"Give Depth and Character to Your Paintings with Texture"

1. Introduction: Hi, everyone. Hi Anisa, watercolor artist living in Italy. I've been painting with watercolors for as long as I can remember. For me, it's always been a way to connect with the world and bring a little joy into my life. Over the years, I've explored so many styles and techniques. But what I love most is creating vibrant and expressive paintings that capture light and shadows in a unique way. In this class, we'll dive into textures inspired by the incredible details we find in nature, the rough surfaces of rocks, the delicate lines of wood, and the cool weather looks of aged metal. We'll have fun experimenting with various techniques from simple tricks like using salt to more advanced ones like masking and layering. We'll start by creating abstract watercolor studies, focusing on the unique characteristic of natural surfaces like wood and stone. This will help you build confidence and better understanding as we move on to more complex compositions. Whether you are a beginner or you have been painting for a, this class will let you experiment See you in the first lesson. 2. Watercolor supplies: For this watercolor textures project, I use various materials. These include synthetic round brushes in different sizes, as well as synthetic flat brushes. I worked with watercolor paints in pants or tubes and used cotton paper, cold press, fine grain or rough for better texture effects. Additionally, I incorporated household items like salt, plastic wrap, a cutter, a paper trimmer, and a credit card to create unique textures and details. Sometimes I also use masking tape to secure the paper while painting. For the dry brushing technique, my favorite brush is a bamboo brush, also known as a calligraphy brush. These are the materials I frequently use, but you can always work with what you already have 3. Watercolor Basics 1: First, we'll load up some pigment. Box number one, dry method. For this, don't wet the paper beforehand. Start with a drop of water on your brush. It's important to keep it moving as the drop starts to dry, grab more pigment and keep going. Box number two, wet method. Now, we're wetting the paper first. Fill the box with clean water, making sure it's evenly coated. Then grab some pigment and spread the color. This time, you're not working with a single drop of water. Instead, you're landing directly on the wet surface. In the surf box, you create color change. For this, make sure you've got enough of each color ready to go. The key here, work with wet circles and move quickly so the paint doesn't dry. Start with one color, make a circle, then clean your brush, grab the second color, and touch it to the edge of the first circle while it's still wet. The colors will blend and interact naturally. If you wait too long and the first circle dries, you won't get that smooth transition between the two tones. 4. Watercolor Basics 2 : In the box, we'll practice using just the top of our brushes. If you've got different brush sizes, this is a great time to try them out. I'm using a size number eight and a size number four. We'll work with two colors and let it dry when we're done. For the next box, we'll wet the whole surface with clean water. Then we'll add some colour and let it flow. You can also drop one color into another to create soft bury edges. This technique is called a variegated wash. In the third box, we use a thinner brush to do per season exercises if we hold brush in our hand in a more vertical position, we can achieve a thinner line. If we rest the brush on the paper, we'll get sicker lines. We start by working on a line at 10% of the color, and we'll darken it. It's much easier if we do the lightest line and the most concentrated line to brum there. Play with the tones until you have the range of seven. If my brush is not wet enough, it will probably make these bumpy textures. Here, as it's still wet, we can reduce the tone, but what's important is to achieve the light and the darkest lines that I achieve with one pigment. In this box, we'll practice transparencies. To do so, we need to allow time for the color to drive. We'll start with the verticon lines. We can leave about 1 centimeter between them. We'll continue with other exercise while waiting for this exercise to drive. Final step in the first box, we'll paint a block of color and repeat this block in all the boxes. It doesn't have to be perfectly defined. What matters is that the block is consistent. Before applying the next layers, we need to make sure the first code is completely dry. Then we'll add second code to all the boxes, except the first one. The key is to let each layer dry before moving on the next. We have the vertical lines which are dry and we'll draw horizontal lines on this. It is important that they are fully dry to achieve transparency. 5. Create textures with watercolor: For the first circle, I use a dry brush, pay dry of paint so that the paint is transferred to the surface texture of the paper rather than being absorbed into it. For this one, I use an old brush to create in lines with masking fluid. This help preserve fine details and keep the white part in your painting. Lifting method, areas can be lightened by using an eraser, but the painting must be completely dry before this can be attempted. First of all, I will wheel the circle with the paint next with a tool that had a blend end pressed down to the paper. For this technique, I use a white crayon or candle stop and rub it into the paper to impart a craggy speckled effect. Once the masking fluid is dry, paint over it. I'm just using birdsiana with a bit of paints gray. Now we just need to let it dry. Use a credit card or cutter to diff the paint while it's still damp, creating sharp highlights and texture for a more dynamic effect. Wait for it to dry and you can the skin fluid of the way to move in skin fluid or with your finger or better with a plastic razor. 6. Wood you love watercolor: For this exercise, I'm using pan water colors in these shades. Raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt umber, and a darker color like paints gray. For the first wash, I'm using a medium sized flat brush because it fits the shape of my subject well. I load it with plenty of paint so I can cover the paper in bongo. Then I remove the excess color and go over the shadow areas while the paint is still wet. Using a slightly stronger pigment concentration to darken those areas. Next, I use a paper cutter with a rounded tip. You can use anything similar to scratch some lines into the wet paint, mimicking the texture I see on my subject. At this stage, I switch to burnt sienna since it's the closest match to my subject's color and apply a more concentrated layer for definition. Now I change to a round brush, so I one and go back to the first subject. A Butt paints gray to paint the shadow, then move to a smaller brush for details. I use burnt umber for depths, darkening areas where the shadow is strongest. The shadow falls only on the left side because the front is hit by light. Oh For the third subject, which is a small wooden stick, I switch to my bamboo brush and use the dry brush technique we practiced earlier. I work with the colors already on my palette, adding some yellowish tones in certain areas and alternating light and dark shades. I leave some white spots cover to make the painting more interesting. Finally, I add the shadow of the subject as I see it in front of me. If needed, I switch to a smaller brush for the final precise details. 7. Final project1: First layer and softening edges using a round synthetic brush, apply a diluted color mix of ultramarine blue, burned Siena, and cadmium red. This creates the base layer of painting. Then with a smaller size four brush, done with clean water, soften the edges by blending them out. To add texture, sprinkle some salt on the wet surface. Building depths and leaving white spaces. Continue painting. Varying the colors and adding erudim blue. Leave some white spaces to let the painting rise and create a natural stonebke effect. As the stones get larger, switch to a bigger brush that holds more paint. Once the first layer is completely dry, cover the areas you want to preserve and apply a splattering technique with different colors. If some spots look too harsh or large, blend them with a clean, slightly down brush. Dry brush effect. Take a bamboo brush, dip it in dilueted paint, remove excess water, and lightly drag it over the surface to create a dry brush texture. Painting the background wet the background evenly with a flat brush and clean water, making sure to reach all colors. Start applying a coffee like consistency of role and blue and cadmium red from the top, blending downward with a damp brush. Adjust the tones as needed, adding richer color for depths. To make the background more dynamic, add blushes of clean water or paint. Keep the background simple to maintain focus on stones. Final touches and shadows. Once the first layer is dry, apply a second wash with a slightly deeper color blending carefully to avoid hard edges. Where the stones overlap, darken the shadows for depths. Use a smaller brush to add details, and if needed, soften overly sharp edges with a damp brush and tissue. Finishing up, since the background is now integrated with the foreground, we avoid a harsh separation between the stones and their surroundings. With that, the painting is complete. 8. Final project 2: I lay down a very diluted wash of asana, let it spread. Then I add a bit more pigment to the mix and go over it again while it's still wet. With quick brush movements using mostly the top, I try to mimic the texture of wood grain. I repeat the same process on the lower part, leaving some white arrows of the paper untouched. Before the paper dries completely, but while it's still slightly damp, I go in with a second wash. This time using a bird Siena lon similar to coffee. I do the same in the central arrow. Once the first part is dry, I start on the right side by wetting it first with clean water. Then using just the top of my brush, I drop in very diluted color, letting the spread naturally. Next, I apply a second more intense coat using a bamboo effect brush. Adjusting the color intensity based on the reference photo. At this point, I grab a credit card and gently scrap the paper for added texture. For the bottom section, I switch to a wider brush and use a mix of slight luited and dry colour. I let some of paper's white show through alternating between the brush and the credit card for more texture. I repeat the same dry brush technique as before to mimic the wood grain. Once it's dry, I go over the central area again with a darker, more concentrated layer, making sure to leave some of the lighter areas untouched just like in the reference photo. Now, I adjust some lighter section by adding more pigment where needed. If some areas too saturated, I soften them with a clean brush, making sure to keep gaps between the veins. Time for details. Using a ruler or a brush with a fine tip, I paint dark lines with sick colour. Then I remove the masking tape to revo a crisp white border. For the handle, I switch to a smaller brush and apply a light wash of cerulean blue, mixing in a bit of burned siana. After letting it dry, I check for any overly bright white spots and soften them with a light wash from my palette. Finally, I add the shadows first with a very light mix of burned siana and a touch of gray, blending softly with a clean brush. Oh Now, for the final touches with a sin brush, I refine any errors that needed using the colour already on my calle. And with that, I'd say, well done. Got a job. 9. But the journey doesn't end here!: Here we are well done and completing the watercolor textures class. I hope you've enjoyed exploring the wonderful word of watercolor texture as much as I have. Throughout this class, we'll explore a variety of techniques to create stunning watercolor textures. We've learned how to use salt, masking fluid, and dry brushing to add depth and dimension to our paintings. We've experimented with different color combinations and discovered how to translate observations from the natural world. To our artwork. Now, I encourage you to share your final projects in the Skill Share Project Gallery. I'm eager to see what you've created. Thank you again for joining me on this creative adventure. I love to stay connected. You can follow me on skill share and find me on Instagram. I'm always excited to see what you're creating, please share your work with me. Happy painting.