Learn To Paint Many Moods Of Water: A 7-Day Watercolor Challenge

1. About the Class : There is something truly captivating about the way water moves, ever changing, reflective, and full of life. Painting water isn't just about adding a few blue washes or splashes on paper. It's about capturing its soul, its transparency, its rhythm, its movement, and the way light dances over it. But let's be honest, painting water in watercolor is one of the toughest challenges to crack, even for experienced artists. Translating that elusive beauty of water onto paper is indeed nerve racking. Trust me, I know that feeling all too well. When I first started, painting water felt like an impossible task. The colors got muddy, some areas overworked, and somehow I lost the sense of transparency, depth, and movement I wanted to capture, resulting in the outcome to look flat. And honestly, it was so frustrating. But over time, after trying out different styles and techniques, I discovered an approach that made water feel less intimidating and much more enjoyable to paint. Hey, guys. I'm Nelm Roy, a watercolor artist and brand ambassador for Shinhan Art and Silver Brush Limited. Through my in person workshops and online classes, I have had the privilege of helping thousands of students gain confidence with watercolors, guiding them to better understand their tools, techniques, and artistic voice. And one question that keeps coming back again and again is how to paint water without losing its luminous, transparent quality. And that's exactly what inspired this class. And in this class, we are going to explore the many moods of water from tranquil surfaces and gentle ripples to dynamic movement and glowing reflections. This class is designed to help you paint water with clarity, confidence, and intention. Here is what you will learn in this class, how to analyze and simplify compositions for effective waterscapes, understanding paper wetness and perfecting your timing, using tonal values to create dep, mixing water tones to achieve natural looking water, application of fundamental watercolor techniques to create light, sparkle and textures. Learning the essential skills will enable you to take on any water reference and paint them with ease. We will reinforce these learnings into action through seven unique projects over seven days, each capturing the elusive many moods of water. So whether you are a beginner or an intermediate artist looking to elevate your water scenes, this class is designed just for you. And if you're brand new to watercolors, I recommend checking out my earlier class on transparency. That is a great foundational course to pair with this class. So grab your supplies, and let's unravel the mysteries of water one brush stroke at a time. 2. Supplies Needed : Welcome to this lesson. Here I'll walk you through all the essential supplies that you will need for the class. Let's start with the most important one our vertical paper. The paper that I'm going to use here today is Saunders Waterford, a professional quality 100% cotton, mold made acid free and archival grade paper. It's a cold press, not grain fine paper. Now, if you look at the texture of the paper, it is not too textured like the rough ones. It has just the right amount of tooth, not too grainy, not too smooth, which is ideal for the kind of soft blends and textures we will be exploring in this class. It is truly one of my favorites. As for the size, I'll be working with a 12 into nine inch gummed paper block. If you are a beginner, I highly recommend starting with a smaller sheet like an A five sheet. Working on a large surface can feel a little overwhelming at first. So it is best to get a grip on the techniques on a smaller format and then gradually scale up to larger sizes like the one I'm using here. For this class, I'm going to go with full sized paper. Now, here I'm using a gummed paper block, which is glued on all four sides, and that is the reason I wouldn't need any additional surface to tape down my paper. But in case you are using smaller sheets, then you would want a non absorbent surface to tape down your paper and start painting on it. Something like this, like an acrylic sheet board. Here I'll show. Something like this, an acrylic sheet board or even acrylic glass writing boards. The advantage of this is you can use both the surfaces to tape down your paper. It works beautifully, keeps the paper flat, and helps in achieving the even washes, and that's everything about the paper. Let's move on to the next essential tool that is watercolors. Okay, so moving on to our colors, I'll be working with Shinhan Arts PWC Extra Fine premium watercolor range. Now, this is a professional great artist quality line that offers vibrant colors and beautiful transparency. Perfect for painting our water scenes. Now, do not worry if you're using a different brand. You can absolutely work with what you have got. Just make sure to use Artist Great paints. Also, no need to stress about the pigment names. I have included a separate lesson on pigment selection. Where I'll walk you through the exact colors I use their pigment codes and share easy alternatives. Plus, at the beginning of each project, I'll watch out all the colors we will be using so that you can find similar shades from your own palette. I have got you covered, so do not worry at all. Now moving on to our next supply, that is our brushes. Don't be overwhelming so many brushes here. You definitely don't need them all. I'll walk you through the ones I personally use and highlight the brushes you'll see me. Use most frequently throughout the class. First up is my hake brush. This one is from silver Otilia series, size ten, met from goat hair. It is great for laying down large flat washes and covering bigger areas quickly and smoothly. Now, if you don't have a hag brush, no worries. You can easily substitute it with a quill mop brush or any broad bellied round brush. One, for example, is from the same Ailia series, a quill mop brush that serves a similar purpose of laying flat washes on larger areas, similar like hake brush, and you'll see me using this very frequently in my upcoming projects. Next, the brushes you'll see me use the most are my quill mops. Both are from silver Atia series. Once again. One is a size 20 go hair quill mop, incredibly soft and ideal for fluid watercolor work. The other one is a squirrel blend quill mop, size number 00, another favorite of mine. I'll be alternating between these two depending on the water scenes that we are painting. Now, if you're not comfortable using the quill mob brushes, no problem at all, you can easily replace them with round brushes in sizes 12, ten, eight, and six. Now, let me show you here. These are from silver black velvet series of fantastic and versatile set for watercolor brushes. Sizes ten and 12 are great for larger washes, which can easily help you cover the large areas, and then size eight is my favorite. It's one of my oldest brushes, and then size six is great for detailing and for smaller areas. So instead of the mob brushes, go ahead and use your round brushes. Now let's take a look at few other brushes that we will be needing. This is a synthetic ultra round brush from silver Silk 88 Series, size number six. I love using this brush when I need more control over the amount of water and pigment that's where synthetic brushes really shine. They don't hold as much water as the natural hair brushes. Along with this, I'll be also using the size two ultra round brush from the same series. It has long bristles and a beautiful pointed tip. Perfect for adding precise details to our water scenes. Now, if you do not have these ultra round brushes, don't worry. Even a regular round brush will work just fine as long as it has a sharp point tip. Now let's move on to two other speciality brushes. I have been enjoying a lot lately. These are from newly launched bellet aqua series. They are smaller in size, making them perfect for detailing smaller areas or even lifting paint from the paper. This one here is size eight cats tongue brush. It's incredibly useful for painting distant wave patterns or soft ripples in water. In the distance, the unique shape really helps create that organic. Next is the bright brush in size six and other fantastic tools, especially for lifting pigments. If you don't have a cat's tongue brush, you can also use an angle chatter brush. It is just as effective as for lifting or creating control ripple effects. And lastly, let's talk about rigor or liner brushes. This one is size two from an Indian brand called Bus also have from Princeton, though the tip is a bit free now from heavy use. Rigers are great for drawing fine lines like water reflections or subtle weve crest. Now, if you don't own a rigor or liner brush, that's absolutely okay. Even a small size round or ultra on brush can work as a substitute. Now coming to our sketching supplies, I'll be using a mechanical pencil, a ruler, and an eraser. You can also use a kneading eraser. If you prefer, that's totally optional. Next is my masking fluid. To preserve the whites of the paper, I'm using the LeFrank Burgoys masking fluid. I really love this masking fluid unlike the others. It does not have a strong stench. Now an important tip. Whenever you are using masking fluid, always use an inexpensive synthetic brush with a pointed tip. Do not use your good brushes for this. Then I have this fluffy round brush of size number six, which I use for the dry brush technique, especially for creating crashing wave splatters. This is optional, but if you have a similar brush lying around, it can be quite useful. Now, don't forget your tissue paper or your tissue towel to dab your brushes. Then we would need two jars of clean water. Lastly, you will also need a mixing palette. I am here using a 35 well polycarbonate palette from Shinhan art, but feel free to use any ceramic plastic, or even regular kitchen plates. Anything that you have handy will work just fine. And that's it. Those are the supplies that we will be using in this class. I'll see you in the next lesson. 3. Selection of pigments-Transparency: Now let's talk about why selection of pigments or colors especially matter when painting water, whether it's a calm tropical sea or deep ocean scenes. Now, here's my biggest suggestion. Limit your palette to just a few single pigment blues or greens. This will give you far more control, create predictable mixes, and most importantly, help you maintain that glowing transparency that water demands. So the question arises, how do you choose the right colors? Start by picking up your watercolor tubes or pants and look for the pigment information. Do not worry too much about the name of the color or the number printed beside it. Those vary from brand to brand. Instead, focus on the pigment code that is labeled on your tubes. Now to give you an example, the tube that I have here has the pigment PB 15 is three. Now, this is a very cool and transparent staining blue. Now, if you take a look at the swatch, you can see how beautifully transparent it is. It is slightly staining, but because of the transparency, it creates a lovely glowing effect when used in water scenes. Even if I lift the color from it, it retains that light and luminicity which is very much needed to create realistic looking water scenes. Now, here is something interesting. Let's say you have a thalo blue from the brand rim brand, it might be made with a pigment PB 15. Whereas, in my Shinhan PWC extrafine watercolors, the Thalo blue red shade is made from PV 29. Okay, so let me show you here the swatch of PV 29 Thalo Blue. Now, it's a very vibrant and transparent blue, and I absolutely love it. But again, Thalo blues from other brands could also use PB 15 or PB 1523 or even PB 35. So always check the pigment code and not just the brand name. So keeping this fact in mind, before starting any of my water compositions, I like to lay out all of my blues and greens and do a quick swatch test, checking for their staining and transparency. You can do it across brands of colors that you own. This helps me choose the right pigments that will enhance the natural feel of the painting and keep the colors clean and glowing, making it look very realistic. Now, to help you with your pigment selection, here on the screen, you will see some of my recommended pigments, not specific colors, but single pigments that I think will work beautifully for any water, sea or ocean scene. Lastly, if your tubes or pans, do not mention pigment information directly, do not worry. Just head over to the brand's official website. Most of them provide a detailed pigment chart that you can refer to before making your choice. Okay, so now that we have got our pigment selection sorted, let's move on to the next exciting part that is creating our own watery mixes. We will mix some of these blues and greens together to explore a range of transparent ocean and still water hues from tropical turquoise to stormy sea blues. So grab your palette and let's dive in. 4. Mixing Water Tones: Hi there. Welcome to this lesson. Today in this lesson, we are diving into how to mix realistic water tones for different water scenes like the ocean, sea, lakes, waterfalls, and still waters. To begin with, I'm using a curated palette of single pigment watercolor tubes, primarily blues and greens from ShinhansPWC extra fine watercolor range. That's it. Feel free to use whatever brand you have on hand. As long as you can identify the pigments, this exercise will still be effective. And even if you don't have single pigment paints, don't worry, just grab your available blues and greens and follow along. The first blue that I'm swatching out is my Talublue red shade, which in my case, is PB 29, but most other brands may have Talublue red shade consisting of pigment 15 east to one. Followed by, I have swatched out my To green that is PG seven or also known as viridian Shenanad. Now, when I mix both of these colors, I form a very beautiful turquoise blue colour. Now here it gets interesting. When I add a touch of vermilion that is PO 16, a warm, single pigment orange to that turquoise mix, it instantly neutralizes the color, giving us a muted brownish tone. Can you see that? Now, this color is useful for creating those murky, shadowy watery areas. Now in the same pigment of my turquoise blue, when I go with a mixed pigment of orange that is mixing my red and yellow, I get a more warm greenish brown tone, almost similar to that of an olive green, which is a beautiful early color often seen in rivers or lake reflections. Next, I will try mixing my ultramarine blue with my green that is my viridiant green of PG seven pigment. The resulting mix, which I get is a turquoise green tone, but this time it is with a slightly more granulating and a deeper tonal value thanks to the ultramarine blues texture and the warm tones. Just like in the previous case, I will split this turquoise green mix into two pools. In the first pool, I will add my single pigmented orange, that is PO 16. Now, as soon as I mix it in, you will notice the color instantly darkens and becomes more neutralized. In the second pool, I'm adding an orange mix that I previously created using the combination of red and yellow pigments. This time, the resulting color leans towards a muted brownish green. It's a very warm mixture and will be perfect to create textures and reflections where the clarity of water is low. Now I'm moving on to my next color, which is my moraine blue with pigment PB 15 is 23. Now instead of this, you can go ahead with cobalt blue as well. When you mix both of this green and blue, you see the result is a deep dark turquoise green. This happens because PV 153 is already a cooler blue with a slight green undertone. So when mixed with PG seven, the depth intensifies. I have created two separate pools of my turquoise green. In the first one, I'm going ahead and mixing my PO 16, which is a single pigment orange, and you can see the result is a desaturated, greenish neutral the second pool, I add my pre mixed orange, but since there is more green than orange, the mix stays vibrant and isn't fully neutralized. It's a good reminder that your final color always depends on the pigment ratios that you use. I will now repeat this same mixing exercise using few other blues along with my PG seven. That is my peacock blue and Horizon blue. This will help us explore the wide variety of water tones we can create by simply shifting our base colors and observing how they interact with green and orange. Now I'm moving on to horizon blue, which is a tinted blue meat with PV 154 and PW six. Instead of this, you can also use cerulean blue as substitute with PB 35 as its pigment. Observe what happens when I mix my pastel turquoise with this brilliant orange, the mixture turns into a muted pastel brown, but it is opaque. But when I mix this same turquoise blue into my premixed orange, it shifts into a bright olive green. This is because unlike the single pigment orange, which tends to neutralize and dull the color, the premixed orange contains yellow, which leans the mixture towards a warmer and more vibrant olive green. For a change, I'm mixing my halo blue red shade with PB 29 with a bright yellow green. The result is a brighter, cooler turquoise, which is perfect for tropical or shallow water scenes. Next, I add pure orange into this mix, and you will see it turns into those murky greenish brown. And now I'll repeat the same process with Prussian blue with PB 27 and this bright yellow green. This will help us observe the unique variations on how different blues and greens shift the final tone. For the last mix, we will directly desaturate our blue. In this case, we will add a little bit of paints gray or neutral tint to our halo blue. This immediately tones down the vibrancy, giving us a muted and moody blue, great for painting stormy skies or deep waters. Now, if you take this desaturated mix and add just a hint of orange into it, it further mutes the tone, resulting in a deep, dark bluish gray. Now, as a reference, you can also create a color mixing chart by lining up all your blues against a range of cool greens, warm greens, orange, reds, browns, and neutral tints. Here, I have done exactly that. This kind of chart is a powerful tool for any watercolor artist. It not only helps you choose the right blues and greens for painting water, but also deepens your understanding of how to desaturate and control your color palette with purpose. As you have seen throughout this lesson, even small shifts in pigment choices or mixing ratios can create an incredible variety of water tones. From bright tropical turquoise to deep, stormy seas or murky browns or greens, we have got it all. Whether you're painting oceans, waterfalls, tropical seas, quiet, ponds or lakes, knowing how to control saturation and temperature gives you the power to evoke emotion, depth, and realism in your landscapes. So take your time with this mixing practice, observe, explore and most importantly, have fun discovering the language of water through colors. 5. Simplifying what you see!: Before we begin painting our water compositions, there is one very important step that is observation. Whether you're a beginner or an intermediate artist, I highly recommend you to take some time to observe water in real life whenever possible, be it waves, lakes or puddles. And if that's not accessible, collect as many reference images as you can. But here is the key. Not every reference is a good reference. The collection that you have gathered, choose a reference that feels visually balanced. Look for compositions where you can easily apply the rule of two thirds or the golden ratio or where the elements are arranged in a pleasing way. This initial step of selecting the right reference makes a world of difference. It sets the tone for the entire painting process. Let me show you what I mean with this first example. When you look at this reference, your eyes are instantly drawn in. Why? Because of the color contrast and how the light reflects on the waves? The wave themselves have beautiful light and shadow areas, adding character, depth, and movement. It's dynamic and visually engaging, perfect for a painting. Now let's take another example. Here we have a clear focal subject, that is the dolphin. Notice how the light rays from the sky reflect in the water, creating a silhouette of the dolphin on the wave. There is a lot happening in this scene, yet even if you simplify or omit some of the background elements, the composition still works because of that strong central focus. You can even play around with just the dolphin as your main focal point and build your own interpretation. The idea here is to train your eye to indicate or notice what works in a reference and now, there will be times that the reference you choose might feel a little bit too complicated. Let's take a look at this reference as an example. At first glance, your eyes are naturally drawn to the two boats in the scene. But as you keep looking, you will notice a variety of background elements, maybe buildings, trees, or textures that add to the complexity. Here is the important thing to remember. Don't need to paint everything that you see in the reference. The goal is to guide the viewer's eye, so simplifying is just often necessary. Here in this example, I'll go with the boat on the left because we have a clear view of the entire boat and a beautiful reflection in the water. I have decided to completely omit that second boat, making the focal point stronger and the composition more intentional, and the background can be toned down and kept less detail to help draw more attention to the boats in the foreground. This is how we can thoughtfully simplify your reference by editing out distractions and painting only what serves the story or mood we want to convey. So I hope this makes it clear. You are not bound to copy every detail from your reference. Use it as a guide. 6. Fundamental Techniques : Before we derive into our main projects, let's take a moment to explore some essential watercolor techniques that will form the foundation of our class. The first is wet on wet technique. Wet on wet is a watercolor technique where we first wet the dry paposurface and then apply wet paint onto the damp background. This method allows the pigment to spread and flow naturally, creating beautiful organic textures. It's a highly versatile technique that can be adjusted to suit the specific needs of a painting. For example, in our case, this technique will serve as the base layer for the water. To add interesting patterns and textures to this wet surface, we can then splatter either dark colored pigments or some clean water to achieve those soft blooms that mimic the textured look of an aerial ocean. This is the very first technique that we will be using in our first project. Let's explore a variation of this technique. For the background, I'll start by wetting the paper using a mop brush to create an even thin layer of water. Next, I'll then switch to a smaller round brush and try reactivating my paint using my water. Here, notice how my brush tip is loaded with water, and this is what is making my paint mix too watery. As I try to paint waves using this paint mix, the shapes become undefined as the paint spreads too quickly. Now here is the trick. When I blot my brush with a tissue or a towel to remove that excess water, the brush becomes more controlled, and as I paint the wave shapes again, notice the difference. The edges are still soft, but somehow the strokes hold their form. This technique is known as controlled wet on wet technique. Now let's discuss another important method, which is the lifting technique. This involves using the damp tip of your brush to gently lift off the excess paint from the paper while it's still wet. It is perfect for correcting mistakes or creating highlights. Just remember always rinse your brush in clean water or dab it dry on your tissue towel or paper, and then lift the paint again. We will use this technique very frequently in almost all our upcoming projects. While the background is still damp, I'll gently add darker indigo values to the foreground using a controlled paint to water ratio. This method of building tonal contrast is called layering. Applying it on a wet surface creates soft blended waves. This is one of my favorite ways to add depth while maintaining a gentle fluid look to the ocean. We will begin using this technique in Project one itself, but it will become more prominent from Project two onwards. Using this damp but dry brush, I'll load it with dry paint and begin making vertical strokes on dry paper. As you can see, this creates textured broken marks, a technique known as dry on dry. Now, for comparison, if your brush is too wet, when you load the paint, you won't achieve this effect. The excess water softens the strokes, eliminating the dry texture. Now I'll attempt it one more time. But still the same. On the third attempt, when the brush has just enough moisture left after being used, you can see the ideal dry brush marks textured and controlled. Now, when I dry out the brush completely, you will barely notice any paint on the paper. That's too dry. So the third stroke from the top demonstrates a perfect balance for dry brushing. Now let's move on to another key technique that is creating depth through atmospheric perspective. For that, I'll first begin by uniformly wetting my paper. And then load my brush with a dull green mix and start adding some wave strokes. Notice how the values are darker in the foreground, and this will become gradually lighter as they move towards the horizon. This follows the principle of perspective. That is, as the objects recede into the distance, their tonal values become lighter and less defined. If you would like to explore this concept in a little bit more detail, check out my dedicated class on atmospheric perspective on Skillshare. Okay. So to sum up this technique, as we move further from the foreground, tonal values gradually lighten and the shapes become little less defined. Now the foreground will always appear darker with larger and more detailed shapes because it is closest to our eye level. This is linear perspective at work, and it's simple yet powerful way to create depth in your water paintings. Alright, let's move on to the next important technique that is wet on dry technique. This simply means applying wet paint onto dry paper surface. It's one of the most commonly used technique when we want sharp, defined shapes or clear outlines in our painting. For example, here I'm painting the shape of the stones, and now I'm going to fill it in using a flat wash of color. At this stage, the result looks quite flat, but if I now drop in a slightly darker tone while the paint is still wet, the stones begin to look more three dimensional, giving us beautiful soft laying with a defined shape. So it is really a matter of controlling the moisture, either the paint or the paper is wet, but not both. That's the secret of creating both form and clarity with this technique. We are going to use this technique for creating stones on the beach in our first project, and this technique will also be used while painting the reflections in water. Paint reflections on water, you will need a brush with a fine pointed tip that also holds a good amount of water. I like to hear use my silver silk series ultra round brush for this. For example, if you are painting a pole and it's reflection, both elements should be painted using the wet on dry technique. When painting the reflection, make sure your brush isn't overloaded with water. Too much of water can cause uncontrolled strokes while too little can result in dry, scratchy marks. The key here is to maintain the right pain to water ratio so your brush glides smoothly, allowing you to create clean, sharp lines for the reflection. Now, just for demonstration, if your brush is too dry, you won't be able to paint sharp, clean outlines for the reflection. Instead of smooth extended lines, you will end up with scratchy broken marks that lack clarity. Alright, so here is a quick summary of the broad fundamental techniques we covered in this lesson. 7. Tonal Value: Depth & Contrast: Now, if you're wondering what exactly is tonal value, let me explain. Tonal value refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a color. It describes how light or dark a color appears regardless of its hue, hue being the actual color, like the red, blue, or yellow. Now in watercolors, tonal value plays a crucial role. That's because watercolor is a transparent medium. You can always add darker tones, but you can't easily make things lighter once they are painted. So before you even pick your brush, you need to evaluate the tonal values in your composition. You have to plan ahead and reserve the lightest areas, usually the paper white right from the start. Once the tone is laid down, it is very hard to lift it back to white. That's why understanding tonal value is so essential in watercolors. So now the question arises. What exactly is tonal value scale? Tonal value scale is the range of values from light to dark within a color. That is, it is the full range a color can give you, and with this, we can determine the lighter or the darker areas in a composition. Now, this scale can come in different forms most commonly as a five point scale or a more detailed nine point scale. The nine point scale divides the tonal values into nine distinct steps that is from pure white to pure black. Let me show you this in the nine point value scale. Let me now show you the nine point value scale for a color. You can see the lightest color to the darkest range that this color can produce. Here, nine represents the darkest value, and one is the lightest, almost your paper white. Now, this scale offers a much broader range of values, allowing for more subtle gradations or nuances in shading and highlighting. However, this can get a little bit overwhelming for those who are just starting out with watercolor. It is best recommended for beginners to start out with a five point value scale, which is easier to grasp the concept of light and dark values and apply them in practice. So let's get to creating our five point value scale. Here I'm going ahead and creating five columns, more or less making them equal in dimension. For this value scale, you can start first with grading your darker colors like pains, gray, neutral tint, black, or blues. Here I'm going ahead with blue because I felt the gradation of black was not properly visible on the camera. So for your practice, start with your darker colors and then lighter colors to understand the difference between the tonal range in each of its hues. Now let's get back to marking the columns. I'll mark first my lightest value, which is one, and then I'll go to my darkest value, which will be my five. Now let's mix our values. We'll first begin with our darkest value, which is our fifth value. Here, it will be 90% paint and a little less water. I'm here approximately considering at 10% water. The fourth will have 70% paint, 30% water. The third will so on will have a balanced ratio of paint to water that is 50% paint, 50% water. Now, this will be a uniform paint to water ratio, your ideal consistent mix of your mid value. Now for the second value, the paint will start to get a little more diluted. We will use 30% paint and 70% water, and one will be the reverse of the fifth value. I scribbled earlier, 10% water, but it should be 10% paint and 90% water. Now in 1-5 values, values second, third and fourth will present the light, mid and dark mid values. And as a rule, we know that in watercolors, we always start from the lightest and increase the tonal value to the darkest because once we go to the darkest values, it's difficult to bring back that paper white finish in your painting. So we always start with the lightest value and then build the tonal values gradually towards the darkest. So similarly, I'll do the same here. First, I'll fill the darkest and the lightest values in the value scale, and then the mid and darker value ranges. Now, starting with my darkest value. This is my 90% paint with 10% water. This is the darkest value that my ultramarine can go. I'll give it a good mix and then paint this box. You can go ahead with more neutral blues and blacks or neutral tints and compare the dark to light value range with the lighter colors to get a better understanding of the range of values in each of the pigments. Okay, now let's go ahead and fill in the lightest value of one. Here I'll be using 90% water and just a tiny pinch of paint, which is 10% of a paint, and give it a good mix to create a very light, watery ultramarine blue mix. Remember, the more water you add, the more diluted your mix becomes and the lighter the value will be. If you're unsure about how light the value is, I recommend doing a quick swatch test on a scrap piece of paper. Check if the mix is light enough for the whites of the paper to shine through. That's when you know it's the true light value. Once you are happy with it, go ahead and fill it in the value box of one on your scale. So once you have your lightest and darkest values in place, you can now go ahead and fill in between the ranges. This is much easier approach, and it helps you understand better when you need to lighten or darken your tones as you go. So now let's get to value two. For value two, I'm going to add a little bit more paint to my existing pool of diluted color mix, and you will notice that the value is now slightly darker as compared to value one, just enough to show on a clear shift. Now I'll rinse my brush and dab it lightly on my tissue towel. I'll load now some fresh paint and gently mix it into the existing pool. You will start to see the value intensify just a bit. This is our value. You observe the consistency, you will notice the mixture remains smooth, bright, and nicely pigmented. Perfect. For that, next slide to mid drained tone. Now let's move on to value four. I'll repeat the same process, adding a bit more paint to the existing pool of paint mix. And here you will notice that as compared to value three, there isn't a drastic change in tone, which indicates that these are your mid tonal values, the transitions become more subtle in the mid range. So I hope now you are getting a clear idea of how tonal values shift and how you can control them by simply adjusting your paint to water ratio. Now that you have seen how a single color can shift through different values with just water, take a moment to observe how powerful this control can be in watercolors. Let's now move on to a simple exercise where we will put this into practice. 8. Analysis & Value Study: Depth & Contrast: Before diving into a full watercolor painting, one of the most valuable things you can do is to take a step back and create a tonal value study for the selected reference in the form of a small thumbnail sketch. Now you might wonder why this step is so important. In watercolor, you don't have the luxury of working back and forth like opaque mediums. Once you go dark, it's nearly impossible to return to light. So having a clear map of light, mid and dark values allows you to plan ahead, ensuring your final piece has depth, balance, and visual clarity. Let's take this example, a sunset sky reflecting over a calm water body with some gentle ripples on the surface. At first glance, it's easy to be swept away by the vibrant hues, the warm oranges, soft pinks to corals, and then your faded out blues. But if you strip away the color and focus only on the value, you begin to see the structure beneath this beauty. Once you convert your reference image to black and white, it becomes much easier to start analysing the composition in terms of tonal values. You can now compare different areas of the scene directly against your five point value scale to identify what's light, mid or dark values. Here, in our reference, the sky at the top edge of the paper is slightly deeper somewhere around the mid tone values or value three, and the sky near the horizon where the sun is setting is the lightest area close to value one. When you analyze the foreground, the ripples and the large wave shapes appear the darkest falling into the value of four to five range. So once this basic analysis is done, you are ready to either sketch out the composition or simply block in the major shapes using a single color, dividing them into light, mid and darker value zones. Now let's go ahead and create a quick tonal thumbnel sketch for this sunset composition together. Let's begin our quick and simple value study together. I have already created a small frame using masking tape. Now I'm going to sketch out the horizon line to demarcate the sky and the water. Next step is to wet my sky area. I'm going ahead with a soft round brush just enough to give it a nice sheen without creating any puddles. Now let's prepare a mid dark value using neutral tint. You can use any dark shade of your choice for this exercise, pains, gray, indigo, or even a dark blue works really well. I'll begin by applying this mid dark value at the top edge of the sky and gently transition it towards a lighter tone as we move closer to the horizon. This smooth shift from dark to light is called gradient wash, a fundamental watercolor technique. This gradient wash technique is especially useful when painting skies or calm water bodies where you want to show linear perspective in action. It helps create depth by transitioning from darker values in the foreground to lighter values as you move into the distance. If you would like to explore this further, you can check out my class, the ultimate guide to painting watercolor skies, a seven day challenge, where I break down different types of washers and how to apply them effectively in your landscapes. Now we will begin painting the water, but in this step, we are going to focus purely on the light and shadow shapes of the waves and not the finer details. Just like our thumbnail sketch done in pencil, we will now start blocking in the major value shapes using the paint. I'll now begin by placing the darkest values first and then gradually adjust the lighter tones as we move further into the distance. Remember, this stage is about simplification, capturing the large shapes and their value relationship. It is important to understand that you can always adjust darker tones later if needed, but with lighter areas, you need to be more mindful right at the start. Because in watercolors, once you lose the light, it's hard to bring it back. So build your contrast intentionally and keep an eye on the overall balance of lights and shadows. To create the sense of light play on the surface of the waves, I start by gently lifting out any paint that's creeping into the reserved white spaces or highlights. This helps preserve the illusion of the reflected light and keeps the wave forms more defined and dynamic. I will now add some more darker tones to the bigger foreground waves to enhance the depth and contrast. Now here, I'll quickly spotch out the tonal values we used in our painting. As you can see, we have effectively used values from the five point value scale that is from the lightest lights in the sky to the darkest shadows in the foreground ripples. Clearly shows how practically useful the five point value skill is when it comes to planning and executing a painting. It helps you simplify complex scenes into manageable value shapes and ensures your composition has a strong sense of depth and contrast. So I hope you were able to follow along and understood the importance of a value study in bringing out depth and contrast in your paintings. This is a simple yet powerful exercise. In our day two project, we will take this a step further as we paint tranquil surface waves focusing more closely on the interplay of light and shadow on water. 9. Day 1: Composition Analysis: Let's take a moment to analyze a day one composition before we begin. I like to start by converting my reference into black and white so that I can focus purely on values without the destruction of color. Then I carefully observe and study the scene. The first thing that catches my eye is the direction and movement of the water caused by the wind. If you look closely at both the references, you will notice the water is flowing inwards towards the shore. This creates a leading line that guides the viewer's eye straight to our main subject, the sea foam, and the waves crashing onto the shore. Next, I look at the light shadows and contrast. The darker areas you see are actually patches of algae growing or shadows cast by submerged objects when viewed from above. I also roughly map out the tonal values across the reference. This helps me understand where my darkest darks and lightest lights will be. Finally, I take a note of the minute textures in the water, which will bring extra realism and interest to the painting. So you see even a seemingly simple reference can reveal so many interesting elements when you analyze it. That's why I always recommend doing this step first. I sets a strong foundation for your painting. 10. Day 1: Color Palette: Let's take a look at the colors we will be using for our first project. I'm starting out with Marne blue with pigment PB 15 is 23. Now it is a very cool blue, but you can use any other blue that contains PB 27 or PV 15. This pigment is most commonly known as Thalo blue green shade, though the name may vary across brands. Next, we have cobalt green. We have already covered how to create this tone in our mixing water tones lesson. Simply mix horizon blue with viridian and you would get a similar shade. This is how you obtain the shade. Now, if you do not have this horizon blue, you could mix in a little bit of your white pigment into your cerulean blue and obtain this blue. Next help is watching out indigo. Mix in a little red into your darker blues and you would get this indigo readily. Another way to mix indigo is to mix in a little bit of paints gray adionutal tint into your blues and create a similar looking indigo color. Next, we will be kneading in a little bit of burnt sienna. Now, this color is commonly present in all basic watercolor sets, followed by shell pink. Now this is an optional color. You can substitute this with white quash, but I personally love combining shell pink with browns to get that beautiful tinted sandy brown. Look at that beautiful pastel brown that we have got. Next, lbs watching out a very bright yellowish green. My yellowish green here is a granulating yellow green. If you want to make your yellow greens granulating, then I suggest you mix in a granulation medium into your color to make it more granulating. We will also need sap green. I'll be mixing sap green and indigo to create those dark greens for our foliage. Also, when you mix browns with indigo, it creates dark brown tones perfect for adding depth to the rocks along the shore. 11. Day 1: Wet on Wet Ocean : Alright, let's get started with our day one project. I'm first going to secure my paper using masking tape. Now I'm going to sketch the outline of the shoreline and add a few rocks along it. I'm not copying the reference exactly. Instead, I'm capturing the overall essence of the scene. Please excuse my slightly rough voice today. I'm recovering from a bad flu. I'll quickly finish the sketch so you can pause the screen and outline yours. If you're working on a smaller sheet of paper, keep in mind that the shoreline should take up only about one third of the space while the remaining two thirds will be your ocean. Now, I'm going to start by thoroughly wetting my paper. Since I'm working on a sheet slightly larger than A four, I'm making sure it's evenly coated with a uniform layer of clean water. This way, when I begin applying my blues, the colors will blend and bleed beautifully using the wet on wet technique we discussed earlier in the technique section. The idea is to keep the paper wet for a longer time, but also ensuring that there are no pools or puddles of water stranded on the paper. For day one, the goal is simply to help you feel comfortable with the process. We are keeping our strokes fluid and free and letting the wet paper and paint do most of the work for us. Now I'm switching to my smaller sized mop brush. I'll dab it lightly on tissue and then start preparing my mix of marine blue. Notice how my paint mixture looks. It's slightly dry yet still wet. That's because I'm aiming for the darkest value of marine blue here. I'll begin at the edge of the top of the paper, pulling my strokes inwards towards the shore. Watch how I'm not covering the entire area with blue. I'm intentionally leaving some white spaces in between. These are important as they will become our point of interest where the light shines through. I am now dropping in a little more marine blue over the base layer, working very lightly so I don't disturb the paint underneath. Next, I'll mix a deeper blue by adding a touch of cadmium orange. You can either use this method or can use neutral tint or paints gray for a similar effect. I will then use my spray bottle to lightly mist these areas. This helps the paint move more freely and keeps the paper weight, which is especially important when working on a larger surfaces, as they tend to dry out quickly. Just remember, spray gently and from a bit of distance, too much of water too close can create unwanted blooms or back runs, and we want to keep our transition soft and controlled. Now, before I start painting the shore area, I'm using a clean rinse brush to gently re wet the parts of the shore where the waves will touch. Next, I'm mixing in a medium to light values of my cobalt green to fill in the left and right sides near the shore. Now I'm splattering some water droplets onto the painted area, especially over the darker spots. You will soon see that this creates a beautiful texture. Instead of water, you can also sprinkle a little bit of table salt for even more texture defect, but I'm skipping that here because I wanted a smoother look. Next, using my Seisic silver round brush, I'm gently moving the paint towards the shore, following its natural direction. This only works if your paper is sufficiently wet. If it's starting to dry unevenly in spots, it's best to skip this step to avoid unwanted dry patches. Using my damp clean brush, I'm going to lift some of the paint that's bleeding into the white spaces. This will create the illusion of shimmering light dancing on the ocean waves as they rush towards the shore. Once that's done, we will start painting near the shoreline with burnt sienna, beginning with lighter values. We can always deep in these values later if needed. To achieve a visually realistic effect, I'm working in the direction of the rushing ocean. Using horizontal strokes here won't look natural since we are viewing the scene from a top angle. So it's important to keep the linear perspective in mind. Using the tip of a slightly watery brush and tilting the paper, I'm allowing the browns to naturally met and blend with the blues. As the paper starts to dry, I notice the lighter cobald green areas begin to fade, so I will go back and lay in a light watery mix of cobalt green to refresh those areas. I'm going to quickly splatter some water droplets onto the semi dry areas of the ocean. This helps keep the surface moist and will allow me to add darker pigment splatters later to create the texture. Before the paper starts drying in this area, I'll use the tip of my size six brush to make patterns and marks here and there on the wet surface of the ocean. Just remember this tip only works if the paper is still wet. We will let this part of the ocean start drying now and in the next lesson, we will begin working on the shoreline. 12. Day 1 : Wet on Dry Shore & Waves Details: Et's get started with a shoe for that, I'm creating a mix of my shell pink and burned sienna. Now, instead of shell pink, you can also go ahead and add in a little of your white quash into your burned sienna or your burned tumber and create this similar mix. I am going in and laying this color at the center of the shore. Next, using a light watery mix of yellow ochre, I'm going to gently fill the bottom edge of the paper, blending it into the shell pink and burn sienna mix. With a slightly damp tip of my brush, I'm softening and fdding out that layer near the area where the waves will crash. Then I'm going to go and air in some darker browns right along the shoreline outline and blending them into the sea. Here I'm using a careful and controlled wet on wet approach so that my layers look soft, yet I get the control over the wetness of my paint and the paper. Using my Size six brush and just the tip, I'm adding darker tones of brown. And you can see the magic of wet on wet happening. This is exactly the effect I wanted for this area, building up layers while still keeping those beautiful soft edges. We will let the shore near to the wave crashing area dry for now and in the meantime, I will start working on the bottom edge of the paper to create the foliage. I'm starting with greenish yellow at the base. My greenish yellow is a granulating beautiful color, which will add a beautiful texture when we start layering mid values and darker tones of greens to build that texture, depth, and contrast. For the mid tonal values of green, I'm going in and adding in my sap green, making sure not too completely cover the base yellow green. I want it to shine through in small pockets. This step needs to be done when the area is still wet. If it dries out, simply reapply a light, watery, yellow green base layer and then go in with a flowy but not too watery consistency of sap green. This ensures your layers stay vibrant even after drying. For added texture, I'm using the water splattering technique here. You could also go ahead and use a little of your table salt, just sprinkle over the wet areas. But keep in mind the salt technique doesn't always work well on handmade papers. If you are working on handmade Hadi paper, it's best to stick with a water splattering technique which should be able to give you a reliable effect. As you can already see, I have moved on to the rocks, beginning with lighter tones of my raw sienna and then adding in darker tones. Well the first layer is still wet. This helps create soft rounded edges to the rocks. I recommend you watch this whole process once before you start so you know what's coming next and can work smoothly. Since I'm working on a larger surface, detailing will take a bit of time, but I'll keep the pace quick here. With the damp tip of my brush, I'm going ahead and adding the smaller size rocks scattered throughout the shoreline. Finally, it's time to work on our waves. I'm using a soft synthetic liner brush of size two and applying a thick consistency of gouache using just the tip of the brush. At this stage, it is all about detailing. Notice how my brush strokes are in straight. This is a common mistake many beginners make. The key is to closely observe the movement of the waves in your reference and mimic that flow when paint this adds realism and follows a linear perspective of waves bending and twisting along their path. I personally find this process very satisfying and theraptic. But if you're a beginner, I recommend taking a short break and maybe grab a cup of hot chocolate or a cool drink to relax before diving into the wave details. By now, our shore area should be completely dry. Don't attempt this step if it's still damp. Otherwise, you won't achieve those crisp, dry brush marks that are essential for giving their waves their rough textured look. Another way to paint these waves is by preserving the whites with masking fluid before you start painting the ocean. Personally, I don't find this method very appealing because creating thin curvy wave lines with the pointed brush and with masking fluid can be very, very tricky. Even if you coat your brush bristles first with soap, detailing so many smaller and curvier waves becomes tedious, and the brush tip eventually gets clogged with masking fluid. That's why I preferred this method we are using now. It might feel a bit challenging at first, but once you get into the rhythm, it becomes much easier and far more comfortable to work with. This part of the process will take a little bit longer, so I recommend watching the entire lesson first. Be patient. I promise it will be worth your time. I would also love to see your work, so please share it in the class project section. And if you have any questions or doubts, don't hesitate to reach out in the discussion thread. I'll be happy to answer your queries. If you are working on a smaller sheet of paper, you will naturally cover the area faster and need less time to complete this step. That's the key difference between working on a smaller paper versus a large one where so much details are involved. I wanted to show you this process in real time on a larger sheet so you can see how I manage to keep it were working in different sections one at a time to prevent it from drying too quickly. You can always revisit this lesson when you are ready to attempt larger paintings. Consider this as your reference point. Observe how I'm using both the tip and the toe of my liner brush to create a mix of thin and thicker strokes. I already have a class on Skillshare on painting oceans and seas, where I included a dedicated lesson on brush strokes and their practice. And sometimes practice is the real key to getting your strokes right. I didn't want to repeat that lesson in this class, so if you would like to deep diaper and build confidence in your strokes, you can watch that segment from my earlier class. Now, for the final details, I'll add some dry brush strokes around the bigger rocks to indicate the waves retreating. This adds a nice visual story to the scene. Okay, so with this final detail, we will be done with our waves. Once the painting is completely dry, we will carefully peel off the masking tape, and that pretty much wraps up our day one project. I'm really loving how it turned out, and I can't wait to see your versions. I'll also be adding some extra practice references for you to keep honing today's techniques. I hope you enjoyed the process and had fun painting along. I'll see you again tomorrow as we capture another mood of water. 13. Day 2: Composition & Value Analysis: Welcome today too. Let's start by analyzing our composition. Here is our reference image. I'm first going to strip away the colors and convert it into a monochrome or a black and white version. Now let's study it in gray scale. Looking at the overall arrangement, this composition also follows the rule of two thirds. If we overlay our two third grid, you will see the sky sits along the upper one third line and the remaining two thirds are taken up by the water. Let's analyze the reference even further, starting first with sky. We notice that the values shift from slightly darker near the horizon to lighter as we move upwards. Here, the usual rules of atmospheric perspective change because the sun is sitting right at the horizon. Now let's move to the foreground. The first thing that grabs attention is a large wave shape in front. It has a concave bulge with a bright highlight where the light reflects off, making it the lightest value in this area. Moving slightly away from the foreground, we notice an interplay of light and shadow. Here the tonal values shift between four, three, two, and one on a five scale tonal value. In the brightest parts, the light bounces off the wave and casts shadows forming those distinct horizontal lines. Now it's your turn to create a small thumbnail sketch before starting your final painting. This will help you ease into the tonal values and make the transition to color much smoother. For our day two final project, I have created a sketch where I have outlined the major shapes without filling them in, so I can adjust things later if needed. The main goal here is to capture the essence of the scene and not to copy it exactly. And that wraps up our composition analysis for day two. Let's quickly take a look at the colors that we are going to need to complete this project. 14. Day 2: Color Palette: Welcome to Day two. Let's dive right in and start by swatching our colors. First, I'm starting out with my marine blue with pigment PB 15 is three. You can choose any single pigmented blue, but try to pick the with pigment PB 15 or 15 is three. Next, I'm going in with viridian or my halo green with pigment PG seven. When you mix both of these colors, you'll get a gorgeous turquoise or sea green mix. This is the color that we are going to use to paint our waves from the foreground to the horizon. If you add a touch of orange to that mix, it will create deeper, darker shades of sea green. We are going to use these darker tones of our sea green to paint the waves in our foreground. Now I'm going to quickly swatch out my orange. I'm here using brilliant orange with pigment Po 20, but you could also use an orange with pigment Po 16 or simply mix your warm reds with warm yellows. For our sky, I'm going to mix in my naples yellow and opera to form this beautiful coral orange tone that we are going to paint the sunset near the horizon. So for our sky, we will begin first with naples yellow, then transition into opera pink, blend the two to create that coral orange hue, and then softly fade it into the lighter values of lavender at the top. So that's all for the colors that we are going to need to complete our Day two project. So go ahead, swatch out your own colors and get ready to jump into our day two project. 15. Day 2: Wet on Wet- Sky & Foreground Wave: Okay, let's begin our day two project. First, we will tape down our paper using masking tape. Then I'm going to sketch out the horizon line just like we analyzed in our composition and mark the main wave shapes. I usually take this step of marking out the bigger shapes when working on more complex scenes where there is a lot of light and shadow from ripples dancing on the waves. For simpler compositions like this one, you can even go free hand. That confidence comes only with experience of painting water and waves. I'm sketching out the big wave shapes here just for you so you can see how to approach and simplify them. This makes the painting process not only more manageable and doable but also more fun. Our sketch is now ready? You can pause the screen here and outline yours before we move on. Our sketch is ready. Now we will move on to painting the sky using the wet on wet technique. I'll start by laying down an even flat wash of clean water over the sky with my hake brush, being careful not to touch anything below the horizon line. I'll go over the sky area two to three times to make sure it stays evenly wet before we drop in the colors. Before dropping in the colors, I take a moment to wipe off any excess water pooling on the masking tape. This helps prevent water from back flowing onto the painted areas. Always make it a habit to do this before laying down your paints because back flows can be pretty nasty. I learned it the hard. I will now start layering the paints. With a damp brush, I load up some naples yellow, mixing it to a watery, but not overly runny consistency. Next, I will add opera pink to adjust the brightness, creating a soft coral orange. Before applying the color, I run my damp hake brush over the sky idea once again to make sure the paper is still evenly wet. Load my brush with a yellow coral mix and dab off the extra water from the belly of the brush. Then starting at the horizon line, I lay the colors using gentle horizontal strokes. I'm not covering the entire sky. I'm keeping the yellow hues limited to about the mid section of the sky. For this sky, we are going with a variegated wash, which is a gradient wash of two or more colors. If you would like to learn more about this technique, check out my lesson types of washes from my class, the ultimate guide to painting watercolor skies a seven day challenge. Now I'm going to mix lavender in mid to light tonal values and blend it into the transitioning layers of caudal orange and pinks using gentle horizontal strokes. While doing this, I hold the brush close to the edge of the handle. This gives me more control, flexibility, and softness in my strokes. If you observe, I'm blending the layers with very light pressure using only the tip and toe of my brush. I'm bringing the light lavender layer only up to the mid section of the sky. Next, I'll load my brush again with that yellow opera mix and start at the horizon line, blending it upwards towards the top without lifting my brush. I repeat this process with light values of lavender as well, continuing until I'm happy with the smooth even transition between the lays. Now I'll grab my Siixblack velvet brush, damp the tip, and gently dab it on the tissue to remove excess water. Right here in the center, I lift the color using soft circular strokes to create the setting sun. This isn't part of the reference picture. It's something I'm adding from my own imagination. You can choose to include the sun or skip it entirely. If you do want to create a sun, another method is to cut your masking tape into a circular shape and stick it on before painting or use masking fluid to preserve the white of the paper. And with that, a sky is complete, now we will let it dry. And then move on to painting the water. For painting the water, I have a simple strategy to handle larger surfaces like mine. I'll divide the water into two halves. You will see what I mean as we go along. I have started with a wet on wet technique applying an even flat wash from the foreground up to about halfway towards the horizon. But I avoid waiting right up to the horizon line because that can cause unwanted blooms as the sky area still drying up. This is a super practical tip to remember, and I notice many beginners struggle with this part. Next, I'll be preparing a mix of my marine blue and halo green to create a rich, buttery sea green. Make sure to make a good amount before you start painting your water. This will be your got Seagreen mix. The consistency should be thick, not runny, so you can build dark values easily when layering the foreground. Now I'll start to paint the water using my size 00 mop brush, starting right at the base of the paper. Pay close attention to my brush strokes and the paint consistency. I'm carefully controlling the paint to water ratio so that I can maintain the distinct shape of the waves I'm creating. Notice how I'm holding my brush. This grip gives me better control and allows for fluid expressive strokes. I'm filling in the outline shapes we sketched earlier while preserving the light highlights between them. This is crucial because thellow blue or marine blue with PB 15 or 1523 as a pigment is a highly staining color, meaning lifting won't recover those highlights. So it is important to protect them from the start. Preserving the white of the paper here as highlights. Now I'm adding some orange to my sea grin mix to create some darker values, which I'll start to layer at the base of the waves. Because the paper is still wet, these darker tones will blend smoothly with the base layers. I need to work quickly to apply this layer before the area begins to dry. Next, I'll switch to my size ford bright brush, dampen it, and use it to gently clean up any bleeding colours that may have spread into the white areas we want to preserve. I'll repeat the same process on the top spell of the wave as well. Always make sure the tip of your brush is clean when lifting color, especially if you're going back into lift again. Now I'm adding some darker tones underneath the swell of the wave. This represents the shadow cast by the wave in itself. My paint consistency is fairly dry, but my brush is damp and the background is still wet. This allows me to add the shadow smoothly without needing to reapply the darker tones again and again. At the bottom of the paper, I'll add in some more darker tones to make the lighter areas appear to globe in between the layers. I'm reapplying the darker tones with soft gentle pressure and smooth movements to avoid disturbing or lifting the base layers. Always remember with watercolors, colors dryer, shade lighter than they were when they are wet. So it's important to be mindful of your tonal values while painting. We started with mid toonal values, but now we can darken the areas as needed based on the effect we want to achieve. With the help of my clean tip of my bright brush, I'm lifting off any colors that have bled into the white areas. And with that, the first part of the water, especially the foreground is done. We will let this area dry completely. 16. Day 2: Creating Depth Through Atmospheric Prespective: Now it's time to move on to the next part of the wave. Now using my damp hake brush, I'm going to lay a flat wash on the area just above the wave we painted. If you observe, I started laying that flat wash from the center and then I move downwards. Here, always recheck the moisture levels in your brush. Too much of water can cause unnecessary blooms in the drying painted area, especially the sky and the foreground wave. Here is a helpful hack. If you're a beginner, try painting your waves first and save the sky for last. This way, you reduce the risk of accidentally ruining your sky or foreground water, since controlling wetness between both areas can be a little tricky. I only realize this after painting the sky first, it can be harder to manage the wetness when you start working on the waves afterward. So it's often safer and easier to start with the water, which is the main focal element of composition and finish with the sky. Switching to my cat's tongue brush and then lifting these areas where the colors are bleeding into the white spaces we want to preserve. Now, using this smaller cat's tongue brush, I use the tip and toe to create thinner wave shapes. I start with the mid tonal values and then add shadows when required with darker tones. Here, notice my paint makes it not watery, but rather it is thick and creamy. More or less, you can say it's dry. That's exactly what you need to create smaller waves with good control. At this point, the process is little repetitive. That is, we will be layering mid to lighter values of sea green waves as we approach the horizon. Observe how I alternate between shorter and longer waves to suggest the natural movement of water as the waves recede towards the horizon, they decrease in size, shape, and tonal value, following the principle of atmospheric perspective. But using my small cats tongue brush, I'm now creating smaller waves as we move closer to the horizon. Be mindful of your tonal values and control the moisture on your brush carefully. You will need to work quickly here because once the paper starts drying, it becomes difficult to achieve those soft smooth edges on the waves. If needed, use a smaller mob flat or a round brush to gently damp these areas before painting the smaller waves. Be very cautious. Your brush should just be damp, not too wet. Too much of water here can easily ruin your painting, so please be mindful and be cautious about the wetness or the moisture levels in your paint brush, and on your paper. Because I have divided this painting into smaller segments and wetted each area as I go, it's much easier to control the moisture and keep the paper consistently damp in manageable parts. If I had tried to wet the entire surface at once, it would have been tough to maintain that moisture and some areas of the waves might have turned patchy or dry. This was a challenge I faced when I first started to paint water. So controlling the wetness of your paper is a skill that develops only with practice and curiosity. Keep experimenting and you'll improve over time. I'm finally happy with how the waves are looking right now, so I'll leave them as they are. It's time to add the sunlight triples over the lighter areas. Mm. 17. Day 2 : Wet on Dry- Final Details : We have reached the final stage of a painting, adding those sunlit highlights dancing across the waves to keep them soft and smooth, I'll lightly run the damp tip of my mop brush of size 20 along the white areas of the paper. Here, I'm being extremely careful not to oversaturate the surface with water. Remember, the brush should just be damp and not dripping wet. Next, I'll prepare a mix of our sunset colors, that is naples yellow and opera pink mixture, the same ones we used for the sky. The consistency here should be smooth and buttery. Please take a note of the water control over here. Then I'll load the tip of my rigor brush with this mixture and begin painting thin curved lines to capture the delicate glow of light dancing on the wave. Instead of a rigor or liner brush, you can also opt for a small round brush with a sharp pointy tip. For better grip and control over your brush movements, I'm holding mine close to the ferrule. This helps me create steadier, more confident lines. Before you begin this step on your painting, I highly recommend practicing the curve lines on a scrap piece of paper. This way, you can ensure your strokes are smooth and not wobbly when you move to the final piece. Now I'm using my silver belle aqua cat tongues brush of size eight and gently working with the stip and toe to apply a very light wash of yellow opera mix. I'll softly blend this into the white areas near to the horizon, capturing the warm glow of the setting sun reflected on the water. Switching to my liner brush again and creating those thin lines here at the reflection area. Some of these reflections are starting to appear a bit faded, so I'm going back in to paint thin lines over them, keeping them soft, yet ensuring that they remain vibrant and do not lose their presence. Okay, so with this, I'll stop here and avoid overworking the painting. I'm quite happy with how it has turned out. Now we will wait for the paper to dry completely before peeling off the masking tape. Paper has dried completely. Now I'll carefully peel off the masking tape at a 45 degree angle to prevent tearing or damaging the edges. With this, we come to an end of our day two project. I'll be uploading a few additional references in the projects and resources section for you to try out. I look forward to seeing your interpretations. I'll see you again in Day three. 18. Day 3: Composition & Value Analysis: Welcome to Day three, and let's start by analyzing our reference. This is a very beautiful image. It captures the dynamic motion of the waves crashing along with a striking half underwater view. Our eyes are first drawn to the light on the left, hitting the waves and illuminating the surface water on the right, which transitions into lighter tones while the rest of the water moves into deep blue hues. Now let's convert the image into black and white to better study its tonal values. In this composition, we can clearly see the full range from the lightest lights to the darkest darks on a scale of one to five. The light from the sky striking the waves is captured in the very lightest values, and the textures of the bubbles are also highlighted because the light penetrates only to a certain depth before fading into the shadows. Okay, so now that we have analyzed our composition, it's your turn to create a small thumbnail sketch before jumping straight into the project. This quick step will help you map out the major shape, values, and the flow of the scene, making the painting process much smoother. 19. Day 3: Color Palette: I'm so glad that you decided to join me for day three. Now, let's quickly take a look at the colors that we will need for today's project. For this painting, we will be working with just a few colors, and they are all blues. The first color that I am going to swatch out is my thalo blue from Shinhan Art, which is a very warm blue and contains the pigment PB 29. You can also use any other similar bright blue from your own collection. The next color that I'm going to spotch out is my turquoise blue. You can easily mix turquoise blue by combining a cool blue pigment that is PB 15 with your halo green that is PG seven, a sea green pigment and add a touch of white pigment to it. So you would get this turquoise blue, which we have already seen how to create this color in the mixing water tones lesson. Now, by just adjusting the ratio of your green and blue pigments, you can create a wide range of sea green tonal hues, add more of blues to get a turquoise blue or increase the green in the mix to achieve more of that cobalt green hue. The next color that I'm going to swatch out is our indigo. The one that I'm using here is from Shinhan Art's PWC range, which contains both a blue and a black pigment. You can also create a similar dark blue by mixing pains, gray or neutral tint into your blue, and last is a guash, which we are going to use to add fine details or the dry brush patterns. 20. Day 3: Magical Blues- The Foreground: Hey, guys. Welcome back to day three. Before we get started, a quick update on a supply you will need for this project, our versatile table salt. Keep it handy because we are going to use it to create some beautiful textures in today's painting. And as usual, I'm using my masking tape to tape down my paper. Now it's time to get started with a sketch. It's a very simple one, nothing much to draw except the wave. I'm beginning with a slanted H shape, adding another shape just above it to create a double boundary, and then drawing the crest of the wave at the top. This is a half underwater view, so part of the wave will be beneath the waterline, and the other part will be at the top. I'll quickly finish up my sketch here. My suggestion would be to watch the entire sketching process first and then walking out on your own sketch. I'm done with my sketch, so let's jump right into the painting. We will begin with a half underwater view. Y two, we will be working with wet on wet technique to achieve that beautiful blend of colors and a smooth fluid transition under the waterline. I'm making sure to keep my watery brushrokes confined within the underwater waterline. We will be approaching this painting section by section. First, we will finish this bottom half of the underwater, and then we will move on to the water ad. And then finally the sky. This step by step approach will help us paint the reference in a more methodical and controlled way. I am now switching to my size 00 squirrel blend mob brush, but you can also use a size ten or 12 round brush for this step. I'm here mixing up a cobalt green tone by combining my merine blue with PB 15 as its pigment, along with yellow green that is with PG seven as its pigment and adding a touch of horizon blue that has some white pigment in it. I'm aiming for a nice creamy consistency in a mid tonal value. You can always watch this mix on a scrap piece of paper first to check the value before applying it in your wet layers. I am now starting at the top right corner of our underwater view, applying the mix in a deliberate patterned manner. This is important for the final effect. Then with the watery tip of my brush, I'll gently move and fade the colors outward. Now, I'll be preparing a mix of bright blue. The colour that I'm using is from Shinhan Arts PWC range halo blue, red shade. I'm making a creamy, dark valued mix and blending it into our cobalt green. Because we are working wet on wet, the colors will merge beautifully together. Observe that I'm layering my bright blue starting from the bottom of the paper and letting them converge into our cobalt green. To create a strong sense of depth, we will continue working with these converging strokes. They help guide the eye upward and add dimension. Using horizontal strokes here would make the area appear flat. So maintaining this directional flow is the key to the success of this painting. Now I'm adding darker tones of blue by mixing a touch of red into my halo blue mix. I'm starting right at the bottom of the paper, working in converging strokes upwards. You can achieve this darker shade either by mixing red or by mixing pains gray, neutral tint, or even indigo into your blue to have this darker shade. I'm making sure to keep the bottom corners darker than the mid section and the top. This helps convey the effect of light filtering through the ocean surface. The immediate surface stays bright, but the light gradually fades as it travels deeper, leaving the depths in shadow. So To balance out the values here, I'll mix some sea green with that of a little bit of blue mix and very lightly try blending at the top layer. Now I'm rinsing my brush and loading lighter tones of cobalt green or sea green to layer at the top. The background is still wet. These colors will naturally blend and create smooth transitions. Next, I'm switching to my rigor brush to splatter some water droplets onto this wet area. Focus more splatters near the top right corner using a mix of small and medium sized droplets. Here is a tip. I like using a rigor brush for this because of its elongated shape. It holds less water in the belly as compared to the round brushes, which makes controlling the size and shape of the splatters much easier. This technique works for me every time. Now, I'm using my size number two ultra round brush, which is just damp, and I'm trying to lift out colors in small circular motions to create tiny bubbles. It works best if you do this lifting technique when your background is still wet. Next, it's time to sprinkle a magic ingredient that is our table salt. Here is a quick tip. The texture defect from the salt will only happen when the paper is damp but not too overly wet. If there is too much of water, the salt will just dissolve into the paint and you won't create that beautiful texture. Also, I have noticed that this salt effect doesn't really work on handmade 100% cotton papers or the 100% cotton adi papers. So if you're using that type of paper and you're not achieving the desired texture, don't be frustrated. It's not your technique. It's just how the paper reacts. Now we will let the entire background get dried completely, but before it fully dries, I'm lifting out paint in those small round spots because the wet background allows the colors to gently bleed back into those lifted areas. So this step helps me clean up and define the spots a little bit more. If you prefer, instead of this technique, you can also go ahead and use your masking fluid or you can also create the small spots using your white candle. This methods also work pretty well. 21. Day 3: Crashing Wave & Sky -Part 2: Okay, so now let's move on to a crashing wave. I'll start by carefully wetting this area with my size 80 mob brush from silver atelia series. I'll make sure that this area has a uniform flat wash of water, no pools or puddles forming on the paper, and I'm also being very careful not to wet too close to the underwater water line. Now I'm dabbing my damp squirrel mob size 00 brush on a tissue and preparing a thick creamy consistency of sea green or cobalt green mixture. Using the flattened tip and toe of my brush, I'll paint in inverted C shape, watch my brush movement closely here. I'm working with both the tip and the toe of the brush, varying the pressure to create the sense of movement and direction to the flow of water. Watch my brush movement and notice how I'm holding the brush. This grip gives me more flexibility to create expressive fluid strokes while wearing the pressure on the tip and the toe of the brush. If you so observe, while creating the inverted sea strokes, I have also left some white spaces in between them. Now I'll move on to applying some mid tonal values of my bright blue or thalo blue underneath the curves of the wave. These are the areas where the waves cast shadows, so they will be a bit darker than the rest of the crashing wave. Now with the tip of my brush loaded with the mid values of thalo blue, I'm adding more thinner lines, layering the darker tones in between the lighter ones to showcase the play of light and shadow in the wave. Observe my paint mixture here. It's not watery at all. I have kept tight control over both the wetness of my brush and the consistency of the paint. With the same brush, but using its freed dry tip, I'm dabbing to create subtle textures in the wave. This dry tip dabbing helps give the surface a natural foamy effect to the wave. Now, we will move on to the sky area and wet it thoroughly with a flat wash of water. Be careful not to wet the areas you have just painted. Make sure you are coating your paper with a thin uniform layer of water. Repeat this two, two, three times. This helps the paper stay wet longer, giving you more time to work and blend your colors smoothly. Using the damp frayed tip of my size 00 mop brush, I'm going to add some light tonal values of indigo and blues to create subtle shadows on the aves. Take a closer look at my brush movements here. It's soft and deliberate to blend the colors gently into the wet paper. Creating some random brush movements over here to depict the crashing waves and the flow of the water scattering here and there. Now I'm mixing a light, watery turquoise blue mix. This will be our base for painting the sky with a soft light tonal value. Since I'm having trouble blending the colors smoothly, I'll very soon switch to my size 20 mop brush. I'm switching to my size 20 mop brush. I'll wet it and load it with turquoise mix and gently replant the sky area to get that smooth gradient. Near the crashing wave, we will use very light tonal value of this mix to keep the transition sof. We need to work fairly quick to finish the last steps before the paper starts drying. While my paper is still wet, I'll use a tissue paper and gently lift some of the light values we just laid to create that shape of the wave and form. Then very soon, I'll start mixing my thalo blue and begin layering the mid tonal values horizontally, starting from the right top corner of the sky. And as I approach the waves, I stop about halfway to maintain the balance in the composition. Now, using the clean damp tip of my brush, which is little watery, I'm blending the sky from bottom to upwards, creating a smooth, uniform gradient. Now I'm repeating the lifting technique to create the foam of the waves using the clean tip of my size 20 mop brush. One advantage of natural hair mop brushes is their flexibility. They hold their shape well letting you control your strokes precisely. After lifting with the brush, I use tissue paper to gently dab and fully lift the color, enhancing those bright foamy highlights. I'm now preparing a mix of blue and burnt sienna to create a muted dark tone for layering the crashing waves. I noticed the tones look a bit too bright, so I lighten them up using my other wet mop brush. Then I lift some of that color to soften the effect and get the move just right. Using the flattened tip of my damp brush loaded with light values of indigo and blue mix, I start shaping the crashing waves. Once that's done, I'll switch to an old brush with a frayed dry tip and loaded with dry gosh. I dab it vertically along the white edges of the waves to create the textured foamy spray effect. Sure. Then I'll grab my size two liner rigger brush and add some dry brush marks near the wave curves to mimic the foam spray, giving it all a natural and realistic look. Now, it's all about adding those last final touches. I'll keep on dry brushing some areas in order to have that realistic, natural look of the wave crashing. Now, again, with the damp dry frayed tip of my mop brush, I'm adding a few more textured patterns at the tip of the crashing waves, but I'm careful not to overdo it. I'm pretty happy with how it's looking now. So we will stop here and let the painting dry completely. My paper is fully dry, so I have rubbed off the salt. Now I'm peeling of the masking tape. Make sure that you remove the salt thoroughly. If you forget, it can damage your painting later on. So I hope you enjoyed this journey with the magical blues. I'm looking forward to seeing your beautiful creations. That's all for today. I'll see you soon with Day four Project. 22. Your Turn to Practice - Break Day: Now it's your turn to practice the techniques we have covered from day one through day three. Today is a break day, a chance for you to revisit and reinforce all the techniques we have learned so far. You can use the additional references I have provided in the projects and resources section or the ones you see here on the screen. Just pause the screen, take a screenshot and start your process. While working on the references, if you have any doubts or feel stuck, you can always reach out to me in the discussion section of the class. I'll do my best to help clarify your questions and guide you through. From day four to day seven, we will be leveling up step by step with each day building towards a final project on day seven. So take your time today, practice well, and I'll see you for day four on Wednesday. No. 23. Day 4: Analysis of Composition : Okay, so let's get you started with analysing the composition for day four. From today onwards, the compositions will start to look a little more complex, but don't worry. I'm here to break it all down for you. First, we'll convert the image to black and white, and this helps us focus on the structure without getting distracted by colors. Now let's begin the basics. Using a two thirds grid, you'll notice that the composition more or less follows the rule of two thirds. The horizon line isn't placed exactly in the center, but it sits slightly below it. Rolling waves aligned beautifully with the two thirds horizon line. The main rock formation occupies the intersecting grid point on the right and sits across all four quadrants, creating a strong focal anchor. Closer to the shore, we have another set of waves that help guide the viewer's eye into the scene. Once we break down the composition like this, it becomes much easier for us to decide how to place our own elements on the picture plane. In our case, that is our watercolor paper. Now let's analyze the tonal values. I have broken them down on the screen. Study this for a moment, and when you are ready, we will sketch the composition onto our paper. 24. Day 4: Color Palette: Alright, let's dive straight into the colors we will need for day four. Today is all about capturing the essence of moody Iceland, so let's get started. For the sky, I will be mixing ultramarine blue with just a pinge of neutral tint. Both are beautifully granulating colors, and I'll be working in medium to light tonal values here for the sky. For the rock structure, we will stick with neutral tint. Now, in case you do not have neutral tint, you can very well go with ivory black or your paints gray. For the waves near to the horizon line, we will use thalo green with pigment PG seven. The waves closer to the shore will now have a darker and moodier sea green tones, so we will mix orange with To green for that rich dark tone. Now, to create the effect of the waves receding back, we will be using light tonal values of my ultramarine blue mixed with a little bit of neutral tint. So I'm spatching here my ultramarine blue. And lastly, we will also need a little bit of white quash for those final highlights perfect for sea foam or sea splatters. Now, if you do not have quash, titanium white watercolor works just as well. That's all for the colors. Now let's jump right into the project. So 25. Day 4: Stormy Icelandic Sea: Part 1: Okay, so our sketch is ready, I hope yours is too. Let's begin our DFO journey together. I'll start with the roaring waves, the ocean section, which will be our first to focus. I'm going ahead with the wet and wet technique. First, I'll go around the sketched waves just a little above the base of that rock structure, wetting those areas evenly. Take your time here, make sure the paper stays moist for a longer period of time. Now I'm switching to my damp mob squirrel brush. I have squeezed out the excess water from its belly, and I'll be reactivating my halo green. But notice how my mixture is. It is buttery and thick. When you apply this consistency of paint onto a wet surface, you have better control over the shape and size of your strokes. Watch how I'm using the tip and toe of my brush to create long slanting strokes, varying the pressure of the brush and creating textures that the waves have. For the shadow areas under the swell of the waves, I'm going to use darker tones of my tho green mix, which is simply mixing To green with a touch of orange. Watch how I'm layering these darker tones, I'm careful not to cover the mid values we painted earlier. Instead, I'm leaving small gaps so that the mid tonal greens can still show through. This creates a beautiful play of light and shadow. Also notice I have left a few thin white lines in between. Those are intentional. The suggests the light catching on the crest of the waves, adding that natural sparkle to the ocean. Next, I'm switching to my silver belle aqua cat's tongue brush to deepen the dark tones under the swells. You can do this step, either using a small sized bright brush or a flat brush or preferably size number four or three or a round brush of size eight, working with both the tip and toe of your brush. After this section is done, I will move to my smaller mob brush of size 20 to wet the areas of the waves closer to the foreground. Using my same cats tongue brush, I'm now mixing a touch of orange into my halo green for the deeper, warmer tone. I'll load the tip of my brush using this darker mix and start creating slanted arcs of varying sizes. This get larger and rounder towards the right corner following the natural curve of the wave. Mixing your dark tones in sufficient amounts right at the start will save you from having to recreate the mix midway. This not only keeps the workflow smooth, but also reduces the risk of tonal variation where your values might shift slightly if you have to remix them again and again. Consistency is key to keeping your shadows unified. Here at the rightmost corner, I'm working with wet on dry technique layering the dark paint using inverted sea strokes. I'm making sure to retain some of that white gaps in between. This contrast helps suggest the bright sea foam against that darker water. Once we finish that step, I switch to my damp, smaller sized mop brush of size 20 and start wetting the areas underneath the waves. This helps avoid any harsh marks and ensures that the edges appear soft and diffuse. Now take a look at this scrap piece of paper. You can see how dry my brush is at the moment. Using that same damp flattened tip, I begin creating strokes because her background is still wet, notice how beautifully the paint blends in. Here, I'll quickly try using darker tones to form up the shadowed areas beneath the weaves. Now with a clean damp tip of my mop brush, I start from the bottom of the wave and gently pull the lighter value upwards towards the top. This is how I create that foamy layer of water just about to crash. Your brush here should be damp, dry. If it is too watery, it can easily mess this up. So be a little careful. This technique not only help build the foam texture, but also gives a more realistic impression of waves, carrying the dirt and the sand, adding that extra layer of realism to the scene. Now, with my larger size 80 M brush damp wet, I start to fan out the bristles. This helps create the effect of sea spray. At this stage, the top wave is semi wet, so I move quickly using this fanning motion to lift out some paint and suggest that fine mist. Since the paper here has already started to dry, I grab a tissue and quickly dab over the areas. I just lift it to enhance that effect. Next, I load the tip of my size 00 mob brush with dark values of halo green and start using the wet on dry technique to paint the sea at the horizon line. I'm careful not to cover the entire area, but instead leave some white space in the shape of a rugged wave. Then with the damp tip of my clean mop brush, I gently lift the colour very lightly to once again suggest the sea spray. I'm happy with how this has turned out, so it's time to move on to the next part. But 26. Day 4: The Rock & the Sea - Wet on Dry: Okay, moving on to the next section that is painting our rock. This part is pretty straightforward. We will be using the wet on dry technique with our neutral tint in dark tones. Near the base, I'll be leaving some white areas for highlights. Notice how I'm leaving out certain white patchy areas that's intentional to help depict the texture of the rock. Okay. Now, with a wet, watery brush, I touch the end of the last stroke. Watch how I lift the color. Every time I lift off the paint, I make sure to rub off the brush on tissue paper to remove any residual paint. This way, when I lift again from the wet areas, I don't accidentally redeposit colour back onto the paper. I'll also use crushed tissue to dab off and create a texture defect that suggests see spray hitting the rock. This technique works best when your previous layers is still wet. If your paint has already dried, use a misting spray bottle to lightly mist only the rock area you want to lift. Let it soak for about 30 seconds, and then you can use your tissue to gently dab off the paint. Next, I load my size 00m brush and paint the other side of the sea. Again, using wet on dry technique because I want to have controlled strokes over here, I'll be leaving some white spaces underneath the wave curls that I'm doing. To make the edges of the waves look soft, I'll use a damp watery brush to gently smoothen them out. Next, I'll be preparing a mix of my ultramarine and neutral tint for our sky. You could also use indigo directly if you prefer, but I have chosen ultramarine and neutral tint for two reasons. Number one, they both are granulating, and it gives a beautiful textured look for my gloomy sky. And secondly, both the colors are transparent, so the sky will look moody and gloomy without becoming overly dark, allowing the contrast to stand. You notice, I'm using your wet on dry technique for the sky with a watery paint mix. I started first with the mid tonal values and gradually feeding them to the lightest. The reason I chose wet on dry here is because a rock is standing tall at the center. If I had gone wet on wet, the rocks edges would have blurred and the shape would have lost definition. Secondly, you could also paint the sky first and then the rock, and then it would work perfectly fine. But in that case, you wouldn't be able to create the sea spray texture splashing at the base of the rock as effectively as we have created here. Now with a fanned out tip of damp, slightly watery brush, I'll create a smooth edge to blend the sky and ocean. Using a very light tonal mix of neutral tint and ultramarine, I lay it at the bottom of the sky just above the horizon line. This gives a voluminous look and suggests the sea spray rising. Next, I'll complete the sky on the right side using the same watery mix we prepared earlier. It's important to make enough of this mixture at the start so that you can start painting the entire sky in one smooth layer, maintaining consistency in tone and blending. To add some depth to the sea waves and foam, I wet those white areas and drop in very light watery values of neutral tint plus ultramarine mix. This helps create the sense of depth in the crashing waves. I can find this effect to the bottom half of the waves only and then fed it out towards the top using the damp tip of my brush, keeping the transition soft and natural. 27. Day 4: Shore Foam & Final Details: Okay, so let's move on to the final details of the painting, the show lined with highlights. I start by layering the darker tones of my neutral tint plus ultramarine blue mix in slanted strokes using the wet on dry technique just beneath the layer of that sea foam, the area that I have left as white. Next, I switch to my smaller sized mob brush loaded with watery mix of ultramarine blue and go back in to create some more slanted strokes, overlapping the previous ones. I layer from the bottom up with slanted strokes of neutral tint, and now we have that light and dark contrast. Then with the damp tip of my mop brush, I lift paint in the same slanted motion, observe my brush strokes here and the movement. And remember, every time I lift, I clean my brush on tissue before going back. You soon start to see the effect taking shape. I'm building the area where the sea waves have just receded. You can add much more darker tones here beneath the sea foam to enhance the three D effect of them. Using my cat's tongue sized brush, I wet the area close to the foam's edge. Then with just the tip of my brush, I add tiny shapes and pockets that look like bubbles frothing as the foam washes up on the shore. Finally, I tidy up the edges with the darker tones using the tip of my brush for much more highlights and definition. Now I cover my sky and rock, leaving exposed only the foreground wave with some extra sheet of paper. Remember the one where we created the sea spray? Here we will add some white splatters using thin consistency of gouache paint. Next, with my old fluffy round brush that has dry and frayed tip, I load a little whiteqh and start dabbing it over that area. I'm using whiteqh here because thalo green is a highly staining sea green. Lifting it would have left residue on the paper, as you can see. Adding some dry brush textures in white helps the sea spray look more realistic. You can also add the dry textures to the edges of the bigger foreground waves. I think I'm pretty happy with how this entire painting has turned out, so I'll add few seagulls heading towards the rock, giving a little background story to the bees as if they're returning home after their day's catch. Using neutral tint and by liner brush, I paint the birds, making sure the paint makes buttery, smooth and not too dry. I'll also add a couple of white curls for a variety in the scene. Adding those white seagulls heading home. And that's all for this painting. I let the entire piece dry completely before peeling off the tapes. Okay, so our paper has dried up completely. Let's remove the tapes. I'm really loving how this has turned out, and I'm feeling nostalgic about my time on the Black Sand Beach in Iceland. Such a special place. I hope you enjoyed today's process, and I can't wait to see yours. So I'll see you again in the next one until then happy painting. 28. Day 5: Composition & Value Analysis: Let's begin day five by first analyzing our composition and then looking at the tonal values. I'll start by converting our reference image to black and white. This helps me clearly assess the rules of composition and decide if I want to make any adjustments before I start sketching. According to the rule of two thirds, our main focal subject falls across the center and top quadrants of the grid with the subject placed right at the center. The crashing waves are also positioned centrally forming strong directional leading lines that naturally guide the viewer's eye towards the main focal. You observe the direction of the swell of the waves, they all converge towards that central area making this a balanced composition. Now let's assess the tonal values. I first observe the overall light and dark areas, then re examine each section to understand the subtle tonal nuances. On the screen, you can see the breakdown of these values. Now for the lighthouse, the center of the lantern pane is the lightest area, and the left side of the cupola appears slightly darker because the light is obstructed casting shadows on this side. The right side, however, catches most light and remains the brightest. With this analysis in place, we now have a clear plan of how to approach our reference and move confidently into the painting process. 29. Day 5: Color Palette: Okay, let's dive into day five and check out the color palette that we are going to need for creating the project. First, I'm starting with halo blue with my pigment PB 29. Now, it's a very warm and bright blue. So check out your colors and pick any PB 29 pigment. Next, followed by indigo. Now, if you do not have indigo, you can simply mix your neutral tint into your halo blue to get a similar deep tone. Next, we have burnt sienna with our pigment PR 101. It may also contain PBR seven as your pigment, then followed by yellow ochre, a very dull and muted yellow. Next, I'll be watching out my red. The red that I'm using here is a warm red and not a cool red. A cool red is a red, which has pinks in it. Now for the To green, which has PG seven pigment in it, I will be using that for water, but I will also be using a little bit of my marine blue that is my thalo blue with the pigment PB 15 or 1523 with that green to achieve that fresh vibrant water tone. So that's pretty much for the colors that we are going to need for this project. Let's dive into the project now. I 30. Day 5: Sketch of the Light House : Okay, let's begin the sketching process for day five. First, I'll start by taping down the paper with my masking tape. Once done, then I look at the central point of a paper. Now here, I'll start to place a write house right at the center of the two thirds grid. Now, if you want, you can make an imaginary two thirds grid with a very light pencil sketch onto your paper and then erase it once you are done placing the lighthouse. You can follow along as I work, and once I finish the sketch, feel free to pause the screen and complete your own. Our sketch is now ready. Now let's move on to painting. First the Sky using wet on wet technique. I'll see you in the next lesson. 31. Day 5: Sky & Water -Wet on Wet Part 1: Okay, let's start with the sky. As always, I'm using the wet on wet technique. I'm making sure to wet the paper thoroughly, but not to the point where it becomes oversaturated and starts buckling up. One important thing to remember is wet only the sky area. If you wet the sketched parts of the lighthouse, the blues from the sky will start bleeding into the areas of the lighthouse, which could cause problems later. Here, we will be using the negative painting technique, painting the sky while preserving the lighthouse in also notice that I'm wetting the areas near the base of the lighthouse where the waves crash and meet the sea. This step is important because we need those areas to stay wet so that the paints can flow and blend seamlessly. As you can see, I'm running a damp brush over these areas multiple times so that the paper absorbs the water while still retaining a slight surface moisture. Here is the trick. After your initial watery wash, the tip of your larger brush should be just slightly damp, not soaking wet. This gives you better control over the amount of water on the paper. Switching to my smaller squirrel mop brush size 00, notice how I control its wetness. It's not overly watery after rinsing I dab it on a tissue to remove that excess water. Now I'll load it with a warm bright blue. Here, in my case, it is thalo blue with pigment PB 29. You can also use cobalt blue or cerulean blue, if you prefer. As I paint the sky, observe how I leave some white spaces untouched. This will serve as fluffy clouds in between, helping create contrast by balancing darker mid and lighter tones in the sky. For the darker values, I'll use indigo here I will need to work quickly so that the paint bleeds while still wet, giving the sky a soft yet dramatic effect. Now I start loading my brush with mid values of indigo. I start layering over the lighter blues, being careful not to completely cover them. Then using the tip of my Size six silver black velvet brush which is damp, I carefully lift and smooth the edges near the corners of the sky and around the sketched lighthouse. Here at the bottom half of the paper, I observe that my paper is drying up very quickly, so I'm going to lightly mist it at an angle to keep the overall moisture of the paper intact. If you observe near the bottom of the sky, I have laid some darker tones of indigo, and here I am dropping some water with the help of my dropper was aiming for an effect that I had previously achieved on Honeymole's watercolor paper collection, where the paint naturally disposed at the top, creating beautiful textures and shapes that mimic wave splatters. Unfortunately, I'm not getting the same effect on this paper. So instead, I'll recreate it manually using my mop brush, dispersing the paint and water while lifting the color at the same time. Watch closely here and observe the direction and movement of my brush strokes as they're key to creating this textured wave spray effect. Now, before I begin painting the water, I lightly miss the bottom half of the paper. Then using the dam tip of my size 80 more brush, I'll spread the water evenly to ensure the surface stays moist, giving me more working time with the water. Now I'm using my size 00 atelier squirrel mop brush and I begin laying in emerald green or halo green mixed with a little bit of halo blue or moraine blue using inverted sea strokes for the water. Notice that the paper is very wet here, so it's important to control the water to paint ratio on your brush. Use mid to dark tonal value so that even as the paper begins to dry, your colors retain their vibrancy. Remember, in watercolors, the paint usually dries a shade lighter than it appears when wet. Observe my brush strokes here and how I'm building volume and depth in the waves as they crash and interact with each other. It's all about the layering, light, mid, and dark tonal values to achieve that sense of depth and movement. To keep the bottom half of the paper moist, I'll use the misting technique again. Then with my larger mop brush, I'll spread the water smoothly across this area, prepping it for the next step that is layering the sea green tones of the water. To accentuate the shapes of the crashing waves, I'll lift some areas with tissue paper at an angle and with some dabbing strokes to create that sea foam or sea spray and to make the waves much more pronounced. 32. Day 5 : Water & Light house Body- Wet on Dry: Okay, let's quickly mix our water tones. I'll combine my halo green with marine blue to create a creamy, smooth paint mix. I'll begin layering these tones using inverted see strokes, leaving some white gaps in between. The key here is to keep your paint at an optimum consistency, not too runny, so the strokes hold onto the wet background. This strokes are what gives your water its sense of movement. In a way, you are practically painting the wind that makes the water move. If you feel that your paper is drying up too soon, then you could lightly miss it. This is a great way to keep the entire painting soft and fluid, but also make sure that once you missed it, you go over those areas and apply a fresh coat of paint. Here I am applying some bright yellow green tones and blending them with sea green to give that freshness to the water. Now, I'll add some mid values of the sea green mix into the center of the white foam that you see on right, aiming to replicate the movement of splashing water, keeping the top white. I'll also smoothly blend the upper edges with a damp brush or lift them gently. You can also lightly dab with tissue to soften those areas. After smoothly blending out those edges of the water splashes, the next step is to splatter some water droplets to create some interesting textures. To achieve the beautiful bloom textures, your background needs to be still wet. If it has started to dry, lightly miss the area from a distance and wait a few seconds before you begin splattering the water droplets. Here, be mindful. If you missed your layers too many times during the steps, make sure to go over them again with your paint mix. Otherwise, the colors may fade out once they dry. So work quickly here and complete the step before your paper dries out completely. I am now splattering some white gouache as the consistency of your gouache mix should not be too runny or else it will again fade out when the background is dry. It should be at a creamy consistency yet not too watery so that the splatters can appear on the paper. Next, I'll switch to my old round brush with free tip damp, but dry enough to hold shape and loaded with freshly squeezed wash paint. I'll begin dabbing the brush very lightly along the white edges of the wave splashes to create the dry textured spray effect. Use gentle varied dabs, applying different pressures to create a range of shapes and sizes for a more natural look. Now, to add more volume to the white splashes of the waves, I'll drop a watery mix of indigo with a touch of sea green near the center and at the edge. Then using the tip of my clean damp mow brush, I'll gently blend it out. This creates depth and makes the wave appear more voluminous. With that, we have completed both the background and the foreground. Now let's move on to painting the lighthouse, the last and the final element of this painting. And for this, we will be using both the wet on dry and dry on dry techniques. Let's start painting the body of the lighthouse. For this, I'm going to create a mix of yellow ochre aiming for mid tonal values. Since yellow ochre is a semi opic pigment, in my case, I'll go for mid to lighter values to keep it soft. I'm here using my silver black velvet size number six brush to create controlled soft strokes. However, you can use any other synthetic soft brush with a pointed tip that can give you similar results. At the base where it meets a water, I'll fade the color out using the damp tip of my brush. I'll follow the same process to complete the rest of the lighthouse body we sketched earlier. I will now slowly begin to paint the top part of the lighthouse. I'll start with the mid tonal values and then gradually fade them into lighter tones. Now I'm preparing a very light shadow for the lighthouse by diluting my neutral tint mix. The mixture will be a little watery, so make sure the body of the lighthouse has dried completely before applying the shadow. We will continue this in the next lesson. 33. Day 5: Wet on Dry & Dry Brushing- Final Details: Okay, let's get started. But before that, I have laid some tissue paper over the water areas because I don't want to lift off the greens when the side of my palm rubs the area while painting the lighthouse. Now I am working on the shadow of the lighthouse body. I'll load the tip of my brush with a slightly watery neutral tint and gently blend it into the shadowed areas. The shadow should remain light, not too dark, start with a very light tonal value, and if needed, add another light layer to gradually build the shadow's depth. I'm here adding another layer of tonal value to increase the depth of the shadow. Once the shadow is done, we will move on to painting the cupola and the base of the lantern pole. I'm starting with the base layer of cadmium orange, and then I will be layering red on top. This way, when I lift the top layer later to create the glow of light, it will have a very nice warmth to it. To create shadows on the left side, I mix a bit of neutral tint into the red and gently blend it into the base layer. I will now start painting the cupola. I'll use the same technique that we have done for the base of the lantern pole. First, I'll start with a base layer of cadmium orange, and then I'll lay red on top. And this way, when I lift the top layer to create the glow of light, it will have a nice warmth. So have you ever wondered why most of the lighthouses have their cupolas and the base of the lantern pole always painted red? Well, I also, too wondered, and the reasons are because red stands out against natural backdrops like the sea, sky, and the cliffs. It makes the lighthouse easily noticeable during the day from a distance. And also mariners can quickly identify lighthouses and differentiate them from other structures along the coastline, especially when multiple lighthouses are present in the same region. So it provides a contrast. Now moving ahead and painting the solar valve of the lighthouse, which again, I'm painting with the same red. Now I'll switch to my size two ultra round brush from the silver silk series and start painting the base of the cupola. I'll first create an outline using darker red tones, then use the slightly watery tip of the brush to fade it in, creating highlights on the top face. It is important to maintain control over the water on your brush tip. Too much water can cause unwanted runs towards the cupola or other areas. Now I have switched to my size to liner or rigger brush and will start painting this lantern paints. Now, here you could also go ahead and use your sharp pointed size number one or two round brush and do the same step, but make sure that the lines that you are painting are almost vertically straight. Now, coming back to the body of the lighthouse, I'll quickly go and use these dry brush strokes to create some textures on the lighthouse, which will also make it look very rustic and vintage. Before you apply these dry brush strokes onto the body of the lighthouse, do test your dry brush strokes on a crap piece of paper before you begin painting. Now, if you so notice, the entire part of lighthouse painting relies on wet and dry and dry and dry techniques, building textures and details one step at a time. While you're at it, don't forget to complete the gallery poles. I had actually forgotten to add them until the very last moment where after I peeled off the masking tape, I recollected that I hadn't painted them, and then I went back in and painted them. To create a warm glowing light at the center of the gallery paints, I should have painted the yellow glow first and then added the paints. I went in reverse this time, so let's see how this turns out to be. Now I'll start painting the window of the lighthouse. I'll start by filling it in yellow and then layer it with a neutral tint to create that gray color. Now I'm adding some darker brown tones to frame the window. The entire lighthouse is gradually coming together so beautifully with the right textures and techniques. Because we have used wet on dry methods, it's vibrant, precise, and full of life. Now, since I have created that warm yellow light at the center of the gallery pane, I'll add its glowing reflection just below the pane at the base. I'll use the lifting technique. I'll drop a bit of water, wait for a few seconds, and start lifting out gently to create that soft glow. We are almost at the end of a painting. I'll add some final dry brush textures to the wave splashes using the fluffy frayed tip of my old brush loaded with white quash. I'm applying these textures along the outer edges of the white splashes to make the sea spray look more realistic. He now we are done with the main painting and ready to peel off the masking tapes. When I peeled mine, I realized I had forgotten to add the fence for the gallery. So I'll go in and add the poles using the pointed tip of my size two synthetic ultra round brush, mixing in a bit of neutral tint with dark red. For the gallery poles, there is a bit of perspective involved. The poles at the front should appear larger while the ones behind will slightly be smaller. When painting the poles, use steady straight strokes. Avoid wavey lines to keep them crisp and realistic. I'm drawing out the tip of my brush to create some dry brush textures on the body of the lighthouse. Once I'm happy with these textures, we will be done with today's painting. I hope you enjoyed the process, and I can't wait to see your creations. Be sure to upload them under the submit project section, and I'll see you again in Project six. 34. Day 6: Composition & Value Analysis : Analyze our composition for day six. First, we will convert our reference into black and white to study the tonal values more clearly. But first, let's look at the rule of two thirds grid, and you will notice that the horizon line aligns with the first horizontal line of the two thirds. The main subject, the boat is placed diagonally spanning from the left quadrant of the center to the last quadrants of the grid. This diagonal placement, along with the reflection and the ripples in the water help guide the viewer's eye through the painting. It not only suggests the movement, but also creates visual interest while drawing attention to the focal point. Now if you observe the reference closely, you will notice it clearly follows the rule of atmospheric perspective where the color values fade as we move further into the distance with the horizon and the sky showing the lightest values. Meanwhile, the reflections of the boat display a full range of tones from the deep dark shadows right underneath the boat to mid and lighter values. This contrast makes a focal point stand out even more clearly. Now that we have finished analyzing the composition, let's move on to the next lesson that is our color palette. 35. Day 6: Color Palette: Okay, let's get started with day six. For the color of water, I'll be using turquoise blue. But do not worry if you don't have this exact shade. Here I'll easily show you how you can mix your own. Simply combine your blue pigment with PB 15 or 15 E three, which is a cool blue with PG seven, which is, again, a cool green tending towards your blue and add a touch of white to create that fresh turquoise tone. Now, the next color that we will need is for the reflections. Now I'll be swatching out a bright and transparent yellow green. For this, I'm using my permanent green number one from PWC's range, which is, again, made from PG seven. It's a very beautiful transparent color. If you do not have this exact shade, you can easily create it by mixing a transparent yellow with your To green. Next, I have also swatched out my To green followed by burn timber, and then I'll be swatching out my raw sienna. So the colors like yellow green, halo green, and burnt timber, will be working together beautifully to create our reflections. So that's all for today's color study. I'll see you again in the next lesson. 36. Day 6: Sketching The Boat: Welcome to Day six. Today we will begin sketching, but before that, let me quickly update you on the supplies. For this project, we will be using our masking fluid, so make sure to keep it handy. We will also tape down our paper with masking tape to keep everything neat and secure. Now let's get to sketching. For our composition, I decided to shift the boat slightly upward so that it aligns with the second horizontal line of the two thirds grid instead of placing it at the lower quadrants. That's only the major change. Most of the other elements remain the same, and we will simplify those near the horizon. To start sketching the boat, I began with an infinity loop to establish the direction Then connect the lines to form the gunwal the sides of the boat. From there, I'll keep building the structure step by step. I recommend watching this entire process once first and then pausing the screen to sketch your own outline. I have broken it down as simply as possible to make your sketching easier. Now I'm working on the transom that is the back of the boat. This step often involves a bit of back and forth with erasing and refining the lines. So don't worry if it takes a few tries. I recommend watching the full process first to understand how I have broken the structure down and then try sketching it yourself. Now that we have the basic outline of the boat in place, let's refine the sketch a bit more. At this stage, focus on sharpening the edges, correcting any proportions, and adjusting the curves of the boat so it feels more balanced. You can also add in subtle details, but keep it simple. We just want a clear, clean outline that will guide us once we start painting. Now I'll create the outline of the reflection. To do this, I'm using dotted straight lines to mark the boundary beneath the boat. This helps me check the proportions and make sure the reflection aligns correctly with the boat's structure. Now I'll further refine the insides of the boat. Spending a bit more time on your initial sketch here will actually save you time later when you start painting because all the parts are already clearly outlined. For beginners, this step is a must. As you practice sketching, you start developing muscle memory which eventually allows you to paint directly without needing detailed sketches. That's the level of skill you reach with consistent practice. This is the final outline of our port. You can pause a screen here and start your sketching process. I'll also include the sketched outline in the projects and resources section so that you can use it as a reference. Next, I'll quickly use a ruler to mark the horizon at one third of the paper. And with that, our sketch is now complete. Let's move on painting the water. Mm hmm. 37. Day 6: Painting the Water- Part 1: Before we start painting the water, I'll use my size two round synthetic brush with a pointed tip to apply masking fluid along the top outline of the boat. You can also mask the sides of the boat if you prefer, but I'll be keeping it just to the top for this demonstration. Once the step is done, we will wait for the masking fluid to dry completely, and after that, we will start painting the water using the wet on wet technique. As always, the first step is to wet your brush and the paper. I'm here using a large round goat hair mop brush, silver atelia series size 80. You can also use a large round brush, a hag, or even a flat brush for this step. I prefer the round mop because its pointed tip makes it easier to reach the curvy areas of the boat and the water. I'll carefully wet the paper up to the horizon line working around the board so that the sketched outline stays dry. Make sure to repeat this flat wash a couple of times. This will help keep the paper moist for a little longer. Next, I switch to my size 00 atelier mob squirrel blend brush, and now I'll lightly mist my paints with a spray bottle and then prepare a buttery consistency of turquoise blue for a first layer of water. To prepare my turquoise blue mix, I'll combine marine blue with my halo green or viridian and add just a touch of horizon blue to achieve the right tone of my turquoise blue. As you mix, be mindful of your water control, both in the paint and on your brush. Now, let's start painting the water. I'm using both the tip and the toe of my brush to create the ripples. In the foreground, we can go slightly with thicker strokes, leaving some whites in between for highlights. I'm beginning with mid tonal values, but remember, we can always add darker tones later while the background is still wet. Next, with a smaller bright brush of size number six, I'll gently lift off any areas where the colors have bled into the whites. I'm here using my silver belle aqua bright side six I'll continue painting the water using the same Crisscross network of strokes. For softening and fading, especially near the reflections, I'm switching to my size six silver black velvet round brush. Since the boat and reflection are the main focus of this composition will keep the water more minimal. Before our foreground dries, I'll go in with a slightly darker value to paint over the ripples using very light and gentle strokes. Notice the values in the foreground. They stay a bit darker, and as we move upwards, they gradually lighten out. This is the rule of atmospheric perspective. Before adding this layer, I'll run a damp brush over the empty areas once more just to keep the surface moist. This ensures that the paint flows smoothly and helps us achieve that soft natural effect in the water. Now, I'll switch to a size 20 more brush and load it with a watery mix of turquoise blue. Using this, I'll lay down a flat wash while leaving a few white gaps in between for highlights. Next, I'll quickly lift off any blue stains from the boat with the damp tip of my mop brush. Then I'll quickly switch to my cisic silver black velvet round brush to paint small ripples and waves with lighter value of turquoise blue. Notice, as we move closer to the horizon, the ripples become smaller, thinner, and more delicate. At this stage, I'll work fairly quick so that the background stays wet and allows smooth blending. Here I'll work quickly using both the tip and the belly of my brush to create natural looking ripples. Apply very light pressure when using just the tip for fine, delicate lines and slightly more pressure with the belly to form broader strokes. This variation gives your water a more realistic movement. I will continue with the same repetitive step until the water feels complete, wearing the tones where needed to create depth. Once the water is ready, we will then move on to painting the boat. B. 38. Day 6: Painting the Boat Wet on Dry: Okay, so now let's begin painting our boat. For the front side, I'll start with a very light tonal value of my raw sienna, and using a damp brush, I'll just start laying the color onto the side of the boat. Observe how light my value of raw sienna is here. Now using a damp brush, I'll gently lift some of that color to lighten the front. This is a lifting technique, and I'll repeat the same light wash at the back of the boat too. Here, water control is very crucial. If your paint mix is too watery, it can bleed into the water area and create unwanted patches in the reflections. This can disturb the tonal balance of the painting, so always check the consistency of your paint before applying it. Next, alert values at the corners of the boat using a damp, almost dry brush to create subtle textures. Watch my brush movements here carefully. Now, I'll dry the brush fully and load it with burnt tumber. The more darker your tones are, the better and create dry brush strokes along the lower side of the boat. This gives the illusion of an older and weathered surface of the boat. I'll now add even a few dry strokes with a hint of blue for extra character. Once that's done, I'll switch to a liner brush to apply darker values and sharp outlines. With the help of my liner brush, here I am trying to create the back of the boat. I'll go with first darker tones and then lighten it with little watery tip of my brush. Gradually, I'll keep layering my browns and blues step by step until we achieve our realistic looking boat. So keep observing closely as the details build up. Now I'll begin building layers for the inner side of the boat. I have prepared a muted dark blue mix by combining my turquoise blue with a little bit of brown, but you can also go ahead and add a little bit of neutral tint into your turquoise blue to obtain this color. Using my size six round damp brush, I'll start painting the inner walls of the boat. This step requires precision and control strokes to maintain proper proportions and uniformity. Throughout the process, I'll be working with wet on dry and dry brush techniques to build both the structure and the textures on the boat. Isn't much I need to describe in details over here. You can simply observe how I gradually build up the form, switching between tonal values and colors to create depth and shadows. Now I'll be using mid light tones of raw sienna to paint the fore deck of the boat. I'll keep the right corner slightly darker and follow the curve of the deck with my strokes to give it form and depth. Now, using my bright brush loaded with darker tones of blue, I'll layer over the inner walls once again to build more depth and dimension. Next, I'll move on to painting the inner walls of the front deck using the same mix of my neutral tint blue and a touch of umber. For this, I'm switching to again my size eight bright brush, and I'll always confine the darker tones towards my right. With the damp tip of a clean brush, we will then gently smooth out the dark tones to soften the transition between the light and the shadow as. With the same brush now loaded with mid to dark values of the burnt tumber, I'll begin painting the thwart or the cross seat of the boat. Notice how I create the holo form here. Instead of using flat horizontal strokes, I work with curved sea strokes. The flat head of the brush really helps achieve that shape. On the right inner wall of the thwart, I'll use slightly darker tones to create shadow, just as we did earlier for the front today. I have layered some mid tonal values of burnt timber at the opening of the front deck too to maintain that uniformity with the bottom inner layers of the boat. Now I'm switching to size two synthetic rigor brush to add some half dry lines along the thwart of the boat and a few textured strokes on the front deck. This subtle details can help create much more realistic texture to the boat. With that, we have completed the basic form of the boat. Now we will move on to painting the reflections in the next lesson. 39. Day 6 Painting the Reflection & Final Details: Okay, let's get started with the reflections. I'm switching to a soft synthetic size six ultra round brush from silver silt series and loaded it with a transparent mid value mix of yellow green. Add a little extra water to your mix so that the reflection layer smoothly onto this dry surface. While this layer is still wet, we will quickly go ahead and load my brush with a slightly darker green created by mixing blue and brown and paint the shadow right beneath the board. Working wet on wet here helps the transition stay soft and natural. Observe how I keep blending the darks and light so that the reflection looks fluid and seamless. Using the pointed tip of my brush, I'm outlining the curves of the reflections and blending them into the transparent layers. Here we are working with control wet on wet technique, and then we will be going ahead with layering darker values along the edges of the reflections to bring them to life. Now I'll begin layering darker values of green by mixing browns, blues and greens together. I'll start applying the stones along the corner edges of the reflections, then blend them smoothly into the lighter greens, working while the background is still wet. This is very important. Observe my brush strokes and movements carefully as I build up the layers to bring this reflection to life. Now at this point, if your background has dried, don't worry, use a damp brush to re wet the area before blending so that the transition stay soft and seamless. Now, I'll start adding darker tones to our reflections, creating sharper edges and more contrast. At the same time, I'll make sure not to cover the lighter areas completely. Leaving some of the lighter tones visible helps capture the reflected light from the boat in the water. Now, I'll add some more reflections on the water, which will be scattered and broken. For this, you will need a slightly creamy paint mix, not too watery and not too thick. Both extremes can cause unwanted blotches, so make sure your paint consistency is just right. Your brush should be able to glide smoothly across the paper with minimal friction to create soft and natural reflections. I'm pretty happy with how the reflections are turning out. I'll add a few more smaller reflections on the waves, and then we will be done with the water reflections. After that, we can move on to painting the sky and the background elements along the horizon. For the sky, I'm starting with wet on wet technique. Here we will go ahead with a gradient wash for the sky using our seam turquoise blue mix. I will start by mixing a slightly watery mid value of the same turquoise blue which we used for the water. Using swift back and forth brush movements, I'll create a gradient wash darker at the top and gradually lighter towards the horizon. This is how we are going to paint our sky. For the midground along the horizon line, I'll add some hills with mid tonal values of burnt timber mixed with a little bit of turquoise blue. I'm switching to my size 00 atelier quill mop to sketch the outline of the background hill. The paper is only lightly damp, not soaking wet, so we get a soft blurred effect that suggests distance. This helps us follow the rule of atmospheric perspective, creating depth in the painting. Now, I'll peel off the masking fluid from the top outer edges of the boat and sharpen the borders using a synthetic liner brush loaded with burnt umber. Next, I'll add in a few small poles. This is optional, so you can skip it if you prefer. Here, I'll be using darker burned temper tones to paint the reflections in the water of the rope, leaving tiny whites at the top to show highlights. Alternatively, you can also use white gouache to add the highlights after painting the rope with your burnt tumber. This small details bring the entire painting to life. Once finished, you let the paper dry completely, and then we will be carefully peeling off the masking tapes at an angle. Our paper has dried completely, so let's peel off our tapes. And with that, we have completed our Day six project. I hope you enjoyed the process and painted along with me. I'm really looking forward to seeing your versions. 40. Day 7: Composition & Value Analysis: So let's quickly study our reference and break it down. At first glance, our attention is immediately drawn to the swan and a shimmering reflection, making the swan our main focal point. Now let's convert our reference into black and white to assist the overall composition. Now we will place the rule of two thirds grid and analyze how the elements are positioned. You will notice that the swan sits right around the center of the grid quadrant, and we will use the second horizontal line of the grid as a reference line to sketch the base of the swan. And Now, if you wish to tweak the composition a little, you can experiment with changing the direction of the swan, placing it at a slide diagonal along the grid lines so it feels more dynamic or simply adjust the way the swan is facing. There are endless possibilities depending on how you choose to interpret the reference. Another interesting detail to observe in this reference is the underwater rock visible near the foreground of the water, and that's exactly what sets this project apart from Project six. Now on your screen, you will find the tonal value analysis for the reference. Follow the guiding arrows and take a moment to observe the subtle variations in tonal values throughout the scene. You will notice that this reference beautifully follows the principle of atmospheric perspective, where the colors and the tones become lighter and softer as they recede into the distance. Before we wrap up, don't forget to download all the other references included in the projects and resources section. Take some time to study how the composition varies in each and try interpreting them in your own unique way. Now let's move on to our next lesson and continue the painting process. 41. Day 7: Color Palette: Let's begin by taking a quick look at the colors we will be using for this project. Our primary cool blue will be our marine blue, which I'm going to swatch out first. Now, instead of marine blue, you can use any other blue that leans slightly towards green and has a single pigment. Generally PB 15 is that blue. Now I'll be mixing my marine blue with my viridian or Telo green consisting of the pigment PG seven. Now, when you mix both of these colors, you will create a very beautiful sea green or a turquoise green mix, which is perfect for creating those water reflections. Next, the color that I'm going to swatch out is a bright yellow green, which is called leaf green from the branch in an arts PWC watercolor range, and we are going to use this color to create the reflection of the swan in water, which is going to be the base color for the reflection. Now this is followed by permanent green number one from the same branch inan art. Now, when you mix permanent green with marine blue or your ultramarine blue or any other darker blues, you would get a deep and rich color that works wonderfully for the shadowed areas in the reflection. Now for the swans in itself, we will need a few additional colors to capture the highlights and subtle shadows. And for that, first, I'm going to swatch out my naples yellow for the bright highlights and followed by ultramarine blue to create those soft, cool tones of shadows. The next color that we would be needing is our black or neutral tint. Here, I'm using my neutral tint, but you could also opt for your ivory black or your paints gray, the choice is up to you. So I hope you have got all your colors ready now. So let's jump into our next lesson. 42. Day 7: Sketching Process: So Hello, and welcome to Day seven. First, we will tape down a paper on all four sides with masking tape. Now using the pencil and the reference image, I'll lightly measure and block in the placement of the swan. Notice that although the swan appears near the center of the reference, it sits slightly below the true midpoint of the reference, around the second horizontal line of the two thirds grid that we covered in the previous lesson. I have marked the base of the swan on that second horizontal and indicated the top edge of the body, which can be simplified into an oval. You may prefer to draw the oval first and then refine it into the swans contour. Either approach works from here. I'll break the form down step by step, drawing each structural element lightly and adjusting proportions as needed. As with my previous other projects, watch the full demonstration and the process of sketching first. I will make small corrections along the way to ensure that the swan looks really like a swan. I will now move on to sketching the head, beak, and the neck of the swan. At this stage, I notice that the neck doesn't quite look right. It feels a bit off as compared to the reference. So I'll resketch the neck this time, emphasizing in that elegant S shaped curve you can notice in the reference image. The neck curve really defines the swan's graceful posture and character. So you must do it right. In the additional references that I have uploaded for the day seven in the Projects and Resources section, you will find swans in various poses and angles. Take some time to study and practice those as well. It's a great exercise to build your confidence and improve your understanding of structure and the movement of the animals. Now I'll refine the feathered back of the swan. Begin by sketching a light outline to capture the general contours of the wings. We are not aiming for intricate detailing here. The goal is to suggest the form rather than render every feather. Keep your lines minimal and fluid, focusing on defining the overall structure. Remember, our main emphasis in this painting will be on the swans reflection shimmering in the water, so keeping the swan itself simplified helps direct the viewers attention there. Now that the swan is gracefully placed on the paper, it's time to sketch its reflection. To maintain Kadc proportions, here is a simple method or a tip that I would like to show you the dotted line technique. Lightly draw dotted guiding lines to mirror the main dimensions of the swan, then use them as a reference to build the reflection beneath. This approach helps you accurately capture the shape and flow of the reflection without it appearing distorted or uneven. Because the water has ripples and is moving, the reflection will read as wavy and slightly distorted. However, the overall proportions and the structure of the swan remains the same. Watch as I build the reflection step by step, I follow the dotted guiding lines and shapes established earlier, then translate those shapes into broken horizontal strokes that mimic the water's movement. Keep your marks loose and flowy so that the reflection feels natural while still matching the swan's underlying form. Here, if you may notice that my reflection appears a little longer than it should as compared to the reference. To correct this, I roughly measured the width of the swan's body and adjust the reflection accordingly, ensuring it stays proportional and believable. This step helps maintain accuracy while keeping the reflection harmonious with the main figure. Finally, I'll sketch the subtle depression in the water on the right, showing the gentle movement caused by this one. With this last detail, our sketch is now complete, you can now pause the video here after watching the full demonstration or simply download the reference image in the projects and resources section and begin your outline at your own pace. 43. Day 7: Part 1 The Foreground Water: Okay. Now that our sketch is complete, our next step is to mask out the swan using the masking fluid. This makes our painting process much easier later on when we start with the wet on wet process, I'll focus on carefully masking the outer edges of the swan, and then I'll add a few touches to mask the glints on the surface of the water. Once the masking is done, we will start by wetting our paper, beginning from the bottom and moving up to about halfway through the sheet. While doing this, make sure to go over the surface a couple of times with a damp brush. This helps to maintain the moisture on the paper for a little longer, giving us enough time to work smoothly with our wet on wet washes. You notice, I haven't weighted the areas where we have outlined the reflections. This will really help us later when we start building those reflections, keeping them crisp and clear instead of letting those colors blend too much into each other and turning muddy in the process. Now I'll quickly create a mix of my turquoise green mixture by combining my merin blue with viridian. I'm preparing this mixture in a generous amount so that I can easily adjust the tonal values as and when required in the painting. Now I'll prepare another mixture using my yellow green, combined with a touch of burnt sienna to create the underwater rocks. For this, I'll be using my cat's tongue Belle Aqua silver brush, but you could also go ahead and use your round brush or a flat head or a bright brush. With this, I'll create a few uneven slanted strokes. Notice how I layer the yellow greens and the browns together. My mixture here isn't too watery, but instead, it is creamy and with tonal variations ranging from medium to light. My paper is still wet, so I'll just quickly go ahead and create a very light tonal value of my moraine blue and start layering it off. Now, before you move on to your blues, make sure your paper is still damp. If it has started to dry, gently re wet the blank areas, using a damp brush, not a soaking wet one. Now start layering the blues. Make sure not to completely cover the underlying greens and the browns that we just layered. Let them peek through subtly. Also be careful around the sketched outlines of the reflections. This is where the transparency of your blue pigment will truly shine. Here, at this point, if you feel that you have gone a bit overboard with the layering, simply lift off some paint pigment to balance it out when the paper is still wet. Once the paper starts drying, it will be difficult to lift off the paints. So Now, before the bottom part of the paper starts drying, I'll quickly create the larger glint at the bottom right corner. For this, I'm switching to my silver brush round size number two and gently lifting the color in a round circular motion. Each time that I lift the paint, I rinse my brush in clean water, dab it on a tissue, and lift the paint again until I get a nice bright, shiny glint. Now, here is a tip. You can also try adding a tiny drop of clean water on that spot before lifting. This helps to expose the white of the paper beautifully. Now to enhance the sparkle, I'll finish by lifting shorter soft rays around the glint to create that sparkling sunlit effect. Here, the sparkle looks a bit dull, so I'll add in a touch of white quash to brighten it up. Once that's done, I notice that the bottom area has already started to dry, so I'll quickly take my broader mob brush and gently re wet the white areas about halfway up the paper. Now, I'll begin layering my blues, but, oh my goodness, the bottom area has dried out already. So what should we do? Okay, here is a solution to reactivate those layers, I'm going to use my spray bottle and lightly miss those sections only. Then I'll quickly get back in with my brush and blue paints and start with creating the ripples so that it's all blended out seamlessly. Here at this stage, we need to work fast so that we can cover the areas we have just re wetted before they start drying out again. It's the same process as before, adjusting the tonal values to create the illusion of ripples in the water as you keep Now at the left corner of the paper, I'll start adding the ripples. My paper here is still wet, so I can do mine peacefully. But if you find that yours has dried out, quickly re wet the areas either with a mop brush or by lightly misting it with your spray bottle and then spreading the moisture evenly with your brush. You will also notice that I'm using a lighter value of blue this time rather than the sea green mix we used at the bottom. This helps capture the sense of light and the subtle presence of underwater rocks near the foreground. As we move upwards, the water will appear to be more transparent, so I'll be using medium tonal values in the center of the paper, gradually shifting to even lighter tones towards the top. This gradual transition helps us follow the rule of atmospheric perspective, giving our painting a beautiful sense of depth and distance. Observe the water content in my brush here. I'm working with a medium tonal value using less water and more of pigment. With a light hand, I am gently creating that rippling movement of the water. Notice how the soft control strokes help in building that natural flow and rhythm on the surface of the water. Okay. Next, I'll move on to wet a small section here so that we can continue working wet on wet in the smaller areas. A tip here is to keep your paper slightly inclined so that the water doesn't flow down and cause unwanted bleeds in the bottom section, which is still drying. Now, here another tip is to control the amount of water in your broader mop brush or any broad shape brush that you are using to coat the surface with water. Now it's just a matter of repeating the same process and creating those gentle ripples, maintaining that smooth flow of water. Since I'm working on a bigger sized paper, so it's taking a bit longer. No matter what size of paper you have chosen for this project, I recommend watching the entire process and the flow of the painting first before starting your own. This will help you understand the sequence and how each layer builds up upon the next. And remember, if you feel stuck at any point, you can always come back to this lesson, rewatch the section, and paint along at your own pace. I will now work a little quickly so that my paper doesn't dry out. Using a mix of longer and shorter brushstrokes, I will continue to create ripples in the water. As we move upwards, notice how the size of the ripples gradually becomes smaller and smaller. This helps to create a natural sense of distance and perspective. Now, once we will be done with this section, we will then move on to painting the remaining part of the water, that is the top section of the water, which we will see it in the next lesson. 44. Day 7 : Part 2 : Okay, we will now repeat the same step, slightly tilting the paper and running a damp mop brush over the remaining blank areas. Here, my brush is not too running wet. It is absolutely damp so that it can cover the area smoothly. But here, too, we will work in smaller portions so that the paper doesn't dry out too quickly. Go over each section a couple of times to ensure it stays evenly moist for longer. Once the surface is nicely wet, we will move on to creating the ripple like patterns, just like we did before. Now take a look at the reference and observe how the light hits the water, the direction, movement, and the rhythm of those ripples. Try to capture that essence on your paper, but don't worry about coping it exactly. The goal is to interpret it in your own way and make it feel natural. Now, this wet on wet technique and prolonging the wetness of paper will work only best when you are using 100% cotton, 300 USM paper. If you're using cellulose paper, it may dry out much faster, so be mindful of that when creating your project. Observe here how I'm controlling the water on both my brush and my paints, you will notice that the paint isn't bleeding excessively on the wet paper surface. Instead, it's retaining the shape of each stroke I apply. This is one of the main key aspects of mastering how to paint water. Once you learn to control and balance the amount of water on your paper, brush and paint, everything starts to feel much easier, not just for water, but for any subject you paint with watercolors. And after that, it's all about understanding the fundamentals of perspective and how tonal value shift across the painting. After vetting this topmost part of the paper with my broader mob brush, I will pick up my size 00 mob brush from Silver ateliers squirrel Series and begin to create broad strokes using a light tonal value of my sea blue mix, leaving some whites in between to let the paper whites show through. Observe the bent spread out tip of my brush. It helps me smoothen out any areas where the color has bled. This is the beauty of a natural hair mob brush. It not only holds good amount of water and paint, but also retains the shape of your previous strokes, allowing you to refine and blend seamlessly. Now I have switched back to my cat's tongue brush. But instead of this brush, you could also use a bright brush of number six or eight and create the ripples of smaller and thinner sizes. Using just the tip, create very thin and short ripples as we are approaching the horizon. This is the lightest part of a painting, so we will fill this section with the same ripple pattern, keeping the strokes gentle and subtle. Before you know it, your entire paper will be filled with this delicate ripples, creating a beautiful sense of movement. Once we are done with the water part, we will now quickly move to the bottom half of the foreground and add some bright sparkling glints using the sharp pointed tip of a brush with white watercolor or guash. I'll add a few of them here in varying shapes and sizes to give a more natural shimmering effect. We will come back to the shimmering glints later on in the project, but now let's allow the paper to dry completely before peeling of the masking fluid. Okay, as I begin peeling the fluid, I notice that a small portion of paper near the swan's neck has come off along with it. That probably happened because I was a little bit too impatient and tried to remove it before the surface was fully dry. So take your time and make sure your paper is completely dry before removing the masking fluid to avoid tearing off the paper. Since I used an eraser to remove the masking fluid, some of the pencil markings for the swans feathers also got lifted, so I'll quickly sketch the feather outlines again to bring back those details. In the next lesson, we will move on to painting the swan and it's reflection. 45. Day 7 : The Final Details: Okay. Now let's move on to painting this one. I'm starting with the neck area using my size six silver silk ultra round brush. First, I'm wetting the neck with a clean water. This will make it much easier to control and blend the lights and shadows smoothly. I'll begin by laying down a light wash of naples yellow along the neck, but be mindful of the amount of water that you have on the tip of your brush and your paint. Along the neck and the base, I'll start to blend it equally. Since the paper near the neck had peeled a bit earlier, it's behaving slightly differently. The yellow paint is spreading into the paper fibers more quickly than I thought. That's completely fine. I'll try working this part and adjust. Next to create the shadows, I'm mixing a light tonal value of ultramarine blue with a touch of neutral tint. Both are transparent colors, they will layer beautifully over the yellow but not give you a mix of green. I'm applying this mix from the outer edges and softly blending it into the yellow tones. Keep observing how I'm gradually building the values, and when needed, I use a combination of techniques like lifting and layering to bring out the light and shadows naturally. Now, with the tip of my damp silver silk ultra round brush, I'm gently lifting the grays around the neck to lighten and refine the tonal transitions. Take your time as you pull the color back, rinse and blot your brush as frequent as required to keep the tip of your brush clean and controlled. Next, I'll paint the swan's head and then move on to the beak, working step by step. Use a small precise brush for the beak and build the form slowly from light to slightly darker values. It's preferable that you go for a synthetic round brush to give you better control on the amount of water. It's essential to have a tight control over the water on your brush and the consistency of your paints. Too much fluid and the color will run off the outer edges of your outlines. So keep your brush tip damp rather than soaking wet Always test the balance of water to pigment on a scrap piece of paper before you work on the delicate areas. I'll let the beak dry completely before coming back to add slightly darker tones along the edges for definition. In the meantime, I'll move on to the feathered back of the swan. And for this, I'm using a light tonal value of my ultramarine blue. If your brush feels too wet, simply dab it on a tissue to soak up the excess water. This will help you maintain better control over your strokes. Now using the tip of your brush, create sharp curved strokes along the outlines of the back. Observe how I'm doing it here. To create the second set of inner feathers, I'll be using the wet on wet technique with the same synthetic brush. I'll start by lightly damping this area with clean water before laying in the blues. Keep observing how I build the layers, beginning with light tonal washes of ultramarine, and then gradually adding slightly darker tones to contour and define the form of the feathers, giving them depth and softness at the same time. Oh. Now, let's come back to the beak. Here I have switched to my size two silver silk ultraund brush, perfect for creating sharp thin lines and precise strokes to add the final details. Now, using just the tip of the brush, I'll carefully run it along the outer edges of the beak. This subtle touch defines the shape and gives the beak a beautiful three dimensional effect. And if you have so noticed, we have done the beak with wet on dry technique. Now it's time to move on to the reflection in the water. I'll begin by laying down a semi watery medium tonal value of my base layer using my Sisi silver ultra round brush. So Next, I'll prepare a darker green mix by combining marine blue with a touch of burnt sienna to create a rich, murky shadow green. I will now apply this darker green mix along the base of the swan. I'm not really happy with the green. So on a scrap piece of paper, I'll quickly spotch this green mix to test the tone. I feel it needs to be a little cooler, so I'll add a touch more of sap green into it. Now I'm happy with the color, and I'm going to use this mix to paint the shadows along the right edges of the outlined reflection. I will now use neutral tint directly on the right corner. Since the layer is still wet, it will blend in smoothly. Here I'm adding depth and dimension to the shadows by creating three or more subtle variations of green. This layering of tonal values helps the reflection look more natural and dynamic. I will continue to build on this reflection, so keep observing my brush strokes and my hand movements. Now, once I finish this part of reflection, I'll next move on to creating the reflection of the neck of the swan in the water. Here in some areas from left to right, I'll just go ahead with a damp tip of the brush and lift some areas out to create that illusion of light shimmering in this reflection as well. Now let's move on to painting the neck reflection. I'll begin with the same yellow green mixture, applying it lightly to the base stone. Keep your brush movements gentle and follow the natural curve of the Swan's neck to maintain that graceful reflection in the water. Now I will start adding in the darker tones of my green at the right corners, just like how we did in the previous reflection. We will now move on to create the reflection here at the foreground of the water. It is the same drill. First, I outlined with a darker tone of my green and then filled it in with a lighter value. Now along the sides, I'm just going to blend in darker tones, keeping the center bright. This reflection part is actually quite simple, not the hardest at all. You just need a sharp pointed tip on your brush to achieve those crisp, slightly distorted edges of the reflection. Focus on wearing your tonal values from light to dark to keep the reflection looking realistic. I'm using your wet on dry method as it helps me maintain those clean, defined outlines in the water. Okay, now we are done with the major reflections. It's time to add the smaller reflections on the ripples. Use a sharp pointed tip on your brush to create those delicate thin lines. There is not much to explain here. We will continue using the same wet on dry technique, so just keep observing how I work. Once we have finished this section, we will let the painting dry completely and then carefully peel off the masking tapes. We have finally completed our day seven project, and with this, we wrap up our journey exploring the many modes of water. I hope you enjoyed painting along with me. I truly can't wait to see your beautiful creations. And I have a little surprise for you. A bonus lesson is waiting just around the corner, so stay tuned. 46. Bonus Project: Color Palette: Before we begin, let's take a look at the colors we will need for this bonus lesson. The first color that I'm going to swatch out is my leaf green, a warm yellow green, and here is how you can mix it. To create your own leaf green, take your thalo green, which consists of the pigment PG seven. Now, this may also be named as viridian in different brands. So check accordingly and add in a little bit of lemon yellow. My lemon yellow consists of the pigment PY 81, but the brand that you are using may have a different yellow pigment in it. So check on that, and you will get a bright fluorescent green when you mix both of these colours together. Look how beautiful this color is. I call it the grass green color. Now, when you add into this color your warm yellow orange, you will achieve a similar looking leaf green. Hope this helps you mixing and creating your own leaf green color. The next color which I'll be swatching out is my halo green consisting of the pigment PG seven. Now, this is the green which we have already used in the previous projects, followed by marine blue, which is, again, a cool blue consisting of pigment PB 15. Then we have our burnt umber. Now, when you mix your burnt umber along with your blues, you get a muted brown tones, which is perfect for creating the depth we want for the underwater stones. Lastly, we will also need some white watercolor or white quash to create the sparkling glints in the water. 47. Bonus Lesson: Part 1: Three Hey, guys. Welcome to this special bonus lesson. I'll begin by quickly sketching out the view of the platform. Please ignore the faint outline of a bird that still shows through. I erased it, but some impressions still remain. We are going free hand for this one. This lesson is all about trusting the process and applying everything that we have learned from day one to day seven. I have already laid down an even coat of water, starting from bottom of the paper about halfway up to the top. We are going here first with wet on wet technique. Now I begin to add my bright yellow green pigments in loose and circular shapes, leaving small gaps in between them. Next, I lay my burnt sienna at the base of the greens. Now here, my burned Siena is toned down with the help of little pastel shell pink, which I used, but you could totally ignore this step and use your medium tonal value of burnt sienna, or instead of burn sienna, you could also go for burnt umber. If you observe in this painting, I'm starting to build layers. First, I started with very light tonal values, and then I am increasing the level of tonal values. Here I'm using medium tonal value of my marine blue. For the success of this painting, our paper should be moist at all times, so I'm using my spray bottle to lightly miss the surface whenever needed. Now keep watching my brush movements and color choices and try to connect them with the techniques that we have practiced in the Elan lessons. I recommend watching the full process once before you start painting along. This will help you understand the flow and prepare yourself mentally for what's coming next. Using just the tip of my mob brush, I'll start layering my greens in short and long ripple like strokes. Make sure that your paint mix isn't too watery because you want to have a creamy consistency. And also, if you feel that your brush is too wet, simply dab off the excess water from the belly of your brush for better water control. Now I'll prepare a dark mix by combining a little of indigo with burnt sienna. I actually added a bit too much indigo here, so don't do that. Keep your mix closer to a deep, dark, muted brown instead. Using the same mix, I'll start layering those darker tones to build depth and suggest the presence of underwater stones. But here, if you notice the colors are not blending into the base layers as much as it showed on wet background. The paper is still quite enough wet, so I think the sizing of the paper is lost. Here, I'm trying to blend those patches, especially on the left side, but the brown pigment seem to have been absorbed too quickly into the paper. They are not really moving even when I'm trying blending with a moist tip of my brush. I'm starting to get a little frustrated here, but that's okay. Let's stay calm and avoid overworking this area. Instead, let's move on to the other sections and come back later if needed. We need to work quickly here and proceed with the lifting technique to create those ripple reflections on the stones. Now here I'll be using my damp bright size number six belle aqua brush to lift the reflections and suggest ripples over the underwater stones. Move quickly here because the paper is still wet for you to create these lifting techniques. Look for the brightest layer of colors you laid earlier and lift from those areas to depict where the light is catching the stones. Keep watching my brush work and the timing of each lift. This small quick moves what makes the reflections read as believable. I continue this step until the reflections appear on most of the stones. Once that's done, we will wet the top portion of the paper and continue building the water. We will now wet the top portion of the paper and continue building the water. Once you layer the top portion uniformly with a damp mop brush or a flat brush of your choice, the next step is to repeat the ripple technique we practiced in projects six and seven. Watch carefully how I'm leaving small white spaces in between the layerings and how I lay the greens and blues to create the depth and movement of water. Now, using my marine glue with medium tonal values and broad strokes, I'll paint the top part of the water. Remember to maintain the atmospheric perspective by keeping the depth in mind. The base layer at the top is now ready. We now will add darker values where needed to enhance the dimension of the water. Once this layer is done, the next step is to preserve the whites of the paper peeking through the blues. I'm using my bright brush to carefully refine the areas where the colors have started to bleed into the whites. Gradually, you will start to see the painting come to life. I have to admit I'm a little concerned that my colors are looking a bit dull as compared to the usual, but we will see how it all comes together once the painting is finished. Let's not give up yet. My paper is still wet here, so I'm going in and adding few strokes of my blues in here. But if your paper has dried, you can skip this step. Now we will move on to painting the dog in the next lesson. 48. Bonus Lesson: Part 2: Okay, now let's move on to painting the raised viewing platform. For this, I'll be using the wet on rye technique. I am first preparing a slightly watery mix of burnt sienna, and to that, I have added a little touch of pastel shell pink. But you can completely skip this pastel hue, if you prefer. Just mix a little bit of whitequah to lighten the color. When applying the colour, layer it in such a way that you get a tonal variation from medium to light while leaving a thin white line between each plank to suggest the separation. To build texture and depth to this plank, I'll next add a dark brown line along the edges, followed by a medium brown stroke beside it. Then using the tip of my cat's tongue brush, which is slightly loaded with water, I'll softly blend and fade those dark lines to create a natural wooden look. Now, using a sharp pointed round brush of size number two, here I'm using the ultra round brush from silver silt series. I'm going to add some fine textures to the wooden planks. Here is a quick tip. Make sure your previous layers are completely dry before you move on to this step. If the base layer is still damp, the new strokes might bleed or appear too thick, and you will lose that crisp texture we are aiming for. Once that's done, it's time for the final step. That is to create those beautiful sparkling glints on the water. Our water area has completely dried now, so let's remove the masking fluid. I like to use my fingertip to peel it carefully. My paper has been acting really weird. I didn't expect the sparkles to look this dull. So I'm going to switch to a mini line of brush and add some thick whiteqh to bring in those sparkles and highlights on the surface of water. Sometimes even when your techniques are spot on, the results might not turn out as expected, and often the reason lies in the materials you are using. Yes, this is very true. In my case, it's the paper that's giving me trouble today in creating this project. It seems to have lost its sizing because there were instances where the paints were not spreading as it should on this beautiful paper, and also colors are appearing a bit dull than it usually is. So these all little little changes that you notice when you are used to painting on the same particular brand of paper suggests that something is wrong with the paper, the sizing is lost. It's a small reminder that sometimes our little careless habits can end up costing us our expensive art supplies, and ouch, that pinches a lot, isn't it? Has this ever happened to you? So let me be honest with you. The results didn't quite turn out as I expected it to be, but that's totally fine. Every painting, whether it feels like a success or not, teaches us something new. For this bonus lesson, I wanted to keep things simple and stress free so that you don't get overwhelmed. I actually plan to recreate this project, but honestly, life has been a little crazy and I didn't get the chance. I think I kind of like it now, but if you do so, then please do give it a try and share your version in the Create Project section.