaudible]. First, we have to apply a coat of water onto the snowy ground. We're going to make it wet, then we're going to apply the paint on it. I'm going to switch back to my hake brush. This one is a two inch hake brush, the same one I used for the sky. I'm applying a clean coat water. Just like how I mentioned while you are painting the sky, according to the size of your painting, choose a bigger size brush. If it's a smaller one, you can simply use your three by four inch brush or any of those smaller flat brush. Just be sure not to add any water onto the sky when you are closer to the horizon line. At two places, we have left some gap. At those places you will have to be really careful. The paper is evenly wet. Now, I'm going to take our by three by four inch flat brush. This one is from Zainab supplies and three by four inch flat brush. I'll change to a bigger size black brush just because the area that I have to paint is quite huge. With a bigger size brush, I'll be able to apply the paint onto the paper quite quickly. I had my other half inch flat brush here. If I use this one, I will have to run my brush multiple times to fill up the entire area. That is the main reason why I'm using a bigger brush, but depending on the size of your paper, you can choose your brush accordingly. For the snowy ground, we'll be using indigo. I will just flip my palette. Now, I'm going to grab some indigo, adding two drops of water. We're going to make the bottom medium more darker and the top more lighter. We can see the color I'm using, it's a medium tone of indigo. Over here, I will go with a medium tone. As I'm approaching the horizontal line, I will make the color lighter. It's going to be a simple gradient wash of indigo, lighter on the top and darker at the bottom. I will just wash out the paint from my brush and tap it on a paper towel. I want the top area to be really light. If possible, try to make it a clean blend. In case if you prefer going from top to bottom, you can start from the lighter tone and make the color darker as you come down. I went from bottom to top and I started off with a darker tone. But if you prefer having the paint the other way around, from light to dark, from top to bottom, that is absolutely okay. We just want a gradient wash of indigo. You can see how pretty that color is looking, it is really light along the horizon line. Maybe I think we can make the bottom a bit more darker, because when the color dries, it will be slightly lighter. Maybe we can drop in a bit more darker tone just at the bottom. I'm not going to touch the top part. I'm quite happy with the shade over the top. That aside, now let's wait for this to dry. The sky has dried completely. Now, it's time to paint the snowy mountains. I have my brush which I use for splatting the stars, it still has some white paint on it, I haven't washed it. I'm going to use this white gouache to paint a snowy mountain as well. What I'm going to do is, I will just mix this with indigo to create a lighter shade. I don't want to transfer and look for my snowy mountains, and that is the reason why I'm mixing some white gouache with indigo. You can see the color here. I have created a light tone of indigo by adding some white gouache. If you would like to have that transparent feel for your snowy mountains and through a white gouache, you can simply add some water and turn the indigo into a lighter tone. Now, I'm going to apply this color on the top of my mountain. You can see the color here at a light tone of indigo. I'm using my size Number 4 brush to add the paint. Now, as I'm coming down, I'm making the color slightly darker by adding some more indigo into the same mix. On the top, I have a lighter tone, and towards the bottom I have a medium tone of indigo. Isn't that dark? It is just slightly darker than the color we have used on top. Because we need to get that snowy feel for our mountain. If you're adding a lot of darker values, you won't get that snowy feel. We'll be adding some details and some dry brush patterns using a darker tone. But for the background layer, we want to make it as light as possible. I'm going to do the same thing for the other mountain as well. I've started off with a lighter tone. As I'm coming down closer to the horizon line, I'm adding some darker values. I think you can get that snowy feel already, we have just used lighter tone of indigo and we made the color slightly darker along the horizon line. The technique that I'm using here to paint the snowy mountain is really easy. Trust me, you'll be able to paint a very realistic looking snowy mountain using this technique. I have added the base layer. Now using the same color, I'm going to add some deeper values in between to make our mountain look more realistic. We need to apply this deeper tones while the background is still wet so we can finish the first part of the mountain on the right side. Once we are done with that, we can paint the one on the left. First, I'm adding some deeper tones over here just to distinguish between the two mountains. Now starting from the tip of the mountain, I'm adding some deeper tones towards the right side. I'll do the same thing for the other mountain as well. You can add few over the bottom. It might look a slightly messy at this point, but then that's absolutely okay. Will be smudging the color using a slightly wet brush and we'll make it look better. Right from the tip of the mountain, you can add some deeper values towards the right side. Now tap your brush on a paper towel, and simply smudge that into the background. We don't want those patterns to be too prominent. That's the reason why I'm smudging that. I also need to fix these spots here. I'll be taking a lighter tone of the same color and I will simply cover that up. I'm adding some more white gouache and creating a similar color as the background and I'm simply cutting that up. Right now the mountains are looking quite dull, but we'll be adding more deeper values, will be adding some dry brush patterns using a darker tone of indigo as well as black. You will slowly see how the mountain is starting to look more realistic. I have covered those spots. Now using the same color, I'm going to apply some more deeper values towards the right side of the mountains to make those patches look more smoother. Right now they're looking quite prominent. I want a very smoother look for the mountain. I'm just smudging those colors using a lighter value. As we have used white gouache along with indigo in the background, it will be quite easier for you to smudge the color. If you like your paints to dry, you can add a little water to your paint and you can keep on smudging the color until you feel like you have got a smoother effect. Looks like this one is done. Now, we need to do the same thing for the other mountain as well. I'm starting off with a lighter value of indigo. I have added some white gouache, just like we did earlier. I'm applying that towards the top of the mountain. As I'm coming down, I'm making the color more darker by adding some more indigo into the same mix. Now apply that, and make it a smooth blend. This is the base layer. We'll be adding more details onto this, just like how we did on the previous mountain. That's the base layer. As we have used gouache, it will be very easy for you to blend the color. Now using a slightly darker tone, I'm going to add some deeper values towards the right side of the mountain. Have taken the paint on my brush, now starting from the tip of the mountain, I'm adding an irregular line, and I'm adding some deeper values towards the right side. That is it. We have applied the base layer for both the mountains. Next, we'll need to add some dry brush patterns onto the mountain to make it look more realistic. I'm going with a medium tone of indigo, which is slightly darker than the color we used earlier. We need to turn our brush to be really dry, so I'm dabbing my brush on a paper towel. The brush I'm using here is size number four. I would recommend to use a brush of a similar size, don't use a bigger brush because the patterns that we need to add should be really small. If you add bigger patterns, the mountain will go out of proportion, so you should be adding really small dry brush patterns. Take a medium tone of indigo on your brush, dab it on a paper towel and turn that into a really dry brush. Now, keep on adding some dry brush patterns onto the mountain where we have applied those medium tones. Concentrate on the areas we have applied medium tones earlier, and over there, you can add some more dry brush patterns. But be sure not to add a lot, we are going with a minimum look for the mountain. Concentrate more on the right side of the mountains where we have added those medium tones. You can see the way I'm adding them, I'm not adding a lot. Your brush should have bare minimum paint, so keep dabbing your brush on a paper towel multiple times just to be sure there is no enough paint on your brush. If there is a lot of paint on your brush, these patterns will look really prominent and you won't get that simple look for your mountain. Maybe you can try scratching on a scrap piece of paper just to be sure there's no enough paint on your brush. Let me add few more dry brush patterns, then I'll be done with this mountain. Then I'll need to do the same for the small mountain we have on the left side. Okay, so this one is done, you can see how I have used very minimum details and still it is looking so pretty. Now we need to do the same thing for the other mountain as well. This one is a really small mountain, so it is going to be comparatively easy than the other one. I'm adding some dry brush patterns along the right side. I'm adding few on the other side as well, but my main focus is on the right side that we have added those deeper tones earlier. It looks like that, is also a turn. Now we need to do the same thing using black. If you're someone who don't use black in your painting, you can use Payne's gray instead. I'm going to squeeze out some black onto my palette. Before we start adding the details using black, there is one thing that we need to do, we need to indicate the location of the tree that we're going to add, and also we need to add some shadows on the ground. Let's finish that first, then we can come back to the mountain and add the final details. I have taken my pencil. This is where I'm going to add the tree. It's going to be a very interesting tree. I'm just going to add a rough location and a rough shape. This is just a reference. It may change into something different when I'm adding paint on it. That's a basic shape. Now, I'm going to take out a lighter tone of indigo, and I'm going to add some shadows on the ground. After that, we can go back to the snowy mountain, and when we're done with the snowy mountain, we will be painting the tree. I'm switching back to my size number 4 round brush, and I'm using a very light tone of indigo. Just be sure you're using a lighter tone. Maybe you can try scratching on a scrap piece of paper because the color has to be really light and I don't want you guys to make any mistake. It's a very simple step, I'm going to add two or three thick line using a lighter tone of indigo. One, I will add over here, which is right underneath the tree, just a thick line. Adding the second one, leaving some cap in between. The lines can be slightly inclined or straight, those things doesn't really matter, but be sure you're using a lighter tone of indigo. Also, if you can add the line in a single go, that will be really great. Don't break the line in between. This may spoil that smooth flow of the lines. I have added two lines, now I'm adding another one using a lighter tone. That looks fine. I'm not going to add anymore. Let that dry. Meanwhile, we can add the final details onto the mountain. I'm going to go with black. Just like how we did earlier, I will add some dry brush patterns. The time I'm just using black, that's the only difference. I'm using the same brush, this one is a size number 4 round brush. Take some paint on your brush and tap it on a paper towel just to turn the paint into a dry one. On the same space we have applied earlier, you can add some more dry brush patterns using black or Payne's gray. These deeper tones will give a finishing touch to your mountain, as well as it will make it look more realistic. But we still have to retain that simple look for the mountain. We don't want to make it too busy with so many beetles. Don't add a lot of dry brush patterns, just add few here and there. Just keep in mind the paint shouldn't be too watery. Dab your bush on a paper towel multiple types if you feel like your paint is too watery, otherwise they will look too prominent. We just want the dry brush patterns. Focus mostly on the area where we have added those medium tones, especially on the right side of the mountain. You don't need to add a lot on the left side. On the left side, you can retain most of the lighter values. Go ahead and add in some dry brush patterns using either black or Payne's gray. Concentrate mostly on the area where we have added medium tones and also along the bottom. You can see here how carefully I'm adding those details. I'm not adding a lot. Also the size of the pattern that I'm adding are quite small, they're not too huge, so don't make your mountain too busy by adding a lot of details. You can concentrate on the area where we have added those medium tones, especially towards the right side of the mountain. Just concentrate on the areas where there will be shadows. That's done. Now, I'm going to wash the paint from my brush and I'm going to switch to white gouache. Now, just like how we used indigo and black to add those dry brush patterns, I'm going to use white as well, and will just add some white highlights here and there. I'm not going to add a lot. I'm concentrating mostly on the left side where we have those lighter values. Just add some white highlights using a dry paint. Keep dabbing your brush on a paper towel just to be sure that your paint is not too watery. You can simply add some highlights like this. Don't add a lot, we just need a little here and there. Don't use very thick white opaque paint, dab between a paper towel. If you use thick opaque paint, it will be really prominent. We don't want these white patterns to be really prominent. We want a very subtle look for the mountains. That is the reason why I'm telling you to dab the brush on a paper towel and focus mostly on the left side where we have applied those lighter values. This is it. We have added enough of details onto the snowy mountain, their. Now, our final task is to add the tree, and that is going to bring a lot of difference to our painting. 11. Adding the tree: I have already added a reference line. Now I'm going to go back with black. I'm taking enough of paint on my brush. The one I'm using here is a size number four round brush. Now I'm just running my brush over that line I have added here. You can use a thicker line for the main tree trunk, then the rest of the branches that you're going to add onto this can be thinner. Also, run your brush in a very curvy, bumpy manner so that your tree will look more realistic. If you would like to use a different shape for your tree, you could do that, or if you don't want to add any tree at all, that is also totally okay. So decide on what you want for your painting and add your tree accordingly. If you want to push the tree onto the right side or to the left side, even that is also okay. Now I'm going to add the other branches onto the main tree trunk. When you're adding the branches, try to use a brush which has a pointed tip so that you can add them in a very delicate and thin way, otherwise, your tree will go out of proportion. The main tree trunk has to be thicker and also the main branches. Then the smaller branches that you're adding onto that can be thinner. [MUSIC] I have added the overall shape of the tree. Now, onto this, I'm going to add plenty of branches. You can add them however you want to. You don't really need to follow the same way I'm adding them. First, I'm going to add a branch here. Even for that, I'm going with a very curvy and bumpy shape just to make my tree look as realistic as possible. At some places, I'll be adding some longer branches, and at some places, I will just add some small branches. Here, I'm just adding a small branch. I'm making it a little more thicker at the bottom, maybe a little more here as well. Now let's add some branches on the top. Use a brush which has a pointed tip in order to get them really thin and nice. Otherwise, it will look really thick and your tree will go out of proportion. The colors we have used for the sky is quite dark, so maybe you can make the tree trunk a bit more thicker so that it will really stand out, then you can go for some thinner branches. I will make the side also a bit more thicker, running my brush on top of the tree trunk and making it thicker. Now I'm going to add the branches. [MUSIC] I'm quite happy with the way the tree has turned out. I think I won't be adding any more branches. If you'd like to add more, you could do that. Maybe you can use a smaller size brush and add some more thin and delicate branches. This will make your painting look really beautiful. But if you don't want to add, that is also absolutely okay. Now I'm going to wash the paint from my brush, and I'm going to add the shadow for the tree. Our tree has a very interesting shape. We need to somehow make a mirror image of the tree on the ground, so that is what we're going to do next. For that, we need a medium tone of indigo, which isn't really dark and which isn't really light as well. It should be visible from the ground. Go with the medium tone, something similar to the color we use for adding those lines. Add some water. Maybe you can try swatching on a scrap piece of paper just to be sure the color is not really dark because this is a really important step. It will give a lot of realistic value to your painting, so it is very important to get the color right. That's the kind of color that I'm going with. I will prepare some more color in advance so that I won't run out of paint in-between when I'm adding the shadows because it is really important to retain the same color throughout the shadow. It shouldn't be darker at some places and lighter at some places. Make enough of paint in advance and try swatching that on a scrap piece of paper before you apply that onto your main painting. I will swatch that again. That seems perfect. It doesn't really dark and it doesn't really light as well. For the background, we actually have a lighter tone closer to the tree, and towards the bottom, we have a medium tone so the shadow that you're applying should be visible on both the places. That is the same reason why you shouldn't be using a light tone for the shadow. It should be visible over the bottom as well. Once you have the color ready, start from the bottom, right from here, and try to replicate the shape of the tree in the opposite direction. It doesn't need to be exactly the same, just go with a similar shape. You can see here my tree and the shadow is completely different. But if you take an overall look, it does look the same. That's the trick. You don't need to follow each and every curve in a similar way. Just go with the middle image and try to make it similar at some places, but then don't put a lot of pressure to get them right. You can see my tree and the shadow, they are not really the same. But once I finish adding the branches, they are going to look okay. So don't put a lot of pressure in making them exactly the same. You just need to look at the overall shape, don't worry about the rest. I I added the main tree trunk, now I'm going to add some branches onto it. I'm going to add two or three branches on either side. I'm not really looking at whether I'm adding them at the correct position. Also, take a look at the color I'm using here. It isn't really dark and it isn't really light as well. Over the bottom, there we have that medium tone of indigo. Even over there the color is slightly visible. This is what I said earlier. You need to prepare enough of color in advance, otherwise, when you add those shadows there are chances you might run out of paint. It might look slightly weird if you use different colors in the same shadow, so try to make a little paint in advance. I think over here, I took a slightly darker color. I'll just smudge that, otherwise, it may look slightly weird. Over here you can see that joint. I'm going to make my brush slightly wet and I'm going to smudge that so that that joint is not visible. That's done. It isn't really perfect, but I think it serves the purpose. Now, I'm going to go back with black, and I'm going to dab my brush on a paper towel. We need to add some dry brush patterns right underneath the tree, just a few patterns on the ground where the tree is standing. You don't need to add a lot of paint. Don't make it too busy. Keep dabbing your brush on a paper towel multiple times just to be sure there is no much paint on your brush. That is also done. Now I'm going to wash out the paint from my brush again, and I'm going to go back with white gouache. Our last task is to add some more white highlights onto the tree to make it look more gorgeous. We should be using a dried paint. Once you have taken white paint on your brush, dab it on a paper towel. Now I'm adding them along the right side of the tree. Just keep scratching your brush onto the tree and add some white patterns onto the right side of the tree and the branches. You can concentrate on the thicker branches as well as the tree trunk. You don't need to add them for those thin and delicate branches. You can see the way I'm adding it. I'm focusing on the right side of the tree, and I'm just adding some white and dry brush patterns. We don't need a lot. Again, don't make it too busy. Just a few highlights onto the right side. The same can be done onto the other side of the tree as well. Also, you don't need to add them onto the thinner branches. That may look a little weird, so just focus on the thicker branches and the tree trunk. There's one more thing that you need to keep in mind. Don't add them as a thick, bold continuous line. Go with a broken pattern, and you can skip some places in between. You don't need them everywhere. Now, in a similar way, I'm going to add white patterns onto the other side as well. [MUSIC] That is it. We are done with our card, this northern lights. You can see the difference those white highlights made. I'm really happy with the entire painting. Now it's time to peel off the masking tape and admire our card, this northern lights. 12. The final reveal: We have finished our painting. [MUSIC] Now the final task was to peel off the masking tape. I'm not really worried about getting a clean border as I'm going to frame this painting for my art studio. But looks like I have got a clean border at the bottom. Wow. Over here also I have got a clean border. This is not fair; whenever I don't need a clean border it happens to be a clean border. Otherwise, when I'm craving for that clean border, I never get it right. Anyway, no complains, that how life is. Whenever you wish for something you will never get it, but whenever you're not looking for it life surprises you. Anyway, here's the finished painting. I'm quite happy with the way it has turned out. Especially that color contrast we use for the dancing light; it has come out really great. I think it is going to be a perfect addition for my art studio. 13. Yay! You've made it to the end :) : My dear friends, we have made it to the end. Thanks a lot for joining. I hope you all had a great time painting with me. I don't think I will ever get bored of painting Northern light. It is one of my most favorite subject to paint. I love exploring the same topic with different color combination. I really think Northern light is a subject which has endless possibilities when it comes to the color combination and the subject itself. For someone who love painting Northern light just like me, I have added some referencing meters in the project section, which you can try recreating. They are mostly of the same color combination, but the subject is slightly different. I think you're going to have a lot of fun recreating them. If you like my class, I would really love if you can leave a review as well as upload the class projects. This will really help my class reach to a wider audience. That's something I would really love if you can do. Thanks again for joining and happy painting. Bye-bye.