Granulating Watercolor Technique: Painting Vintage Doors and Windows

1. Welcome to Class!: One of the things that makes watercolor really special is granulation. It's a property that is unique for watercolors and can be used to achieve magical effects. It can also ruin a painting if you're not familiar with it. Today, I invite you to join me in the exploration of disenchantment paint property, master it, and use it to your advantage. Hello my good friends, Emily, Anna, and our full-time watercolor artist and educator from Bulgaria. I discovered granulation as probably many of you have by chance. It appeared in one of my paintings a few years ago and I wasn't sure if I did something wrong or if there was an issue with my paint. Later on, I discovered that not only there was nothing wrong with that, this is the beauty of certain pigments and it can be used to create amazing effects. I started exploring it and I quickly became obsessed with it. As it depends for fading by themselves. They easily created things that I wasn't able to do by myself. In this class, I want to share with you my knowledge about granulating paints. You will learn some theoretic stuff like what is going to lay some name like the curse. But you will also learn many practical things like how to enhance it, how to my granulating mixes, and when to use them. To help us on this journey, I decided to bring along one of my favorite subjects to paint, old architecture. I find all buildings thirsting doors and crumbling walls so much. I don't think there is something special about them and I've painted some money out facades in the last few years. I think granulating paints are a must for painting, captivating and realistic or buildings, and I find the process so enjoyable. This class is for advanced beginner and intermediate students that are already familiar with the basic watercolor techniques. There are two final projects in this class, and they both require patient some experience with watercolors. If you're not sure if this class is for you, I encourage you to at least watch videos from 1-8. This will give you the knowledge those start and for granulation on your own, and then maybe come back to the final projects whenever you feel more prepared. Now forget that you can always ask me questions whenever you're in doubt. Just reach out and I'll be happy to help you on your journey. With that said, I invite you to make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and join me in the next video where I'll give you more details about the class and the final project. See you there. 2. Class + Project Overview: Welcome back my friends. I'm so glad that you're here. In this video I will give you a more detailed overview of the class and final projects. I will start by mentioning the materials that we'll be using in this class and I'll give you some options in case you want to follow along. We'll have a separate video for the colors because they are the main style of this class. Then we'll jump on to the subject of granulation and I'll tell you more about what is actually granulation, why it occurs, which pigments are granulating, and what else for granulating paint. Then I will give you many practical examples of how you can use this unique effect in your paintings. You will learn how to mix your own granulating paints by just getting one additional tube or by using your new knowledge on which pigments are granulating and which are not. I'll also give you some suggestions on which super granulating paints are worth investing in. Then I'll show you how you can ace granulation so that it's more pronounced and visible than those more captivating and eye-catching. With so much knowledge it's very important to practice what you have learned so I have prepared for you not one but two final projects. There we'll put to work everything that you have learned and we'll paint two beautiful old architectural motifs. The projects are challenging and require patience but are also very rewarding and will give you the confidence to continue exploring this topic on your own. Even though I have painted many similar things, these two I haven't practiced in advance. The purpose of this is that this way I face many different challenges and make mistakes in the process and I believe that it's important for students to know different ways of fixing mistakes or changing their approach when things don't go as planned. I encourage you to at least watch the videos even if you don't feel prepared to paint along, you will learn something new. Your task is to paint something using the techniques you have learned in the class. It could be one of the projects or something else that you find suitable, just use the knowledge from this class to create something new. I'm super excited to see what you'll create. After you finish your painting don't forget to make a photo and upload it in the project section of the class. I check and comment on each of my student's work. I hope you're already eager to start. So let's go through the materials you'll be needing in this class. See you in the next video. 3. Materials: In this video, we'll go through materials that I'll be using in this class. I will give you some options too in case you want to follow along. I will start with the paper. In this class, I will use Arteza Expert. It's 100% cotton paper and it's 300 GSM. Since we will use different techniques and multiple layers, it's important that you use 100% cotton paper. So cellulose paper just can't hold much water and makes some of the techniques I will be showing in this class impossible. Keep that in mind in case you still decide to use cellulose paper. These are A4 in size and now we taping my sheets to this plastic cutting mat with the help of paper tape. As for the paints, I will use mostly schminke. This is a basic tin palette to which I have added some additional colors. The colors in the small pants were the original colors it came with, and I added the big paints myself. We'll have a separate video for the colors that is right after this one. There I'll give you more information about colors you'll need for today's class. Since this is a class about granulating paints, of course, I'll use some colors that granulate very heavily more on that in the next video. Don't worry if you don't have all these colors. I'll give you some options on how you can make granulating paints yourselves. For the details, I will use some white gouache. As for the brushes, I will use my Schimoni Art Brushes again. This mottler I'll use for wetting the paper. The soft quill size 5, I'll use for the larger washes and the smaller one, size 1, I'll use for the smaller areas, they are synthetic squirrel and are very soft and hold a lot of liquid. I will also be using this flat brush size 10. It's very useful for painting rectangle shapes and for lifting too, because it has different bristles than the soft quills. For the details, I will use around five four and probably I'll also use my favorite triggers, size 8, for painting the lines. So basically you will need at least one big, one medium, and one small brush. I will use paper and cutting towels to take off the excess moisture off my brushes. For this sketch, you will need a pencil and your razor and a ruler. Here I have my soft eraser. You can use a regular eraser too, and here's my ruler. A small one should do. I will use this mechanical pencil with a very thick lid, you'll see why in the next lessons. You can use just a regular pencil. I will use a spray bottle filled with water for one of the videos. I got this granulating medium from Winsor and Newton very recently. I haven't tested it because I thought it will be cool if we test it together in this class. So you don't need it, but keep watching if you want to see how it works. Here I have a tray with two jars of water and a ceramic palette and which I'll be mixing my paints. So gather your supplies and don't worry if you miss some of them, just try to follow along with whatever you have available. In the next video, we will have a more detailed look at the colors that you will need in this class. See you there. 4. Colors: Let me show you the colors I'll be using today. As I already mentioned, this is a palette that has some basic colors, and I added few that I often use. I'll start listing them from left to right. So first this is permanent carmine. I use it only to mix some brick color for the first, final project is totally optional and any other rate will work, so don't worry if you don't have it. Next, this magenta, you can use any other bright pink color or even violet. Hi, is it only for a mix again, so you can even skip it entirely. Next is indigo. If you don't have indigo, you can use Payne's gray instead. Next one is ultramarine. This is a very popular color and it comes in the most basic palette, so I hope that most of you have it. If not, you can use whatever blue you have instead. Next is cobalt turquoise its a color we'll use for both projects and it's an important one. If you don't have such color, you can mix blue and green and add some white gouache to your mix. I'll move this here. Next is phthalo green. If you don't have it, you can use any other green that you have. I will also use these warmer green, which is permanent green olive. If you don't have it, you can add an orange or a nerd color to whatever green you have. Next is yellow och re. You can use naples yellow instead, or any other earth color that you have. English venetian red is the next color. If you don't have it, you can use burnt sienna instead. This is actually the next color that I'll use today burnt sienna. I loved the one from Schmincke because it's bright and saturated. First name of the mixes, I will use sepia you can substitute with payne's gray. Payne's gray is actually another color that I'll be using a lot. If you don't have it, you can use indigo or even black. Let me now show you the more special colors that I'll be using today. I will then granulate very heavily. So far this is Mars black. The brand is called Renaissance, it's a Polish brand. Next there are two super granulating colors from Schmincke. My favorite one tundra violet, which is a mix of maybe 29 and pigment brown six, which are ultramarine and brown iron oxide. It granulate heavily and it separates into blue and brown particles. I will use the load in this class. I would even say it's the main star. Next is desert green. I use this one much less. It really doesn't matter if you don't have it. I just wanted to use it so that I can show you the different ways you can use granulating paints. Then finally and again entirely optional is Lunar Earth by Daniel Smith. It is practically burnt sienna that granulates, so you can just use burnt sienna instead. These are all the colors I'll use today. If I had to name just one color, that is most important, that will be the tundra violet. If you can get at least that, you'll have no problem following along with today's class, even if you don't have the rest of the colors. In the next video, you will learn what it is granulation actually, see you there. 5. What is Granulation: What is granulation actually? Watercolors are usually made of pigments and binders. In the past, artists used organic pigments from different rocks or plants, and today we manufacture most of them. After grinding these pigments, it's necessary to add the binder like gum Arabic, or honey to keep the particles together. This is what gives us paint consistency. Granulations happens because some pigments are more difficult to grind into a fine powder. Their particles remain big, heavy, and can be seen on the paper surface. This is why some colors tend to granulate no matter what brand of paint you use. Other pigments never granulate because they're made from chemical processes that requires little to no grinding. These pigments will always give you smooth washes. Which are the colors that tend to granulate?. Some of the most popular are ultramarine, burnt sienna, sepia, cobalt blue, or any cobalt color. You can check if a specific color granulates or not by simply swatching it on watercolor paper. If you see a speckle effect, then it's a granulating color. Some watercolor manufacturers label their paints with a G if the color tends to granulate or with an NG, if it does not. You can check the manufacturer's website if there's no information on the tube. Recently, some of the big brands also released a super granulating series, where most of the paints are made by mixing two or more granulating colors together to enhance the effect. These are super fun to use and can often give you unpredictable results, which adds to the organic look of the final artwork. Now that you know what is granulation, let's see how we can use this beautiful effect to our advantage. See you in the next video. 6. How to Use Granulation: Welcome back. In the video, I'll show you some examples of how you can use the granulation effect in your paintings. I have here some of my favorite paintings where I have used granulating or super granulating paints. Here for this old window, I used super granulating colors to paint the facade, and this helped me to recreate the crumbling altos. Not only the orange color is granulating, but also the very pale color I used for the light parts here and here. Here we have again an old wall and an old door, and I managed to recreate that by mixing different granulating colors together. Then I enhanced the granulating effect and I added more texture to the door. I will show you exactly how to do that in this class. For these vintage books, I used granulating color for the background, but I also added the same color for each of the books. The result is this grainy look that beautifully compliments this object. Let's see now some ideas for how you can use granulation in landscapes. You can see here this interesting foreground, I haven't painted each lavender flower separately, but with the help of granulation, I got this interesting effect here. Here we can also see that the pink has separated from the mix which is also a favorite effect of mine, and it often goes hand in hand with granulation. Here in this seascape, I used granulating paint, which is made from blue, green, and brown, and I loved it. When you look at it carefully, you can see each of the colors. Here again, we have some old books. I used super granulating color for the background and for the bookshelf too. Then I mixed a little bit of the same for each of the books. Back to the landscapes, here I used again super granulating color to paint the sky and the clouds so I have these beautiful nuances which make my clouds interesting and rich. To help me with the sun texture, I added a bit of granulating color for the dunes as well. Here it was not intentional, but look at how interesting the background turned out because I used ultramarine and you can see the granulation it created even when mixed with the brown here and the yellow here. Here granulation helped me to paint a boring brownfield [inaudible] they're not so interesting with all the different nuances and with full texture. Here again I used graduating green for the foreground, and I added different colors to it to make it even more interesting, and the same for the mountain in the background. Back to architecture, here I mixed different super granulating paints, and this made it so easy to paint old facade. I had different watercolor effects that adds to the look of the painting. It looks complex, but it was actually very easy to paint thanks to granulation. Here I have mixed granulating and non-granulating paints to help me emphasize the different textures on these old Roman walls. Here I did the same and I just added some highlights and shadows. This way, it was so much easier to paint the old brick wall compared to if I had painted each brick separately. I used granulation for this part here too. Here I have used the super granulating color for the background, which contrasts very beautifully with the smoothness of the lantern and adds complexity to the painting. Finally, this desert landscape where I mixed ultramarine with my other colors and this way I got the granulation of the clouds, making them look more complex and on the buildings emphasizing their texture. I also got this very nice separation here on the moon. It wasn't intentional, but it looks so good, it was such a happy accident. You see that granulation can be used in many different ways, and this is only how I use it. I bet other artists can add so many other examples to that, and I'm sure you will come up with your own ideas once you start to play with it too. Let's see how you can mix your own granulating colors. See you in the next video. 7. How to Mix Granulating Colors: In this video, I'll show you how you can mix your own granulating colors from the colors you already have in your palette. The trick is actually really simple. You just add granulating color to your mix depending on the granulating pigment, this will look different. It also depends if you add it to another granulating pigment or not. In the first case, the granulation will be much more obvious. We already know that ultramarine is a granulating color, so let's try and mix it with the permanent carmine, which is a non granulating color. I take a lot of pigment on my brush, otherwise the granulation won't be visible. I take a lot of ultramarine. I take a lot of permanent carmine, I mix them together. I take a little bit of water on my brush to dilute it a bit, and I switch the color. Now I'll go back to my mix and now we'll have more of it. You will see why I swatch it this way in the next video. Just as a reference, let's watch the permanent carmine on its own. Let's now see what happens when we add Mars black to the carmine. Mars blacks granulation is even more pronounced, so it should give us a mixed with a more obvious granulation. By the way, look at this purple puddle, you can see the color separation even here. Add some of the Mars black to the carmine, and let's swatch it. Finally, let's see what happens when we mix non granulating colors with a super graduating one. I take some carmine. Then I will squeeze some of the tundra violet on my palette. I mix them together. Let's swatch it. You can already see the separation of colors. I'll leave this here to dry. Let's now try the granulation medium by Winsor and Newton. It says on the package stuff for maximum effect, I should dilute the color with it only, so I won't be adding water. I'm taking some carmine again. I take my eyedropper and I will add it to the color. Let's add some more pigment. Now I'll swatch it. I will continue experimenting by taking some ultramarine. Let's see what happens when I add to it in the same colors that I added to the carmine. First Mars Black, and now tundra violet. Now I'll leave this to dry and we'll come back to see the results. Now my swatches are dry. Let's have a closer look. Here we have some very nice effects because I had some drops of water on the side and they went back into the swatch while it was drying. We can see granulation and separation of colors too. We can see red, blue, and violet spots, so I would say here the ultramarine was enough to give us a mix that is granulating very nicely. Here's our reference swatch. Apart from that water bloom, we have a smartwatch. Here we can see some of the Mars black particles. The granulation is really nice here. I like it. Here's my favorite one where we mix carmine with super granulating color. We have so many beautiful effects. It's really gorgeous. Here honestly, I can't see any difference between the reference swatch and the one where we use the granulation medium. I should experiment more with it, but I saw other artists trying it too and didn't get the best results. For the ultramarine swatches, I should have used more pigment, so it's not very visible, but we also have pronounced granulation here. But now that beautiful separation of colors that we got with the red color. Once again, if you're on a budget and you want to try granulating colors, I suggest you get the tube of super granulating paint and use it to mix it with your regular watercolor. In the next video, you will learn how you can enhance the granulation effect. See you there. 8. How to Enhance Granulation: In this video I'll show you how you can enhance the granulation of your watercolors. This is assuming that you already have a color that is granulating. I'll use the super granulating thunder violet to demonstrate. One of the tricks is to add the color on wet paper. I will start by wetting this piece of paper. Now I'm adding water to my pigment. I use a lot of water and a lot of pigment. I will start adding it to wet paper. Another tip is to keep your paper flat, this way you'll give the pigment particles a chance to group and settle into the paper instead of pulling at the bottom part of it. You can already see the granulation that is forming. Another great tip is once you have added your color to the wet paper, go back to your pigment and add even more of it. The next tip is to use cold press paper because the rougher texture allows for more settling of pigment particles. This is cold press. Now I'll repeat the same steps on hot press and rough texture. Another way to enhance granulation is by adding splatters and drops of water to the already drank paint. You can also leave some of the color with **** brush. In our case, we see the blue particles have already settled into the paper and it creates this interesting effect. The last step is to leave it be once you're done. Don't dry it with a hairdryer. Don't go over it with a brush. Just leave it to dry naturally. Now I'll leave this to dry and I'll come back to see the results. Now, these are dry and I can definitely say, I like the results on cold press and rough texture more. Even though we can still see some interesting effect here and here. Here where I added the drops of water has also tried very beautifully. We also have an interesting texture here at the bottom and here I get some backgrounds. I had too much water pulling on the sides and it came back once the papers started to flatten. This could be very unpredictable. But as we already know, this is a huge part of painting with watercolors plus the beauty of it is just spectacular. Are you ready to start painting? In the next video we will prepare the sketch for the first project. See you there. 9. Final Project #1: Sketch: Now that you know so much more about granulation and how to use it, let's start painting. Our first project is this old grumbling wall. When painting architecture sketches are very important. Since the proportion and perspective lines can be quite complicated, here is my favorite trick. I prefer to copy the sketch instead of drawing myself. I don't think there is something wrong with copying when you focus on another medium, in our case, watercolors. My favorite way of copying a sketch is by tracing it right from my screen. I have opened the photo and I will just go to full screen mode. I will turn the brightness of my screen to the maximum, and now I will secure my watercolor paper with paper tape. This way I can still remove it easily to check the photo below if I need to. Now, I will just roll down the blend so that I can better see my screen. Very roughly with my pencil, I will trace the bigger shapes. This is why I use such thick graphite lead. It's much more easier to trace lightly and in a loser way. Imagine trying to get this arch correctly. It will take so much time. Here on the stairs below there are some complex perspective lines that will also be tough to get right. Here I'm tracing around the bigger patches on the wall, and the last arch and the window below it. There are some additional lines on the door. Let's see if I miss something. I'll add those lines on the windows. Anything else? Maybe I'll mark this patch with the brick texture here, and that's it. This was easy. Let's meet in the next video for some additional preparation before we actually start painting. 10. Preparation: Now I have taken down my paper. If you need to, you can refine your sketch a little bit by adding some additional lines. I think I'll add more lines to the arches. We are going to paint pretty loosely, but still we may need it. Here I'll add the ground and I think that's enough. Now I'll take some of that excess graphite with my eraser. Now I will tape my paper to my board. I'm ready to start painting. See you in the next video. 11. First Wash: Wall: Let's start painting. In this video, I'll start with the first wash. I will start by wetting my paper. Keep in mind that the first wash for this painting is about laying down about 80-90% of the color. This means that we'll paint almost the entire painting wet in wet. I wet my paper very well because I want to do all this in one go. Depending on the paper you're using and the temperature and the humidity in your environment, you might not be able to keep your paper wet for so long. In that case, don't worry. When you notice that your paper starts to dry, the surface is not glossy and the paints are not flowing anymore just stop and leave it to dry completely. After that, you can come back and re-wet it with a big soft brush, or even better with a spray bottle. You can also paint the separate elements on dry, but then you will lose some of that loose and whimsical look. Still, the choice is yours. The whole process will be separated into three different videos. One for the wall itself, one for the arches and the reeks, and one for the windows and the door. In the perfect scenario, you'll be able to paint all in one go while your paper is still wet. But again, don't worry if your paper starts to dry or you start to get tired, take a break and come back after everything is dry, you can always re-wet the entire thing and start from where you have left. While I'm waiting for the paper to absorb some of the water, I will squeeze some tundra violet on my palette and some Mars Black. For me, the key to keeping your paper wet for longer is usually high-quality paper. Wetting it generously and adding pigment with enough water in it, at least in the beginning. This will help maintain the level of moisture. When it starts to dry that's when we add more thick paint that we want to more or less stay where we put it while still having some blurred edges. Now with my quill Size 1, I will add some water to that tundra violet and then I'll add it to the paper. You see how nicely it's spreading, I will help it you with my brush. We want to cover the entire wall with it. What we want it to be irregular, more concentrated in some places, and more watery in others. I'm taking a little water on my brush to make it even more watery here. I'm taking now, more concentrated paint. I can even add some Payne's gray to it to make it even darker. Now I'll wet it here below. Now we'll add some run those spots with it. Below are the arches too. You can even add some splatters. Some splatters with clean water too, you see how the water is pushing some of that pigment away. This is how we are hastening the granulation effect. You can leave some of the colors. As I've already shown you with this tundra violet color, we see the blue color that has already settled below. I will clean this part of the window with a clean napkin. Too much of that color has spread over it. I'm going back to the concentrated color, and I add it again to the darker spots below the arches, and here and there on the wall. I look at my photo reference to see where those spots are. I will define the windows too adding a shadow around their edges. More subtle shadows around arches. I'll even define the separate bricks by pulling that color over the pencil lines that I drew earlier. Now I take some water on my brush and I will add it here and there to enhance the granulation effect and add more texture to the wall. More splatters. The shadows below the arches are to define and so soften their arches with some clean water. I will go around to door 2 now. I'll let some burnt sienna to my tundra violet, and I'll covered the upper steps with it. Again with some Payne's gray mixed in my super granulating color, I will define the edge between the wall and the ground. On the photo reference, we have some green color on the ground. I'll try to recreate that by using another super granulating color, desert green. I'm putting some of it on my palette. I just added here below. If you don't have this color, you can add some spots, wait for the green color you have, or you can skip this step entirely. Next week, my rigger brush and some tundra violet, I will draw thin jagged lines. That will be the cracks in the wall. Some more splatters. The splatters have a different effect depending on the drawing stage on the paper. It's worth it to experiment with it whenever you get a chance, the dryer the paper is, the more pronounced error of these splatters will look when they're dry. I will add some random spots and lines here and there. I think that's for the wall. I have some highlights and some shadows. I have different colors and effects. It looks interesting enough. I'll leave it for now. My paper is still wet, so now I'll go ahead and I'll paint the arches and the bricks on the wall. You have the option to let it dry entirely or to spray some water in it to keep it wet. Whatever you decide I'll see you in the next video where we'll add the brick elements. 12. First Wash: Arches + Bricks: We continue by painting the arches and the bricks on the wall. My paper is not moistening anymore, but it still has moisture in it, so I hope to get soft edges. If your paper is dry at this point, you can rewet it with a soft brush or a spray bottle and wait for awhile until the paper absorbs most of the water. If you add the paint too quickly, it will spread too much. You can also continue by painting on dry. In that case, you'll get hard arches. It's all up to you. I squeeze some of that lunar earth by Daniel Smith on my palette and I will add to it some Mars black. I'm mixing two strongly granulating colors. If you don't have these colors, you can use burnt sienna and add to it some ultramarine, and then if you want it to be more red, you can also add any red that you have. I will add some permanent carmine to my mix. You can also add orange if you like. My mix is very thick with very little water. This way, it won't spread too much and the color will be intense and slightly opaque. I'm using my flat brush as it will be easier to paint the bricks. If you don't have one, just use whatever brush you feel comfortable with. I add the bricks by pressing my brush and dragging in downward in the direction of the lines I drew earlier. I leave a little bit of space between them. I will take more color on my brush. I will add more to this one as well. Now the central one. Here, my paper is more dry, so the paint is not spreading, and as a result, I get these hard arches. That's okay. Although I painted these too close to each other, so now I don't have this white space between them, but that's okay too. We can add later. I'm washing my brush, I'm drying it, and I take a little bit of Mars black on the tip. You can use Payne's gray instead. With that, I will add some shadows here and there between the bricks and underneath the arch. I added in an upward motion, not going all the way to the top. I smudge this shadow with the down brush. Let's add more darkness around the arch. This will make it pop. I add a shadow below this one too. I switch to my soft quill and I soften it. I drag some of that color between the bricks. I'll soften this shadow here too. You can add some spots to the bricks if you like. Let's continue now with the bricks on the wall. I paint them the same way, just pressing and dragging my brush. I'll soften this part here. I want it to disappear gradually into the wall. The same on the other side. That's enough. Let's now overdo it. We're ready with the bricks too. My paper still has some moisture in it. So I'll continue right away, wait painting the windows and the door in the next video. See you there. 13. First Wash: Windows and Door: In this video, we'll finish with the first layer and we'll finally let our painting dry completely. My paper is almost dry, but it has enough moisture in it to help me achieve some soft edges here and there. Once again, you can rewet yours if needed and wait a bit until it absorbs most of the water or you can continue painting on dry. I'm mixing all the colors that I have used until now. What's left from the tundra violet, Mars black, and lunar earth to get this cool brown. You can continue using burnt sienna and ultramarine mix. Just add more ultramarine to it. You can also use sepia or Mars brown. With my flat brush, I will add the color here, imitating the planks that I see in the photo reference. I take some Payne's gray on the tip of my brush and I'll go around the window to define it. Then we have these separate sections covering the window. I'll define those two. Some shadows between the planks. Now I'll add some red color to my mix. I will add some here. Then I'll go to the other window, filling it completely with this color. You see that I still get somewhat soft edges here. I change the color slightly to make it more interesting and filling in the gaps. Let's define this window too. A shadow here, and I'll drag some of that Payne's gray to blend it with the rest. Same here, I just go over the planks with my damp brush and soften the shadow I have added. Here again, add some splatters to make it more interesting. Actually, I can add splatters everywhere. I'll switch to my soft quill and I'll smash this line here. Let's fill the rest of the window with the brown mix, whatever is left here on my palette. I'll use it to add some cracks to wooden panels here. I'm using my regular brush for that. Now let's make the color for the door. I'm taking some cobalt turquoise, and I'll add it to my palette where I still have granulating color mix. This will enhance its granulation. Notice that I'm not adding too much color. I don't want it to be completely opaque. With that mix, I will cover the entire door. I will soften the edge with a clean, damp brush. I'll add some streaks with the same color here and there. I'm taking some Payne's gray straight from the pen and now I'll add the shadow here. I'll drag the color here on the side and take some more of it. You want to achieve a smooth transition. Now I'm taking some burnt sienna and now add some splatters with it. I can even add some spots with my brush. This one spreads much so I'll try to fix it with the damp brush. I will add more spots. Some lines. I'm just merging the edges here with the damp brush, then I block it with a paper towel. I don't like how thick the paint on the central arch is, so I'll try to lift some of the color. I'm going over it with the damp brush and I press it to the paper, wiping some of that color. I wipe my brush on my paper towel and then I repeat. I think now it looks more interesting and natural and we're finally ready. You can leave it to dry now and come back to it whenever you want. In the next video, we'll retrieve back some highlights by lifting some of the colors. See you there. 14. Lifting: Welcome back, my friends. I hope you had a nice break and you feel ready to continue with our project. Most of the work is done now we need to add some highlights and shadows to make it more contrasting and eye-catching. Let's start with the highlights. With watercolors, we cannot add a lighter color on top of dark one, since that we will lift some of the colors by scrubbing. I'm taking my flat brush and some clean water. I take the excess of it on my towel and I will start scrubbing on the places where I want to have highlights, I bought with a paper towel, and you see that the color is already lifted leaving a thin highlight. I will repeat this process several times. If you don't have a flat brush, try to do this with the stiffest brush you have. If it's not working, you can use white gouache instead. You can add some color to it too so that it's not completely white. I'll also try to fix the shapes of some of the bricks using the same technique. Then I'll try to smudge some of the hard edges again by scrubbing. Some highlights on the blanks, and I think this is enough. Now it's time to add some definitions to our Elements. See you in the next video. 15. Definition: In this video, we'll define even further the window on the left. We'll do that by adding more colors and textures to it, and we'll deepen the shadows. I'm taking some burnt sienna with my brush size 4. I add it to my palette. I add some sepia to make it darker. You can also add Payne's gray or ultramarine. I can dab it on my paper towel to take off the excess paint and I'll go over the central line. While it's still wet, I can drop some Payne's gray here and there. I wash my brush and now I will match that line here and there. With the same mix, I'll define this line here too. It's matching it slightly. Now, with my soft quill, I'll take some watery Payne's gray and once again, I will let some of it below the arch, and wiping the lower part with my damp brush, the shadow should be darker right below the bricks. I'll add the same shadow below the window. That's matching it with the damp brush. Same on this side. Going back to my small brush size 4, and the burnt sienna mix, I will add more texture and cracks to the wooden panels. I'm adding some vertical lines. Now, I wipe my brush on my paper towel, and I use it to add some dry brush texture. I'll soften it here and there. Finally, I will add some pure burnt sienna for a pop of color. I will smudge that too. Here, we are ready with this window. Time to repeat the process for our centerpiece, the door. See you in the next video. 16. Definition pt 2: The door is our main element in this painting, so we want to spend more time on it, adding more details and definitions to it. I'll start by taking some cobalt turquoise. I wipe the brush on my paper towel, and now we'll add some texture to the door just here and there. Now I'll repeat that, but this time with burnt sienna. I'll smudge this one with a clean damp brush. Some more dots and spots with turquoise. Now I'll add some Payne's gray to it to make it darker, and I'll use that mix to define the edge between the door and the door frame. First I add it along the line and then I'll smudge the right side of it. The outside edge of the door frame is lost, so I'll add to it some bright and concentrated turquoise. I'm not outlining it, I'm just adding it here and there. I continue doing the same around the entire frame. Here on this side, I will smudge the bit. Here too, and I will add some more. Back to my dark mix, let's add to the shadow on the other side as well, smudging that one too. Here, we need to add the shadow on the wall as well. I use the watery Payne's gray. Once again, I soften its edge. Here it doesn't look quite right, so I'll use pure turquoise to define the door frame. I'll deepen shell here. Actually, I will use my flat brush properly, it will be easier to make a straight line with it. First the shadow, and now I'll leave some of that color to reveal a highlight which finally defines the edge here. Some more turquoise, blending it with the rest. I switch to my soft quill and I will add some of that watery Payne's gray below the arch. First I add it, then I wash my brush and I soften the edge. I can even drop more color right under the bricks. Let's define the space in the middle of the door. I use again the turquoise paints gray mix. First painting the line, and then softening it on one side. You can even drop more colors while it's wet. Let's repeat on the other side, I'll just turn my paper this way. Here we also have some planks, so let define them as well. Now it's time for the stairs. I take the watery paints gray again and add it just below the door. Same for this step here. I'll soften the edges and we'll add some burnt sienna to make it more interesting. What else can we do? I can mix some of that burnt sienna to the cobalt turquoise, it's a very watery mix. Then I can use that to add more color and texture to the door. Switching to my size 4 I will use the same colors to define and separate blanks that form the door. Try not to paint a single straight line, but rather a broken one, lifting your brush here and there. You can use paints gray to make it darker. Actually, I highlighted here as well, further defining that central plank, and on the sides as well. Just adding some spots, I'm not outlining it entirely. I'll add some very red spots with cobalt turquoise straight from the pen. You can also mix some green into it to make it more interesting. You can also smudge some of the spots. I'm taking some burnt sienna and I'll add some spots with it close to the ones I just made. I'll smudge some of it and I get a nice 3D effect. I mix some burnt sienna, paints gray, and with that, I'll define the space between the door and the steps. Of course, I'll smudge those two. I'm not happy with the step, so I'll take some Mars Black I add it to the watery paints gray, and I'll use that mix to define the steps even further. I may leave some of it just below the door and with some clean water I'll spread it. I'm fixing the shape, but at this point, I don't see my pencil lines. Let's define this step 2. I'm using the same mix, taking some with the brown mix too. I'll blur the edges. I'll wipe some of the color to increase the contrast between steps. Finally, let's add some texture to these blanks on the right, just don't smudge as here and there, we don't want to spend too much time on it. That's it. Now what is left is just to add some details and our project will be ready. See you in the next video. 17. Details: We are almost ready. Let's add some details. I take my size 4 and some concentrated cobalt turquoise. Now I'll add a thin line crossing from the left side of the door to the right. I guess this is some kind of locking mechanism. I just paint a line, I add some irregularities to it. With the same cobalt turquoise, I will add some smudges off paint here and there. This will make the artwork more interesting and it's always a nice idea to repeat your accent color somewhere in your painting. You can add as many or as few as you want. We don't see them on for the reference, this is an artistic choice. Just merging some of them with my finger. Now I'm washing my brush and I will take some burnt sienna. I'll add some spots with it on the line I painted and I will outline the bottom side of it. I'll smudge it with the damp brush. You can even drop some Payne's gray to make it darker. I'm wiping some of that burnt sienna to uncover the turquoise below. Now let's merge it here. Now it looks like shadow. Finally, I will add some very tiny spots with white gouache. The same way I did with turquoise color, just placing them randomly. You can also use it to emphasize the space between the bricks. I will mix some of that white gouache with the turquoise now. This will make it more bright and more opaque. I will make tiny splatters with it. We're done, guys. Congratulations. This project was challenging, which you made it. Let's remove the masking tape. I have some pencil lines here, so I'll erase them. Here it is. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I like that we have some soft and hard digits, and that the turquoise color accent contrasts very nicely with the rest of the colors. If you enjoyed this one, meet me in the next video. I have another gorgeous projects for you. 18. Final Project #2: Sketch: Welcome to our second project in today's class. This one is really interesting in terms of composition and elements. Let's get started. Once again, I will copy the sketch straight from my screen. Let's say this one is portrait oriented. I need to download it first, and then rotate it so that it fills my entire screen. I zoom out a little bit and I taste if it will fit my sheet of paper. Then I secure the paper with some paper tape. Now I see that this photo is too dark, so I won't be able to see all the elements well, so I need to edit the photo a bit. I increase the exposure, then the contrast just a little bit. I increase the highlights and the shadows just a little bit and their sharpness too. This should be okay. I'm able to see better now, so I'll start copying the sketch. Once again, I copy the shapes very roughly. It's important to get these lines correct. Now let's copy the window. Now I have taken down the sketch and I will tweak it a little bit. For example, I want these lines to be completely straight, so I'll use the help of a ruler. I press harder with my pencil now so that it's very clear which is the correct line. The columns too. I'll do the same for the window. Here we also have some lines that need to be straight. I will also define the lines of the arch because right now they're very pale and they'll get lost once I go over it with watercolor. This looks better. I will take some of that [inaudible] graphite now. Now we're ready to start painting. 19. First Wash: Welcome back. In this video we'll paint the first wash. I have secured my paper to my board with paper tape, and I will wet the entire sheet of paper. I'll start with desert green this time. I squeeze some of it on my palette, and some of that under violet. Here we have a lot of texture on the wall, so I'll try to emphasize it by adding Mars black to both these colors to enhance the granulation. I'm going once again over the paper with some water on my brush. This time we won't be working wet on wet for as long as in the previous project, but still we want to be able to paint without rushing. I'll start with desert green. I add a little bit of water to it, and I mix them with that Mars black as well. I add this mix to the inside of the art. I spread it with my brush. Going downward I take more water on my brush to do with the color. Here below, I will let again more color. Now well, that sounds both here and there. That's splatters. I will wipe the arch and the columns, the window too. Those will be painting with another color. I know that this will become paler once it's dry, so I'll add more color, mostly here on the top. Some more splatters, some final touches here and there. Now switch to the other color on my palette, the tundra violet. I add a little bit here in the upper part of the window. I wash my brush, and I will drag it down. Some more of that color here. I will wipe the paint from this board. I wanted to stay white. Now I will splatter some clean water here, some more with Mars black. I'll liven the experiment by adding some splatters with green. I will drop some clean water here and there to create some interesting granulating effects. We talked about keeping your paper flat, but you can also achieve interesting effect by tilting your part for a while, and now let's paint the arch. I add more water to tundra violet, and I will start covering the arch with it. You can even drop some ultramarine here and there. Some burnt sienna as well. This will make the wash even more interesting. So this way we create complexity and dynamic in our elements, not only with granulating color, but also by varying the colors and the towns. Some burnt sienna again. Some splatters here too. Now, I`ll work more Mars black to the maze, and now I'll cover the darkest parts. Like here, around the edges, here inside these elements, and here inside arch, and you see how this immediately adds more depth. I'll keep adding this dark mix, creating more and more two-dimensional look. I switch those smaller brush and I will let some swirls here. I won't be painting the elements in detail. This default brush allows me to layer a more concentrated color. I add shadow below the window. I direct sound with the [inaudible]. A shadow here on site as well. Both on this side too, and on the inside. Let's add some more splatters. Now I take my flat brush, I wash it and I wipe it. I'll use it to wipe some of the color while it's still wet here on the inside of the columns. I'll make sure this part here stays light as well. You can also wipe some of the lines here to increase the contrast. I really like the effect, it's great. Some splatters with clean water. That's enough for the first layer. We'll leave it to dry now and then we'll come back for the second wash. 20. Second Wash: My painting is completely dry now and I really like the effects here on the green wall, but I think it should be darker. This way the arch will stand out and will have better contrast with the window too. I will add another layer. If you're happy with how your painting is looking, you can skip this step. I take some Payne's Gray and I add it here on my palette, some indigo as well. It's watery mixture. I'll add some of it here. Then I'll take some water on my brush and I'll drag that color down. You can see how the arch is starting to pop. I'm going carefully around the window. Here in the bottom part, I go back to my mix again. I add some of it. I wash the edges with some clean water. Let's repeat the same process on the other side. I will soften the edge here. I don't want it to be that harsh. If too much paint goes into the columns, I wipe it with my flat brush. Same process on this side. Let's leave it to dry now. My painting is dry now, but I'm still not happy with how it looks, and especially with this part here, the light line shouldn't be there. Now I have to cover again this wall to fix that and try to add more darkness too, because it still seems pretty light. I take my quill Size 5 now. I reactivate this mix. I start from the top, making sure this time I will outline the arch right. Again with some water, I will delete that color and drag it down. Washing the borders again. I can even use a napkin to lift some of the color and create more texture. Let's leave it to dry. You won't believe it, but I think I need another layer of paint on this wall. Especially here, I feel I need more darkness. This will be the last one, I promise. This time I will use my spray bottle to wet the paper. This way it will be wet enough so that the paint will be spreading without disturbing the layer underneath. This time, I'll take Payne's Gray straight from the pen and I will add it here on the upper part. I have some desert green on my palette and I'll take some of it too. I'm adding it here and there. I add more Payne's Gray to it to make it darker here next to the columns so that they stand out. Some big spot, I like how it's turning out this time. You shouldn't be afraid to add more layers to your paintings, it's what makes them alive. I'm washing my brush and with some clean water on it, I will soften the edges. Some splatters with clean water. I switch to my small quill, and I continue softening the edges. I'll use the leftover paint on my palette to add some spots. I add shadow below the window. More splatters with clean water. I'll try to wash this dark spot here. It worked well. Now with my damp brush, I will leave the color here and there to make the wash more interesting. I'll pick some of it with a napkin and that's it. I'll leave it to dry now and we'll finally continue. 21. Painting the Window pt1: My painting is now dry. In this now, I'm happy with how it looks. Let's paint the view from the window. We want it to be bright, but not too contrasting with our interior. I'm taking some of that permanent green olive. I had to add some yellow ocher, then I'll take some of that English Venetian red. You can just use brown sienna instead. I will cover the window with some clean water. Now, I will start dropping some of those colors. I can even take it straight from the pan. Oops, that's too bright. I'll spread it with a clean brush. Some more green. I'm blending everything. Some very small spots. For this guy, I will use very diluted ultramarine. I'll add some spots with yellow ocher too. I'll spread it with the damp brush. Some final touches. I'll soften the edge here. Now I think this is probably still too bright. I'll bloat it with my paper towel and now I will leave it to dry. Of course, now that it's dry, it's too pale, so I'll do a second wash for this part as well. I repeat the same process. I water there first, then I'll drop some green. Some yellow ocher, some English red. I'm blending the colors together. Some more spots with green. I'm blending it and this time I'll leave it be. In the next video, we'll paint the window itself. 22. Painting the Window pt2: In this video, we'll paint a window panel. I believe this part of the Gothic windows is called tracery. Luckily for us, this one is not very complex. I'll start by activating distant violet on my palette. I'll squid, some Mars Black as well. I add enough water to it and I'll just use that to cover the entire element. I lay some of that color down. I'm using my size 4. Now, I'm just taking some water on my brush and I'll use it to drag that color down. I repeat the same on the other side. When my color gets too pale, I go back to the mix on my palette. Now fixing the edge here. Let's cover the rest of it. You can drop more color here and there if you want. That's it, leave it to dry. Now, in the next video, we'll continue working on the window. 23. Painting the Window pt3: In this video, we'll polish what we have painted in the previous one. I want to get rid of those sharp edges. This will make our work more realistic, and will help us fix the shape a little bit. I'm just taking my fault brush, washing it in clean water and take the excess moisture of it by dabbing it on my towel. I'll start rubbing around the edges, making them softer. I think this makes a big difference and I often use this technique here recently. Especially when painting out architecture, we don't need such crisp borders. Blurred edges are much more suitable for this object. They help us emphasize the art and shabby look. Every once in a while, I wash my brush again because it picks up some of that pigment. I'll turn my paper so that I can freely move my hand in this direction. We'll switch to my size 4 for the flower like shapes. Here I lost some color, so I'll add it now. Now, I'll go back to my flat brush, and I will try to add more dimension to my window while lifting a very thin line here in the middle. If you look closer at the reference, you'll see that it has an interesting design. I'll do the same on the sides. I'll try to connect them. Great. I think it looks nice. In the next video, we'll finish the window. See you there. 24. Painting the Window pt4: Let's finish the window. In this video, we'll work on the stone arch that's surrounding the window. We'll add some spots to it to define it and make it look old and worn out and we'll add more depth. I'm taking my Size 4 and I'm reactivating this tender violet puddle on my palette. I add some burnt sienna to it. I rub my brush on my paper towel and I'll start adding small spots to the edges of the arch. I'll smudge them a bit. I'll continue doing the same around the entire window. Here on the inside too. I'm going back and forth between adding some spots and smudging them, just playing around until I like the way it looks. Again, you can use just burnt sienna or any other brown that you have, or mix it with some ultramarine. Below the window, you can use colder colors. Now, on this side. Here, the shape is a bit crooked, so I'll use my flat brush to fix it. Now, it looks much better. Let's add some spots here as well. Finally, let's add some depth to it. I take some tundra violet, you can use just Payne's gray or indigo instead. I'll leave it here in the upper part. Now, I'll take more water on my brush and I will dilute it around the edges. Now, with damp brush, I'll just blend it with the rest. I'll add even more color here. You can see how this immediately changed the look of the window. I'll define those corners here as well. I make sure everything is smooth and there are no hard edges here. We're done with the window. Now, we need to work on the arch a little bit. I'll show you how we can define it in the next video. 25. Definition: Arch: Welcome back. In this video we'll add some definitions to the arch. I really like the way it looks, so I won't be adding much. I'll just make sure that it's separate features are defined and that it looks old. My brush size four is almost dry and I take some thick burnt sienna straight from the pen. Add it here on the outside line. Now I'll smudge it here and there. I'll repeat the same along the entire element. I'm basically doing the same that we did with the window in the previous video, only this time I'm using burnt sienna. The bright color will make the elements pop out even more, helping us emphasize the design of the arch. Make sure to leave some parts as they are. Having different hues will help us show the irregularity of the stone. For the line that is on the inside of this one, I will use ultramarine. This will help us achieve nice contrast between the two lines, and it will clearly show that these are two separate elements, one of which is in the shadow. I'm repeating the same steps, the only difference is that the ultramarine is not so thick, I use it sparingly. If your burnt sienna is too bright, you can add some ultramarine to it. It will mute the debate, making it more gray than brown. Now repeat the same process until both lines are covered with their respective colors, leaving some gaps where color underneath can be seen. Now we'll continue with this curved line. I start with some burnt sienna. Now some ultramarine, some dry brushing with burnt sienna. I add some ultramarine to darken this part. Same thing for the other side. Now for the inside, we must show that this design is carved deep into the arch. I take some ultramarine and I add it to my thunder violet. You can use payne's gray instead or mixed ultramarine with burnt sienna. This way you'll have some granulation in your mix, and I'll just add it in the corners and around the edges. This immediately makes this element look more three-dimensional. I clean this shape a bit with my flat brush. I repeat the process on the other side. I'll use my flat brush to bring back some highlights to these lines too. We're done. Now what is left is to do the same for the columns and our work will be ready. See you in the next video. 26. Definition: Columns: Let's quickly add some definitions to the columns as well. We won't be spending much time on them. I'll just add some lines with my flat brush. I'm using the tundra violet mix that is left on my palette, but you can use any other color you have left, Payne's gray, indigo, burnt sienna, burnt sienna and ultramarine mix. I'll add some shadows below these elements. Those lines they're now too pale, so I will repeat them. I'll smash them a bit with my soft quill. Same thing here below. Here, I can add some Payne's gray and a little bit here on the outside. Now, let's add some spots with burnt sienna, some driver spot here. I really like this effect. Sounds more just here. Now I'll add some highlights by scrubbing right above those lines I just painted. I'll define the columns even further by taking some indigo and I will add it here, this will make them stand out more. Then going up, I will blend that color. We're done. Let's add some details and finish the painting in the next video. 27. Finishing Touches: All right friends, let's finish this painting. I want to add some splatters, so I'll cover my window. I will reactivate whatever is left here and I'll make some splatters with it. I will add more smudges with burnt sienna. If your burnt sienna is not that bright and you want something contrasting you can use orange instead. Add some smudges with your colors. This bright color will contrast beautifully with the muted tones of the entire painting. You can even make some splatters with it. Voila, our second project is complete. I love the modernist of it and I really like how the different tones and hues make it so interesting. Let's wrap up the class in the next video. 28. Wrapping Up the Class: Congratulations, you've completed the class. You now know so much more about granulation, and I hope you've already started using it in your paintings. I'm sure many of you will fall in love with it. Don't forget to upload your project in the project section of the class, no matter if you have painted along with me or created something on your own using the techniques you have learned into class. I can't wait to see what you'll create. If you have any questions for me, you can ask them in the discussion section of the class, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. You can also message me on Instagram. This is where I share most of my work and projects that I'm working on, so give me a follow up there if you want to know what's coming next. If you post your project there, don't forget to tag me so that I won't miss it. You can also find me on YouTube, there you will find detailed tutorials and full process videos from which you can learn. Give me a follow here too if you want to be notified of new classes and future giveaways. I'm so honored that you spend some time with me and invited me on your watercolor journey. I wish you a happy painting and I'll see you in the next class.