How To Paint an Olive Branch In Watercolor

1. Class Introduction: Hi there, and welcome to my class How to paint an olive branch. My name is Katya, and I'm a botanical artist, and I'm passionate about capturing the beauty of nature in every brush stroke. In this class, I'll guide you step by step through my tried and through method to create a stunning botanical watercolor painting. Together, we will paint this delicate olive branch, learning techniques to achieve vibrant greens, rich browns, and those subtle details that make your work truly stand out. We start with color mixing and we will be exploring how to create the perfect greens, deepen your shade with darkening mixes and mix tetons for the olives and the branches. Then we will move on to the first wash, layering and adding details that bring life to your painting. I will even show you how to give your work the final polish with one more wash and then all those important finishing touches. This class is perfect for advanced beginners or intermediate artists looking to refine their skills and explore the art of botanical watercolor. I've included everything you need to get started. There is a materials list, a tracing of the branch, a reference image, and a picture of the final painting to guide you. By the end of the class, you'll have your very own beautiful olive branch painting and a new set of skills to use in your watercolor journey. If you're ready, grab your brushes and let's get started. 2. Class Project: For your project in this class, you'll be creating your very own watercolor painting of an olive branch. Using the step by step process I've shared, you'll mix the colors, layer washes, and add the fine details to bring this beautiful botanical subject to life. I've included everything you need to make the process smooth and enjoyable, and you find a detailed materials list. And also, I've included the tracing for you and also a picture of the finished painting, so you can have as a reference and a reference image. So take your time as you move through the lessons. Don't worry if things are imperfect at first. The beauty of watercolor lies in its fluidity and how it captures the essence of nature. Once you've completed your painting, I love for you to share it in the project section of this class. It's always so inspiring to see how each artist adds the unique touch to the same subject. And remember, practice makes progress. So whether this is your first botanical painting or one of many, each piece brings you closer to mastering the art of watercolor. So I can't wait to see your beautiful olive branch, and let's get painting. 3. About the Reference Picture: I just wanted to show you a quick note about the reference image. You will see that you can see my fingers there and also one of the leaves it looks like it has been attached from another picture, which is exactly what happened because when you do botanical painting, it's very rare that you find the perfect branch with the perfect composition. And that's true for anything for flowers, branches, and all sorts of plants. So what we normally do as botanical artist, we take different parts. You can work from life and so turn the plant around if you have your plant there, or if you work from pictures, like I had to do for this class, you can take bits and pieces from different pictures. The important thing is to keep in mind where the light comes from. So don't mix pictures where the light is from left and then it is from right. So just make sure that the light is always coming from the same direction. And he will be right. By doing this, everyone does it. So you will see that the picture is a little bit strange, but it makes sense. And at the end of the day, you have my reference of the finish painting as well. So you can always refer to that if something doesn't make exactly sense. Okay? So that's all I wanted to say about the reference picture. 4. Color Mix Darkening Mix: As usual, we start with the color mixing, and I have here my darkening mix. For this painting, I'm going to use the red darkening mix and the green darkening mix. The red one is made with Winsor blue, red shade, quincuo magenta, and transparent yellow, and for the green, I'm using blue green shade, quincuo magenta, and lemon yellow. So I'm going to mix these now. So mix ok to get violet, and we might have to adjust this but start with this. And then we'll add the transparent yellow. So this is the red darkening mix. And as you can see, you get a gray black for your darkening mix, and that's perfect. And what I'll do is I'll just right here red darkening mix so we don't get confused. Now I'm going to mix the green darkening mix. Again, magenta to get again a violet colour. I think this is quite good as well. It's kind of gray. And I'm going to do the same thing. I right here Oops green darkening mix. And now I will mix the other colors, and I will use my color study from my botanical diary to mix the colors because I've I've done the studies, I've taken pictures. But unfortunately, the olives and the leaves are not not really I can't really use them anymore. 5. Color Mix - Leaves: Okay, so for the leaves, I'm going to mix Iden tren blue, which is quite a dark blue. And the leaves are quite dark. So we need to start with something already pretty dark. I'm going to try and mix a good quantity of it. Because it's always good. I mean, you can mix more color, but it's always nice to have enough to do your whole painting, especially when it's a small painting. Okay. And then to this, I will add transparent yellow. Blue is a blue with a tendency to red, and transparent yellow is a yellow with a tendency to orange. So when I mix these two colors, their color bias is going away from green, so you don't have a brilliant green, but you will have a sort of dark muted green. So this maybe I need to add a little bit more blue. So it's important when you mix your colors that you have an idea of the bias of the color because otherwise you won't get the result you expect. The first time you mix, you have to keep trying and trying. Okay, so that's a bit darker. Now to darken it a bit more and make it more natural looking, I'm going to add permanent alza and remson. I'm going to add a red and always add the red a little at the time. Don't add a big quantity. Otherwise, you might get a brown. Let's have a look. I'm still quite light, so I'll add a bit more. I might take a little while, but it's better to approach it this way rather than add too much. I put a little bit more. It's quite a lot of paint here, so that's why I need to add a bit more. Okay. I think we're getting there. And then to this, we can add the darkening mix to make it even darker, to the green. In fact, what I'm going to do is take a little bit of this and add some of the darkening mix. Maybe a little bit more. And we can always adjust this as we go. And then I will mix the colour for the olives. 6. Color Mix - Olives: So for the olives, I have perilin in my room, winter blue green shade. And okay, we do this one first. Again, I'm going to try and mix a good quantity of this color. Also because I'm taking part of it, and I'm going to take part of it and add quincudomgenta to it to make it a little bit more reddish. Okay, so we have the perilinimroon, and we're going to add the blue Winter blue green shade. Try not to add too much. I may have. Let me see. These blue, the winds are blue, the green and red shade, they are quite strong. No, I think this is perfect, actually. And if you don't get the colors exactly like mine because of, you know, the screen color is different. Don't worry too much about it. As long as it's similar, you'll be okay. And then I'm going to take some of these. I'm going to add the quinaquidron magenta because some parts of the olives have a reddish sort of bias. So that one is fine. And then so now I'm going to mix the green for those areas of the olive green. And for that, I mix win to blue, red shade, lemon yellow, and to that, I add unequid magenta to make it tone it down, make it more realistic. So win to blue red shade. Still quite dark. I possibly added a bit too much blue because I was saying they're quite strong these blues. Well, that's okay. It doesn't matter if I have a bit more color because with watercolor, you can keep it and you can reactivate it anytime. And I like to do a big painting of this. So that would be right. Okay, we're nearly there. I'm going to add the quinacutu magenta now. Again, a little bit at the time. Start a bit more. Okay. And now we just need the colour for the branch. And 7. Color Mix - Browns: So the branch has this sort of golden color, and I'm not sure you can really tell from the video, but it's sort of underneath this top area, which is almost like a gray color. There is this, golden green color. So I'm going to use different blues and yellows to mix this. So for the first color is cobalt blue and cadim yellow pale. I usually try to use the same paints to mix the different colors for the painting, but in this case, I wasn't getting the right shade, really. The right color. So I tried a different angle, and I think this one I quite like it. As I was saying, when you add red to green, you get a brown. So to this, I'm going to add Quinequidn red. I might need to add a bit more yellow. So when you're mixing colors is really all a matter of adjusting and tweaking and keep checking so we are nearly there. So don't get frustrated if you can't get the color you want straightaway because it does take a little bit of time. Sometimes you might get the color straight away, but sometimes it just takes time. This one is close enough. And then to make it darker, I add more cobalt blue and more quinquigon red. And then if you add more cobot blue, it goes to that sort of gray color that I mentioned before that is sort of just at the very surface, which I will use, I think, as a dry brush for this texture, basically. So I will mix these colors as well, and then we're ready to go. 8. First Wash: And The first thing we need to do is to remove the excess pencil lines so they make them lighter. And this is very important with watercolor, of course, because otherwise, if the paint is not dark enough, they might show through your painting. So I still leave them a little bit darker here so that you can see, and the leaves are quite dark anyway, so that shouldn't be a problem. But just be mindful that the pencil will show through if the paint is light. Now I'm just taking some of the mix for the leaves and I'm going to dilute it quite a bit because I'm going to apply the first wash, which normally I do almost as a flat wash. You can see it's quite diluted and remember that we can always add more paint and make it darker, but it's going to be very difficult to make it lighter. So I'm going to apply it wet on dry this time because, I mean, you can do wet on wet if you want. But the area here is quite small, so you don't need really to have the paper wet. Again, as I mentioned, you can do it that way if it's your preferred method. I don't want to tell you that you have to do this, the way I do it. I just want to show you the way I do it in case you like working this way. So I apply, as I was saying, the paint almost as a flat wash. And because it's so dark the leaf, you don't need to leave an area for the vein because when you apply the rest of the layers, it will show and you leave a little bit of an area without the paint, it will show light anyway. So you do this for all of the leaves. And I sped up the video here just a little bit because it's all the same technique. So you just carefully apply your diluted paint on the leaf area. So I'm using my number one brush from Winter and Newton. You can use different brush, of course, different type. I know these are quite expensive, and if you're trying watercolor for the first time and you don't want to spend too much money on supplies, you can use a different brush. But I tried other types of brushes. I've tried synthetic ones, and I can't work with the synthetic ones. I don't know, it's just my way of working, but they don't work for me. All right. So I'm going to use the lighter paint, again, diluted for the leaves that you see from the back, which is called a back seal. There's a couple of leaves here that are turned and you can see the back. And if you are interested in botanical painting, this is something that is actually very important. If you want to do an illustration for botanical work, which is at the moment, we're not doing this. Is botanical painting, but it's not, you know, a scientific illustration or something that is going to be on a show, for example, or a competition. But if you want to do something like that, it's very important that you show different parts of the plant. So you need to show the top of the leaves, the baxil, you need to show the back of the leaf. You need to show the flower from two or three different points of view. So from the front, from the side and from the back would be the minimum. And extra points if you like, if you show the root systems as well when it's like a bulb or different type of plant. In this case, is a tree, so you don't need to do that. But it's a really nice composition for botanical work when you have the roots and when you have, for example, the flower and the seeds as well. In here, for example, to make it a botanical illustration, for a competition, for example, I will need to add a little bit more than this, and I will need to add an example of the flour, and then maybe a section of the olive and also I mean, you can see also the inside, you know, the pip, the olive and what else? So the flower I said, yeah, I think that's that would make it more interesting and more botanically accurate. But for this type of illustration, you don't need that, of course, and we want to have fun here. So don't stress about all the different parts. But just so you know, in case you are interested in pursuing botanical illustration at a higher level as well. And at the moment, I'm just applying the first wash on the olives as well. And there are a couple that show some more green. And here actually, I had forgotten to add a little bit of because you can see a little bit of the top of the leaf in there. So I added the darker color. And I was saying two of the olives, you can see more green. And then the third olive, as you can see, I'm diluting the darker color because this one you can't really see the green. This olive is more ripe, so the green is gone, and you can see the darker color because they become quite dark, almost black. But this is kind of in the middle of the stage. But it's gone this maroon color, which is really lovely. So I'm doing the fist watch for that and also for the little stokes, as well. And then we're going to apply the first wash for the branch too. So the first wash will be completed after this. And for the branch, I'm going to use asma brush because it's quite thin. But again, it's the same type of work, just a flat wash with a base color, which I call the local color. The branch is this brownish color up to one point, and then the very tip becomes green because it's quite a young branch. So I apply the green at the bottom and let the two colors mix as well at one point. But the very tip is this lighter color, this green. That's it. After this, we are ready for the next step. 9. Second Layer - Adaxial: Now that the first wash is dry, we can proceed with the second wash. And what I do is, again, I take some paint and dilute it, but I will dilute it a bit less this time. So it's a little bit thicker. Of course, you know, try not to go too dark too soon because the way to proceed is to add different layers and make your painting darker a little at the time. So again, I will use here the wet on dry technique. So I start with a leaf on the left. And what I do is I use my two brush technique. So I'll apply the paint with my brush with my number one brush, and then to make the smooth transition, I will use another brush, in this case, is a number two miniature brush. Which is just basically a damp brush to as I was saying, make that smooth transition and avoid, you know, that line that might form. So this way, I don't have to pick up constantly new paint, and I don't know I quite like this technique. So as you can see, I carefully apply the paint, and I usually start applying the paint where I see the darkest area. And then I will smooth the transition with the brush. So you will have this sort of darker area. And I proceed like this for all of the leaves, and generally, this is my technique for everything. So have a look at where the darkest area is, apply your paint, and then transition it put it down. With the damp brush. Make sure you always rinse your damp brush, and also make sure that you tap it on some paper or a towel because you don't want to drop too much water on your painting. Otherwise, it will create this sort of stains. You know, it will push the paint and the pigment in a way that you can control. So you rinse your brush and tap it on your paper towel and then do that transition work that I was telling you about. So in here, there is that little tiny part of the top of the leaf that you can see. So I'm applying the paint there as well. And this way, you will give also the impression of the mid rib, that main vein because I'm not unless only for one leaf, the one on the right hand side. But for the other leaves, you can't really see that vein very much, but you need to give the impression of the vein and where that mid rib is the leaf sort of dips. So you need to convey this with your darker light. And and on the side, normally the olive leaves, they also curl towards the back of the leaf. So you need to convey that again with a darker light. If you look at the leaf, you will see that where it starts curling downwards, it's darker. And this is the leaf I was telling you about where I will leave a little tiny space, which is lighter, just to convey that vein because this leaf is really turning towards the viewer so you can see the midrib but here I show you exactly my technique. So you can see that I'm applying the paint and then smoothing it down with a damp brush. And you can do that with the same brush, but you need to rinse it, you know, to do this. So apply the paint, rinse it, and then do the same work as I do with the other brush. But I find that you use a lot of paint like this, and it's so much easier to just have a second brush. So here, as you can see, I'm carefully leaving that little bit of space just to convey the idea of the mid rib. And that colour that was underneath the face layer now with a darker color looks really light. So we probably have to put a wash on top of the lighter area so that it doesn't really stand out too much. So this is how I proceed for the second layer, and I proceed like this for all of the elements. And I find that this technique really gives me a lot of control on where I put the paint rather than applying wet and wet where the paint sort of rush whereever it likes because sometimes the pigments have a mind of their own. So I prefer to do it like this because I control it much better. Of course, there are very talented painters that use the wetting wit. I'm not saying it's wrong, so it's just a matter of preference. And it's important to experiment a lot, to paint a lot because in that way, you will find your own technique, which is maybe the wet and wet, maybe like mine, the wet and dry, or maybe it's a mix. You know, it's a matter of experimenting and see what you like to do. So don't worry. It's not wasted time and it's not wasted paper. It's a way to improve and to find your technique and your style. And that's the only way to do it. There's no other way. So I'm doing the same thing here. So I applying the paint where the darker area is and then smoothing it down. All right, so that's the second layer done, and we're ready to move on to the other leaves, the abaxial leaves. Oh 10. Second Layer - Abaxial: We can move on now to the abaxial leaves, and I'm going to apply a very diluted layer of the same color as we've been using so far. So but very, very diluted because I like to give it this sort of color shining through the next layer. So what I'll do is I just start defining the shadows, but with that color, and then I will apply the lighter color on top. So it's because watercolor is transparent. When you add these colors, even though it looks like you're adding something else on top, the previous layer will still show through. So it's a good idea. It's something that I like to do sometimes this type of work. So applying a different color. And in here, you have to remember that the mid rib is raised, so it's more visible and it's casting a shadow on the surface of the leaf. So at the moment, I'm defining the shadow to show that the mid rib is actually raised. So hopefully, you will see this and it's conveying this three D shape because to give the appearance of three D, we need to use the shadow and the light. So I'm just darkening a little bit where I was telling you before the leaves curl. So this leaf is curling. And again, this is casting a shadow on the surface of the leaf, this part of the leaf that is curling. And the same happens with this next leaf as well. And again, here you can clearly see the mid rib. So you need to make sure that you apply the paint in a way that looks like the shadow that is cast by the raised vein. So I have a look at the reference photo in the picture of the finish painting that I enclosed in the class, so you can see exactly what I mean. In the final leaf that is seen from the back, you can't really see very well that raised vein. You can see it a little bit, but not like the other leaves, but you still have to give the the impression of a shadow. So you still need to do the central area darker so that it shows that there is the leaf that is casting the shadow. And also the side the left side of this leaf is also darker because it's not receiving any light or batch light because the leaf is curling again, so that would be darker. And now what I'm doing is I'm mixing the light paint, lighter green with a little bit of darkening mix, the green darkening mix to make it a bit darker so that I can reinforce the darker areas. And this is something that I normally do when I need to make a paint darker, as I explained in the past, I like to add the darkening mix, so it makes it darker, but it doesn't change the hue so much. I'm going to use it on the leaves that you can see from the back. And basically now, what I'm going to do is just to strengthen the areas where you see the shadow, so the darker areas. And I will make the video a bit faster because it's the same process anyway. So I will speed up things a little bit. H So as you can see, I'm just going back to the area just next to the mid rib, just to make it a little bit darker just to, you know, lift the mid rib, so to speak. So when you apply the darker color next to it, it looks like the mid rib is actually coming up from the page. So don't worry about getting too dark. Just keep applying the paint as long as you don't go, you know, in with thick paint really dark all at once, you would be fine. And then after this, we can move on to the olives. So we can start to give the three D effect on the olives as well. Y 11. Second Layer - Olives: Alright, now we can proceed with the second layer on the olives. And I'm going to dilute a little bit the color mix for the olives, which is the lighter green and also the maroon color. So I have two maroon colors for the olives. One is more with a tendency to the red, which is for certain areas of the olives. So I'm preparing all three colors a little bit diluted, as you can see. And two of the olives are more green. So I'm going to start with those. A So I'm just going to use to start with a green olive on the left. Well, this olive is actually green, but it's also the maroon color. But I will start by applying the green because we can apply the other color. Since it's darker, we can apply it on the top. And just be mindful of the area of highlight. So as you can see, I'm working around it. And I'm just using my damp brush to soften the edges and make the smooth transition. But try to leave the area light in color. It's not completely white, but it is light. So be careful when you work around this area. I don't like to use muskin fluid. Normally, I try not to because it's it leaves a very sharp sort of edge in the color. So I try not to use muskin fluid. But if you are finding it difficult to apply the paint to leave the area, then try with the muskin fluid. But I would advise you not to use it if you can. And what I did here was I mixed some of the maroon color with the green color to make this sort of dark type of green, which is sort of you can see this green in the transition between the dark color and the green color, the lighter green. So this is something I also do quite often. I use the mixes that I have on my palette to make another color that I can see without mixing basically a fresh new color completely, because with those two colors, you can achieve exactly the hue you need. So hopefully this is making sense. And then what I do is I also start to apply the maroon color as well because you can see an area on the bottom of the olive and on the two sides that it's becoming to sort of ripen. Again, try to leave the lighter area when you apply this darker color as well. And as you can see, I'm using small strokes to apply the paint And I'm going to use reddish, more reddish paint on this side of the olive because I can see that this olive has got this light more reddish color in it. So always I will look at your reference photo and check for all the different colors that you can see. And I always use my second brush to smooth down the paint and sort of push a little bit of the pigment towards that area of highlight, because it's not completely white, shiny, but it's much lighter. So in this way, you get a little bit of colour but not too much. So it will give this idea of the olive being a little bit shiny. So I proceed like this for all of the olives. So this one, the second layer is almost done. And then once the second layer is done, we can add details. Always work carefully when you're working next to the leaf. I'm now diluting that color a little bit because I want to apply it underneath the darker colour in the olive on the right, the one that is more ripe because again, it will give it a different glow if you apply that colour. And again, be careful to leave the lighter area of the highlight. I always try to leave a little bit of a larger area so you can work towards making it smaller. But if you leave a small area, too small, then you won't really be able to take the color away and make it bigger again. So if you want to because, I mean, certain colors you can lift them, but then you might damage the paper. And these colors, especially are very difficult to lift. The reddish shade colors are usually difficult to lift. So it's better if you leave a larger area, and then you can make smaller rather than apply too much paint, you know, make the eyelight too small and then trying to regain the highlight back. So I'm working in the same manner for all of the olives as well. And I'm going to spit up the video a little bit because it's the same technique that I'm using for the last olive. So this one's got a little bit more green, but it's the same thing as I did before. Again, I'm applying the darker color on top of the green because this gives the particular kind of shine from the green as well, and the darker color can be applied on top of the lighter green is actually creating a great effect. And here I can just show you that I mix the maroon color with the green as I was explaining before, to darken the green and get this new mix, basically. 12. Second Layer - Branch: We can now move on to apply the second layer to the little branch as well. And again, I'm diluting the color for the branch, which is the color that you can see underneath that texture that is typical of the olive branches. And so I will apply this first as I have before. And then once this is dry with the dry brush, I will apply my darker color, the grayish color to mimic the texture of the branch. I start from the top and I use this golden brown color. Then when I get to the bottom part, which is the thinner part, it becomes more and more green. So I will switch to the green color. And I'll make the video a bit faster again because it's as usual, the same technique. So always using my damp brush to make a smooth transition. And I apply a little bit more color just underneath the olive because there will be the shadow cast from the olive. And then in here, in the last part of the branch, I applied the green color. And then after this, we will be ready to start working on the details. 13. Details - Adaxial: Now that the painting is again dry, we can start working on the details. So for this stage of the work, I will use again dry brush, but even more dry brush than before. So I'm picking up a very small amount of paint. So I give it a little mix and then try to get rid of part of that paint of the excess paint. And what I do is I always have a scrap piece of paper, and I sort of do a few lines in there to get rid of the excess paint that is on the brush. And then I start working on the leaf in this case, as if it was basically as if I was using a pencil. You can imagine a color pencil or a graphite pencil that you use to darken your areas. So if you ever used pencils for coloring, this is more or less what I'm in a way, how I can explain my technique. So I start always from where the color is more intense, whereas darker, where I can see the shadows. Uh, always be very light with your touch. And if you feel like you saw me before that you have too much paint on your brush, just again, do a few lines on a scrap bit of paper. Or sometimes I even use a kitchen towel and tap my brush on the kitchen towel. Then basically just draw with your brush and add the color slowly. Because it might look like you're not depositing much color, but you actually are. You are putting down quite a bit of color. And if you want to test this, do the same thing in a white piece of paper, you know, away from your painting, and you will see how much paint actually is deposited. But you can see even here the the leaf is becoming darker. So this way, you have a lot of control where you put your color, you have a lot of control how dark you're going to do your painting and also you can build the color slowly. So if you're not happy with how darkens, you can go back again. You can add a little bit of the darkening mix to your green, for example, and go back again with that. The important thing here is to not to load your brush too much because if it's too full of paint, then you will deposit a lot of paint as soon as you touch the paper. So if you again, if you're not sure, just do a few lines on the side. I do that very often because I don't want to just put a big blob of paint on my page, not after, you know, all the work has been done. So if it does happen, that you put a bit more paint that you want, you need to keep a paper towel handy and you just dab it, you know, put the paper towel on top. Don't rub it. You know, don't wrap it down. Just put the paper towel down and lift it up and you will see that it will absorb the excess paint. But try not to do it in the first place. You know, accident happens, it is not something that is not likely to happen. So in case you can do that, you can just dab it with the kitchen towel. And as you can see, is a bit of a slow work. This is actually work, normal speed, as you say. So it's not a fast way of doing watercolor, but the result is also very different from when you do the fast watercolor. So I'm not saying this is better, of course, but when you do a faster watercolor is an effect, which is more loose, for example, which is lovely as well. But if you want to achieve that botanical look, then this is a great way to do it. And it's kind of meditative as well. When I do this type of work, I just zone out and I don't really think about anything else. It's kind of a therapy if you wish. So I advise you to try and see if you like it. And if you like to color with pencils or to do graphite work, then this is something that is in a way, similar as a technique. So you will enjoy it, too. So as you can see here, I just slowly build up the color in that fold where the main vein is and the central vein, and that's it. I just keep building the color. So the next couple of videos, I will do them I will show them at a faster speed because basically it's the same technique, but I wanted to show you anyway. So you can skip them if you want, if you want to just see the next steps. But if you want to have a look, you can just check them out and see how I apply the paint. A 14. Details - Adaxial Sped up: Uh In this video, as I mentioned before, I'm showing you the same process to apply the details as I used before. So basically, it's sped up quite a bit because it's the same thing. But just in case you want to have a look at how I did it, you can watch the video. Otherwise, you can just move on to the next videos. So in here, I will complete the adaxio leaves, which are the leaves seen from the top. Or the darker ones. And it's all basically this process of drawing with a brush. So if you keep watching, enjoy the video, and I'll see you in the next videos. 15. Details Sped up Second Part: In this video, I'm finishing up the details for the leaves. So I'm finishing the top of the leaves, and then I'm just going to work a little bit on the abaxio so the back of the leaves. And it's the same as before. The video has been sped up because it's always the same technique. And if you don't want to watch this, you can always skip it and go to the next one. 16. One More Wash: I'm now going to apply a wash, because sometimes after the dry brush, I like to apply a light wash all over the area where I worked, just to bring everything together. Sometimes I apply the wash to change slightly the hue if I feel like, I need to give that little bit of a different color to the painting. But normally, I like to apply the wash just to bring the brush strokes together. And what I do is I dilute the color quite a lot and apply this diluted wash. You need to apply it gently because you don't want to disturb the layers underneath. And I use the same sort of technique that I used before with my two brushes, but try to be careful and use a gentle touch and don't rub your brush too much. Just apply the wash in a gentle way. And in this way, you will see that it sort of brings all the little brush strokes together in a cohesive way. And I will do that for all of the leaves. So they all have the same sort of treatment. And when you apply this wash it won't make a difference on the color that you have applied before, as in you won't lose your darkened lights because the wash is light. So your dark areas will still be darker than the light areas. And, of course, you can try to avoid a little bit, you know, the lighter areas by using the two brush method. So you apply more wash on the dark area and then transition it with the damp brush. So you basically apply just a little bit of water on the lighter areas. 17. Details - Branch: I will now proceed with the details for the branch. So I'm still using the brown golden color, and I do my little lines on the scrap paper, and I will apply the color here the same way as I've done with the leaves. So I'm going to use small strokes and work as if I was, um, working with my pencil, so little strokes and apply more color on the right side of the branch because when I work, I'm right handed, so usually the light comes from the left for me. So the branch is in shadow on the right side. So as you can see, I feel like there was too much paint on the brush. So I've dubbed on a piece of kitchen towel. So I will so this takes basically the excess paint of the brush because these brushes hold a lot of paint, so it was a little bit too much for me, and it would apply too much color. So I just proceed like this slowly. I work my way down the branch, and it's the same as before, basically. If you feel your brush is too big, if you're using the same brush as me, the number one, but you feel it's too big for you to work with. You can always go down sides. You can use zero or even 00. So this is up to you. I find that these brushes have a really good point. So even in this small space, I can still use the same brush the number one. As you can see, I don't pick up the paint very often because as I was saying, even if I dubbed the brush on the paper, it still has a lot of paint. So you don't need to pick up the paint very often with these brushes. Then, of course, at this point, the color changes into the green. So I'm picking up a little bit of green. And just tap it on your paper towel and proceed as before. And then in the next video, we can start working with the details on the olives as well. 18. Details - Olives: We can now start to apply the details on the olives. So I'm just picking up some of the pigment, the one with more reddish hue, and I'm going to work in the same way as I worked for the leaves. So I'm getting rid of the excess paint in some paper towel. And then just using the small strokes as if I was drawing just work on the olives. And I start with the one on the left, which has this reddish pigment, and it's good to add the two pigments. I'm picking up the other one now because when you look at the olive, you can see these two different hues sort of combining and shining through. And with the darker one, I'm going to apply it, of course, in the area where it's more in shadow, and the reddish one is in the area where it's more towards the light because the light sort of brings up this reddish hue that you can see in the olive. And then when it comes to work towards the green area, I will apply the paint in short strokes, almost like a little stippling action. And I make my strokes a bit further apart. So I'm just adding a little bit more of the green darkening sorry, the red darkening mix in here to make it a bit darker because in the side where is more shadow, it needs to be darker. So I'm adding more darkening mix. You can do this a little at the time so you can see exactly how dark it becomes. And I do the same thing in the other olive as well. So make the mix a little bit darker and start applying the painting there as well. And So I'm going to speed up the video just a little bit. So it's a little bit faster than real life. But this is basically all you have to do, color a bit more with your paint and make sure you have the darker area as dark as you there, really, because I know that it's easy to think, I'm going to make it too dark, so I leave it. But don't worry. It's the darker light that makes the three D effect. And as you can see, I'm turning the page, so don't be afraid of turning the page around if it's easier for you to work. And then after this olive, we can work a little bit more on the olive in the center. So we're going to do that in the next step. 19. Details - Green Olive: Alright, so I'm going to move on to the green olive now, the one that has got more green, but it does have a little bit of that reddish areas as well. So I'm continuing with that first. So I just add a little bit of that color in the shadow area to make it darker. Again, I use small strokes and when it comes to the area where it starts to become green, I use smaller strokes and a little stippling action and the strokes further apart. So you can create the digression from the dark into the green color. It's all a matter of practice really and always remember to leave the area of the highlight, so don't go there too much. But just try to leave it quite light. It's not completely white because it's not that shiny so much, you know, it's not like a cherry, the shine and the olives, but still there's still the highlight. It's still a little bit shiny. So this is what I was telling you about when you go onto the green area, do those little dots here and there so that you can make the transition from the maroon color to the green color. And then I'm just going to pick up a little bit of the green and add the maroon color to make the green a little bit, you know, darker. And this combination I find works really well to recreate the color of the olive because if you think about it, it's almost, you know, it's getting its ripening, basically, and that green is becoming that maroon. So when I start working, I start from the edge between the two colors and then move towards the green. And I work around the eyelight as well. Keep checking your reference photo as well for, you know, dark areas and light areas. And when it comes to the eyelight I do do strokes as well in there because I can see that it's not completely so it's not completely round, but there are some sort of shadows that break up the elight And then I'm going to add a little bit more of that green to the top olive as well, because I actually didn't do it, I think earler on. So I add a little bit of that to that olive too. And then after this, we can move on to the branch and the little stokes, and we're almost there nearly finished. I hope you are enjoying doing this painting with me. I 20. Details on Stalk and Branch: Alright, so we can apply the details on the little stalks of the olives and also on the leaf petiole. So the little bit where the leaf is attached to the branch. And I'm still using my number one brush. But if you find it difficult to use that brush, you know, don't hesitate to use a smaller one. And when you apply the paint on the patios of the leaves, also try to convey the part that is in shadow. So there is one side, which for me is always sort of the side on the right hand side, that is a little bit darker. So I know it's difficult to do on such a smaller surface, but try to apply the paint a little bit darker where you see the shadow. And I'm trying to do that on the little strokes as well. So as you can see, I'm just applying the paint on one side of the patio just to convey the fact that is in shadow on that side. Then I'm using a darker green also to that effect. So just working on the side that is in shadow. And the secret here is always to have little paint on the brush and not too much water, just a little bit of paint to use it as a pencil almost. And then for the final details of the branch, I'm going to use the darkening mix, the red darkening mix, and I'm going to dilute it. And I will use that to just paint some small lines to mimic the texture that you can see on the branch. So just get rid of the excess paint and just lightly paint some small lines on top of your branch. At the same time, you can use this paint to apply a shadow as well where the branches in shadow. So near the olives, underneath the olives and on the right side. Again, I've sped up the video a little bit, but this is the same process that I'm doing. Just keep picking up a little bit of paint and applying it with short strokes. I use short vertical strokes. And I've mixed some of the darkening mix with the brown because there are some little sort of darkened marks on the little branch. So I'm just doing that at the moment. And in the next step, we're going to have a look at the painting and basically apply the very final details, and that's it, we will be done. So we will do that in the next step. A 21. Final Details: All right, so we are finally going to apply the very final details. So at this point, you need to check your painting, see if there is anything missing. If there are details that needs adding, maybe some areas need a bit more shadow, needs to be a little bit darker. So check your reference photo and check your painting, see where you want to add a little bit more. And this is what I'm doing at the moment. I'm reinforcing certain areas where I can see more shadow, for example. And I'm still using the dry brush technique. So very little paint on my brush and just applying the paint with small strokes. And that's it. You just need to have a general check of the painting. And at this stage, you should check all the parts of the painting. So the olives and the branch and the leaves and all that. And then once you've done this, it's always a good idea to actually leave it for a while. A few days, doesn't have to be a long time, two or three days, and then have a look at it again because when you look at your painting with fresh eyes, you can see things that maybe you don't see anymore since you've been working on it for such a long time. So that's a good idea. Or you could show it to someone else, see what they think. And also, you could take a picture because sometimes from the picture, you see things that well, at least this is what happens to me. Sometimes I see things that I didn't notice while looking at the painting. I'm not sure what that is, but when you take the pictures, you know, they just show you things in a different way. So that's also a good idea. Also, if you take a picture, you can as well, turn it into black and white to make sure that you have enough contrasting tones. So you need to have dark tones, really dark, really light, and anything in the middle. But you need the contrast in the painting to make it interesting. If it's kind of middle tone, then it won't be that interesting that even if it's in color, somehow we will register that something there is something wrong with it. So make sure that you have very dark areas, very light areas, and all that. So as you can see, I'm just going from one leaf to the other, enhancing the darker areas, making sure that the shadow areas are dark enough. And I like to do this just to move from one part to the other so you don't get too accustomed to that particular part of the plant. And you can just look at it with let's say with fresh eyes in a way because you just going from one side to another. I so I'm just going to apply a little bit of a wash on the mid trip because I think it's standing out too much. So I just apply that live on the mid trip. And that's it. We have finished. So I really hope you have enjoyed painting this olive branch with me because that really is the most important thing when you are painting, just enjoy yourself. So I will see you in the next class. Bye. Oh 22. Final Thoughts: Congratulations on completing your beautiful olive branch painting. I hope you're feeling proud of what you've achieved and inspired by the progress you made in your watercolor journey. In this class, you practice color mixing, layering washes, adding intricate details, and finishing with those all important final touches. Each of these steps is a valuable skill you can carry forward to your future botanical art projects. Now that you've completed this piece, I encourage you to keep experimenting, perhaps try a different type of branch or botanical subject using the techniques that we've explored here. So challenge yourself with colors, textures or compositions. And this is really a great way to grow as an artist. If you enjoyed this class, I love for you to leave a review. Your feedback not only helps me to improve, but also helps other students to discover the class. It means so much and it makes a big difference. And while you're here, make sure to follow me to stay updated on future classes, tutorials, projects. I've got so many exciting things planned and I love for you to join me in this creative journey. Connect with me on social media, where I share tips, behind the scenes, glimpses and more watercolor inspiration. If you share your finished painting online, make sure to tag me as well, because I love to celebrate your work with you. Thank you so much for painting with me today. Keep creating, keep exploring and I can't wait to see what you make next. So until next time, happy painting. Bye.