Let's paint a beautiful Spring Poppy Meadow using watercolours

1. Hello Spring!!!: Spring is a season of renewal, a time when the world awakens with vibrant blossoms, lush greenery and golden sunlight dancing on the petals. The air is filled with a sweet scent of flowers and the gentle hum of nature inspires a sense of peace and creativity. Hello, everyone. I'm Asuria an engineer and a watercolor enthusiast. Welcome to this watercolor journey where we'll capture the beauty and freshness of a spring meadow with our brushes and imagination. In this class, we'll bring this serene springtime scene to life with watercolors. We'll start with a soft subtle blue sky gently blending it into a fresh green meadow. Then we'll add vibrant red poppies that pop against the landscape, creating a harmonious and a peaceful composition. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced artist, I'll guide you through the simple techniques to creating a stunning watercolor meadow filled with poppies. So grab your paints, find a cozy spot, and let's celebrate the beauty of spring one brush stroke at a time. 2. Art Supplies Spring: All right, so let us take a look at the art supplies that you will need. First is the paper. So I'm going with the Saunders water food. This is a 300 GSM, 140 LB thickness, 100% cotton watercolor paper, and this is a cold pressed watercolor paper, which means it has minimal texture. Alright, so you can go with any watercolor paper of your choice. Just make sure it is 300 GSM, 100% cotton watercolor paper. Let's take a look at the brushes. So you will need a larger sized brush for wetting the paper. So you can go with flat brush or you can choose a larger sized round brush. So it's up to you. The next set of brushes that you will need is a larger sized round brush, preferably size number 12 or ten, and you will need smaller brushes which are again, round size six and size number eight brushes. So these are the brushes that you will need, and you'll also need a rigor brush or any thinner sized brush for adding the final details. So these were the brushes, and you can go with any brand of brushes that you have got. These are the colors that you will need. So for the detailed colors list, you will have a separate class, so you can go ahead and check out all the colors that you will need. Next, you'll also need masking fluid to mask all the poppies. So you can go with any masking fluid that you have got. Next, of course, you will need two jars of water. One has to stay clean to pick up the fresh paint and the other one to remove all the dirty paint from your brush. All right. Next, you will require pencil and an eraser to add the pencil sketch, and then you'll also need a masking tape to firmly fix your paper onto the board, and you'll also need a cloth or a tissue paper to wipe off the excess amount of water or the paint from your brush. Then finally, you'll need a board to fix the paper firmly into the board. All right, so these are the art supplies, get them ready, and I'll see you soon. 3. Spring Colour Palette: All right, so let us take a look at the colors that you will need for this particular class. So there are very few minimal colors that you will need. So let us take a quick look at the colors. So first of all, all these colors that I will be using for today's class are from the brand white knights, but you can go with any other brand that you are interested in. Alright, so the first color that I have swatched here is the bright blue. This is from white Knights, and I like to use this color for painting those soft and subtle looking skies. The next color that we need is the carmine. So if you look at the sky, there's a little bit of carmine that I have added just to give the soft pinkish glow in the sky. So if you don't have carmine, I think carmine is present in basic palette, so it's not a very complicated color. Otherwise, you can mix a little bit of red with your white and create that pinkish soft tone. Next up, you will need some Indian yellow, of course, for creating the golden hues of the sun. So if you don't have Indian yellow, do not bother. You can go ahead with any other yellow that you have got in your palette, such as cadmium yellow. Or lemon yellow or anything. All right. So these were the first three colors. The next color that you need, again, is the golden yellow. This is again from the white nights. So you'll need two yellows. One is the bright yellow, and one is the golden yellow. All right. So the next color that you will need is brown or sepia to add the darker tonal values. So you can go with any brown that you have got from your palette. So basically choose a darker brown because we want to add the darker layers onto the bushes that are present on the horizon line. Alright, so yeah. The next color that you will need is, of course, different shades of green. So the first one is the leaf green or light green. So you can go with any lighter green that you have got. And for that matter, you can also go with olive green if you have that. So it's up to you. Basically, we are trying to create a beautiful greenish meadow in the background. So make sure to get all your greens out from the palette and try to mix and match the colors, and you can use it in your painting. The next green I'm watching here is the dark green from white knights. So you can go with dark green or emerald green. Basically, choose a nice dark green. So if you don't have dark green, take out any shade of your green and mix it with paints gray to create this dark green shade. Alright, so that was the dark green. All right. So the next color that you will need is cadmium red. You can go with any kind of red. If you have pyroll red, you can go with that. If you have cadmium red, you can go with that, or any other basic red from your palette will also do. Just make sure the red that you're choosing is bright and bold because we want those poppies to stand out from the meadow. Alright, so those were the colors. And now quickly go get your colors ready, and let's dive straight into our painting. 4. Pencil sketch: All right, so let us start with the pencil sketch. The pencil sketch is really easy. So first, we're going to define the horizon line, which is going to divide the sky and the field. So make sure it's not exactly half of the paper. It's somewhere a little bit above. So the horizon line is a little bit on the topper side. Next, we're going to define some flowers at the bottom. So we're going to add few poppy flowers. Now, for adding the poppy flowers, if you want to make it much more easier, you can just wait for me to complete the pencil sketch, and then you can take a screenshot or pause the video and make this sketch for yourself. The another option is to just download a few samples of the poppy flowers from the Internet, and then you can copy those designs and make a pencil sketch for yourself. So it's totally up to you which approach you want to follow. And the another thing is the placement of the poppy flowers and how many flowers you want to add. This is also totally optional, and it depends upon you, whatever you want to make for yourself, right? So yeah, so just wait for me to complete the pencil sketch. Meanwhile, you can add the pencil sketch for yourself, right? So, yes. All right, so this is the pencil sketch. I hope you're ready with your pencil sketch, and if so, let's dive straight into the next section. 5. Let's apply masking fluid: All right, so now we'll apply the masking fluid onto the poppy flowers because we want to paint it with red, and so we need to retain that white space. All right, so let's quickly go ahead and mask all of the poppy plants that we have added. So, along with the flowers, you are going to also apply the masking fluid onto the stem of the poppy flowers, right? So, yeah. This way, what will happen is once you apply the masking fluid, you'll need not worry about whether the paint is flowing onto the flower while painting the background meadow. All right, so this is the reason I'm going with the masking fluid because I just want to be comfortable while painting the background. But if you're someone who is comfortable painting it just like that, just by going around the poppy flowers, you could do that as well in case you don't have the masking. But it all depends upon your convenience, right. But it's better to have a masking fluid so that, you know, you can just chill and paint your background freely without worrying about the paint flowing inside. All right. So regarding the masking fluid, you can go with any masking fluid that you have got. There are various brands out there like white Knights. Then the one that I'm using here today for this class is from the brand Windsor and Newton. So any common masking fluid, you can go ahead and just use it for this class. All right. So yeah, you can just see how I'm applying the masking fluid. I'm using an older brush that I do not use for painting. So this is a size zero brush, and please make sure you're using some of your older brushes to do this process. Don't ruin your new watercolor brushes. All right, so I'll see you soon in the next section. 6. Let's paint the sky: Alright, so let's begin with the painting. A little short story before we begin the painting. So previously, the paper that I used, I don't know what was wrong with that. Maybe due to the weather conditions or due to the humidity, the paper started turning yellow as soon as I started applying the water, and guess what? I had to reflm it again, restart it from the beginning. So basically, adding the pencil sketch, the masking, fluid, all of that had to be redone again. And yeah, it was a little bit chaotic, but we got to do what we got to do. So yeah, so that was a short accident. And yeah, it was a happy accident. So I would suggest you, there would be many things that would go in our life that would be unplanned. We plan in a certain way, and things may not turn out the way we plan. And in those circumstances, what we can do is just take a pause, rest for a while, and restart again instead of quitting everything. All right. So this was a short message for you guys. If you are in the same place, then you can use this tip. Alright, so let's get back to our painting. So you can see I have already wetted the sky region. It's quite simple. Just take any of your larger size brush and make sure you apply several amount of coats onto the sky region. Now we are going to create the sun in the middle. So we are going to grab our Indian yellow. Obviously, that's my favorite color for painting the sunset sunrise or anything that is related to sun in the sky. So you can see, I am not going with a darker version of this paint. I am just starting very light so that if I want to lift off the paint, then it will be very easy. And this is what I tell in all my classes. Start with a lighter version or a lighter tonal value, and then you can layer it up and build it up slowly as you progress. All right, so now I have applied that little bit of Indian yellow onto the paper, and now to intensify the sun rays or the sunshine, I'm going to grab a little bit of my Indian gold, and then I'm going to start adding that around the sun just to create that beautiful glow. So you can see that. All right, so you can just start painting along with me or you can just wait for me to finish painting the sky. You can go through the video and then you can paint it for yourself. So you get the choice to do what you want. Okay. Now you can see I am taking my round size silver black velvet brush size number six, I suppose. You can go with size number eight if you're comfortable with that. I'm just creating some strokes, pulling and pushing the paint into one another. I started with the sun and now I'm going to start with the sky. For the sky, that's my favorite color, bright blue, I'm using that for the sky, but you can go with any other light blue that you have got cerede blue, Kobalt, blue, or any other blue. Again, I'm going with very, very subtle amount of this blue because we don't want dramatic skies. It is springtime. It's a time that is going to be very gentle, very kind, very soft and breezy. All right, so we want to bring that and we want to depict that in our paintings. So yeah. And of course, we don't want to have any green in the sky, so just be careful about that. And that's why the point where the blue and the yellow is about to meet, I have introduced carmine in the painting. So you can see how these two colors are differentiated with the help of carmine. Okay. And that will give a nice blend in the sky. And again, I'm not going with a darker layer of the carmine. You can see it's very subtle again. So make sure your paper is nicely wet so that you have enough amount of time to work on your paper. All right. So that's really important. And also make sure you're going with 100% cotton watercolor paper, which is minimum 300 GSM. I know I'm repeating the same things again, but guys, it's really, really important. It's not you. It's the paper that may ruin your painting. So just be careful about that, right, and choose the right supplies. All right. On that note, let's start building up the layers of the colors. Let's take a more darker intensity of the dright blue and let's start creating some strokes. And you know what? We don't need to achieve a perfect blend in the sky. It should be like those cloudy versus clear sky. So we don't want completely clear sky. We want a little bit of clouds here and there. So to create that, we're going to move our brush in different strokes in different angle and in different manner. All right, so you can just watch me and yeah, just have fun. All right, so now that we have painted our sky, let's add the bushes now. So we're going to add the bushes onto the left and right side of the horizon line, and we're going to have some bushes in the middle, as well. But there we're going to depict some sun rays falling onto the bushes. So for adding the bushes, I'm taking my ndike brown. You can go with any other transparent brown that you have got, right. So anything would be fine. Or you can choose to go with sepia alone. So you can go with a lighter version first. And then you can add the darker version onto the topper layers. Alright, so you can see, I'm just uh you know, just touching the paper with the tip of my brush and just allowing the paint to flow freely onto the paper. And I'm not going to control the movement of the paint that is flowing at the moment. Okay? So let it just flow and create its magic. So now you can see, right in the middle, we have the sun. So we're going to depict the sun rays falling onto the bushes. And so for the middle part or the middle portion, I have chosen my Indian gold, and I'm adding that for the bushes, right. So you might have seen when the sun rays fall on the bushes, the leaves start to look a little bit of golden because of the shiny sun rays. So that's what we're exactly trying to depict here. So these are very tiny, small elements or small details of the painting that are very important to make your painting look more natural and more realistic. So now I loved how that soft background for the bushes has turned out, and now slowly, I'm going to build up by adding more darker layers. So you can choose the same Bendike brown with a little greater tonal value, or you can go with your sepia or any other shade of brown that you have so make sure you mix your paint really well on your palette before adding that onto the paper. Otherwise, it's going to create a muddy mixture or sometimes it may create large puddles. All right. So you can just watch me how I finish this and then you can do it for yourself. All right, so I really love how the background bushes have turned. So to increase the depth of these bushes, I'm introducing a slightly darker version of the Wandike brown just towards the edges of the bushes. When I say edges, it's basically on the leftmost edge and on the rightmost edge and nothing in the middle. We want to retain the middle layer as lighter as possible. Alright, so this step is completely optional. If you're already satisfied with your background, then you can totally skip this particular step. So now you can see it's really looking more natural and beautiful as soon as I introduce a little bit of depth onto the edges of these bushes. Now I'm trying to add teeny tiny details just by defining those bushes or some trees like structure in the background. So I'm just trying to create some dots or some patterns just to indicate those are the leaves of the bushes or some kind of texture. All right, so I'm really happy with the way the background sky has turned out. And yeah, I'll see you soon in the next section. 7. Painting the meadow: Alright, guys. So now that the sky region is completely dried, let us begin the painting of our meadow. So before we start painting the meadow, we are going to make sure that the paper is really nicely wet because we're going to work on the wet on wet technique. So make sure you're wetting the paper really well. So for wetting the paper, I'm using my Hake brush. This is from the silver black velvet brand, but you can choose to go ahead with the any flat brush that you have got. And for that matter, if you don't have a flat brush, you can also choose your larger sized round brush. Just make sure you're taking your own sweet time to do this process. Okay, I know it's time consuming and sometimes it's boring, as well, but just play on your favorite music, listen to a podcast, or do anything in the background, and just keep painting layers of this wet water onto the paper. Okay? So, yeah. Now that I have ensured my paper is nicely wet, I'm just taking my round brush just to go ahead and wet the edges or the portion of the horizon line. So make sure when you're wetting the paper, do not disturb the sky region. All right. So let's quickly dive into the painting. Okay, so now for painting the midow, we are going to start by the olive green. So if you don't have olive green, ino worry, just take your any lighter green, mix it with a little bit of yellow, and there you have. Alright, so I'm just starting with the left and right side of the edges because in the middle, we're going to retain the sun's rays falling there. So we want the middle portion to be filled with Indian yellow and Indian gold. So basically the mixture of these two colors. So right below the sun, we are going to depict that the sun rays are falling onto the meadow, and that's why this region is going to be yellow, and the rest of the portion that is onto the left side and the right side, we are going to make it green. Alright. So again, now, what I'm going to do is picking up my olive green, mixing it with a little bit of light green, and then adding that shade. So now you can see it's creating that beautiful greenish yellow on my paper. So every time when you're painting any kind of painting, make sure you blend the colors onto your paper. Okay? That way, it'll not be a flat wash. And when you mix the colors, right? You'll be very stunned to see the results. It's really going to be very realistic and natural. So instead of going straight away and adding that green, try to mix that green with a little bit of yellow and, you know, just try to mix and match the colors first. So if you're unsure of how that is going to turn out, you can just mix the colors on your palette and then try it out on a test piece of paper. And then if you really like that color combination, you can come back straight to your main painting and add it. That is what I always do. So now you can I really loved that yellowish green look onto our meadow. All right. So having said that, let's start painting the meadow. So now I'm using my size number eight brush previously, but now I have switched to a smaller sized brush. This is size number six round brush, and I'm just creating those grass blades. So basically, you must have seen those grass blades in the fields, right? So exactly that is what we are trying to create here. So it's nothing. Just take your brush, hold it at an angle, and then you're going to pull up the paint. So from bottom, you're going to make strokes just by, you know, moving your hand freely. All right. And as your paper is still wet, we're going to make sure we're going to add some background poppies, which are very far away from the viewer. The reason why I'm doing this wet on wet is because they are far away and that is not in the focus. So the main element is the poppies that are in the foreground and the grass blades. But these poppies are in the background and they are out of focus. So to create out of focus effects, you need to paint those elements wet on wet. So randomly, I've had it just some poppies using the cadmium red. And now, again, I have started to paint the grass blades using my sab green and the mixture of emerald green. So I'm basically mixing all the greens in my palette, and I'm trying to drop that onto my background. So as I said, don't just go with a single shade of green. Just try to mix them, blend them, test it on a piece of paper, and then put it on your main painting. It's as simple as that, guys. So now it's a repetitive. It's going to be a repetitive process, so you can just watch me, and then you can paint it for yourself. All right. So now that we've added the first background layer, we're going to add more and more layers and build up the intensity of the colors. So again, since the paper is wet on wet right now, like, we're using the wet on wet technique right now. So the colors are going to look really dark as of now, but once it's going to dry, it's going to look really lighter. So make sure you are going with a darker tonal value the second time that you're going to paint the grass blades. Alright. So yeah, again, I'm mixing both sap green and Emrald green together, and I'm adding that straight onto my paper. Alright, so we need to really intensify the depth of our painting, and we have to do that before our paper dries. Again, for those poppies as well, again, I'm using the darker tonal value of cadmium red, and I'm adding that straight onto the paper. And this also has to be done in the wet on wet stage itself. Okay? So as long as our paper is wet, we have to make use of the time and keep adding and building more and more layers to intensify the look of our painting. All right, so this is just going to be another repetitive process, so you can just watch me and then paint it for yourself. So now that we have added multiple layers of this green, now it's time to quickly add few details onto the grass. So for that, I'm going to quickly grab my rigor brush and I'm going to start lifting the paint from the grass that I've added and make sure your paper should be nicely wet. If your paper has completely dried, I request you to not perform this step, okay? Since you will not be able to lift any paint once your paper has dried. So when your paper is still wet, perform this step. So you're going to just try to lift off the paint from the background. And you're going to try to create some nice details. I know at this point, my hand is hiding the portion of the painting, and I'm extremely sorry for that, but it's just very simple. All you need to do is have bare minimum water on your brush and just try to lift off the paint, just the way you added your grass blade right. Like, from bottom to top, you're just going to lift the paint. Alright, so this is how the background has turned out, and I'll see you soon in the next section. 8. Let's Paint The Poppies: Alright, so now let us start painting the poppies. So painting the poppies is really simple and easy. We just need two colors. That is your cadmium red and your sepia. So first, let us start adding this bold cadmium red. So remember, the poppies are the main subject of this particular painting, and obviously the poppies need to be standout. So you need to choose a vibrant red, go with any kind of red, but make sure it is darker, bolder, and it should be really bright. Okay? So I hope everyone has a basic cadmium red in the palette, and you can go with that basic red because the red in itself is really. Okay, so you can see I have gone ahead and I've filled the complete poppy in the bright red color. Now, while the paint is still wet, what I'm going to do is I'm going to grab my sepia. Now if you do not have sepia, you can take a little bit of brown, mix it with paints gray. So I'm adding the sepia towards the bottom of the poppy just where the stem is about to start. So I want to create some depth and some shadows onto the poppy. Otherwise, your poppies are really going to look flat. So the idea here is to make it look more natural and realistic. So you can see I have added the sepia there, and I'm just trying to create some petal like structures so that once this is going to dry, it's really going to look natural because of the shadows that we have created. So you can just watch me how I do this, and then you can go ahead and paint it for yourself. All right, so it's really simple. There's nothing to worry and it's not complex at all. So if you feel like the colors are a little lighter, you can just go ahead and make it darker, but make do not add darker colors in the first place. Just go with lower tonal values first. That is the lighter tonal values first, and then slowly you can build up, right. You can see now how it's looking and how the poppy is taking its shape. If you feel like something is more prominent, like you can see, I felt like the sepia is looking a little more prominent. I went ahead and I took a little bit of that cadmium red and I tried to blend in with the sepia. Alright, so this is how the first poppy has turned out. Now let us start painting the second poppy. So as you can see, again, three simple steps. First, go ahead and paint your poppy with a single flat wash of bright red or cadmium red or any other red that you have got. And once this layer is painted, make sure before the layer dries, you have to go ahead, grab your sepia or any other darker shade of brown and make sure you're adding that towards the tip of the poppy. That is where the stem is about to and then you're going to play with the sepia and create some petal like structures and try to blend in with the whole of cadmium red, which is there already in the background. So these are the simple steps for painting a natural looking poppy. And one more thing is, like, we're not adding a lot of details here because the poppies are really small and it is far away a little far away from us. So we are not going to be capturing the details of it. It is just that it's there in the meadow and, you know, you can just see some shadows and more of the cadmium red. So that is what we are trying to exactly depict in this painting. Alright, so now you can go ahead and paint the poppies along with me. All right. So now let's add the teeny tiny stems for these poppies. So poppies really have thin stems, and we want to have that perspective over here. So make sure you're choosing a smaller sized brush, which is basically having a nice pointed tip, so you can go with your rigor brush or size number zero brush. So for adding the stems, I'm going ahead with my rigor brush, and I'm using the same color that I used for the background meadow, that is the dark green. Or the emerald green, so you can go with any other darker green that you have got. So in case you do not have a darker green, you can choose your green, add a little bit of pink, gray to it, and make it darker as simple as that. All right, so yeah. So painting stems is really easy. Just make sure you have the right brush. Just don't add thicker stems. Otherwise, you are going to spoil the perspective of the painting. All right, so you can see how delicately I have been adding these stems, and it's really looking very nice. I'm really happy the way the painting is taking its shape, and I hope you are too. All right, so that's it for painting the poppies. Now in the next section, we'll be adding a little more details, and then we will wrap up the class. All right, so see you soon in the next section. 9. Final Details: All right, so now it's time to add some final details, and then we are done with the painting. All right. So yeah, so now the background is completely dried. Again, I'm using my rigor brush and I'm trying to create some grassy patterns or some grassy blades that are in the foreground. So the idea here is the meadow that is in the background that is out of focus, and the details that we are adding now, that is the grassy patterns that we are adding now, that is closer to the viewer. So that's what we are going to try to depict in this painting. All right. Like I said you, it's all the play of the perspective and the realmism that brings your painting to its natural form. This is also an important step and do not miss this step. Adding details is really important to finish your final painting. Alright, so you can see it's very easy, but if you're not confident in adding these grassy patterns, you can always try it out on a scrap piece of paper, and then you can get back to your painting and add it. Like I said, even if you try to make a mistake over here, it's not going to be really seen because you already have a green meadow in the background. All right. So that's it for the grassy blades. Now you can see I'm adding few buds. That is the poppy buds, which are still yet to bloom. All right. So this is again, completely optional, but I would really like to make that realistic look to my painting, and that's the reason I'm adding more and more details. Alright, so this is again, very thin and delicate. I am not adding thicker stems or buds. It's really thin, and you can see I'm still using my rigor brush to add all of these details because it's really tiny and pointed. All right. So yeah, go ahead and just add these details and we'll finish off the painting. Alright, guys, so that's it for the final details. I really love how those tiny little poppy buds are looking, and I really can't wait to show you the final painting. Alright, so I'll peel the masking tape, and I'll see you soon in the next section. 10. Thank You!: Alright, so this is the final painting. Let's take a look at it. Just look at the soft, blue, yet subtle calming sky, and the vibrant meadows are really looking stunning, and I love those vibrant poppies. I hope you guys really enjoyed the class as much as I did, and I hope you really enjoyed the process while painting. So go ahead and please post your projects in the class project section. I would love to see your beautiful creations, and I would personally review it and give you a feedback so that it'll be useful in your future paintings. And if you're someone who wants to post it on Instagram, then do tag me using my Instagram handle my paint story, and I would love to share your creations with the other people on the platform. Alright, so more classes are coming so stay tuned and until then take care and happy painting.