Master Light, Shadow & Color in Watercolor Landscapes: Joseph Zbukvic Master Study | Bianca Rayala | Skillshare

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Master Light, Shadow & Color in Watercolor Landscapes: Joseph Zbukvic Master Study

teacher avatar Bianca Rayala, Top Teacher | Watercolor Artist

Watch this class and thousands more

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Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      About the Class

      3:07

    • 2.

      Materials

      3:10

    • 3.

      Observing the Master Painting

      5:36

    • 4.

      Understanding Value and Temperature

      5:18

    • 5.

      Color Study

      4:03

    • 6.

      Pencil Sketch

      6:27

    • 7.

      Painting Process: Background Wash

      21:07

    • 8.

      Adding Shadow and Contrast

      15:53

    • 9.

      Adding Final Details

      15:10

    • 10.

      Final Thoughts

      1:20

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About This Class

Welcome to my class- Master Light, Shadow & Color in Watercolor Landscapes: Joseph Zbukvic Master Study

Master values, color temperature, and expressive techniques to paint glowing watercolor landscapes inspired by Joseph Zbukvic. You’ll learn how to:

- simplify a scene into strong value shapes

- understand and apply light and shadow

- use warm and cool color temperature to create depth

- mix colors with confidence

-paint with loose and expressive brushwork

For your class project, you’ll create your own watercolor master study inspired by this painting, applying everything you’ve learned. As part of this process, I encourage you to always acknowledge Joseph Zbukvic as the original artist when sharing your work.

This class is perfect for beginner to intermediate artists who want to paint with more confidence and better understand light in watercolor.

Meet Your Teacher

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Bianca Rayala

Top Teacher | Watercolor Artist

Top Teacher

Hi friends! I'm Bianca and I'm a watercolor artist. My purpose is to inspire people to discover and pursue their creative passion. See full profile

Level: All Levels

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Transcripts

1. About the Class: Have you ever looked at watercolor painting and wondered how a simple landscape can feel so full of light, depth, and atmosphere? Often, it's not about adding more detail. It's about understanding how to simplify, place values, and use light and shadow intentionally. When we study the work of master painters, we're not just copying the painting, we're learning how they simplify a scene, what they choose to emphasize, and how they translate what they see into a painting. Hello, everyone. I'm Bianca Rayala. I'm a watercolor artist, educator, and Skillshare top teacher. Over the years, I've had the joy of teaching thousands of students from all over the world here on Skillshare. My classes are all about making watercolor approachable, joyful and meaningful. I work with brands like Schminka silver Brush Limited and Arc and Mounts. This class is part of my watercolor Master study series where we learn watercolor by studying the techniques and artistic decisions of great painters. In my previous class in this series, we explored how Joseph's Bookwch captures atmosphere and mood in its landscapes, especially how we simplify scenes and creates that soft, beautiful light so if you haven't taken that class yet, I highly encourage you to check it out as well because it will really complement what we're going to learn here. In this class, we're going a step deeper. We'll focus on how he uses light and shadow, how he simplifies scenes into strong value shapes, and how he uses warm and cool colors to create that beautiful sense of depth and glow. The painting we'll study today may look simple at first. It's a quiet countryside with barns, trees, and grazing cows. But as we go through the process, you'll see how every part of it is intentional from the way the light displays to how the shadows are group. How colors are mixed. Everything works together to guide the viewer's eye. I'll walk you through my entire process from observing the painting, understanding values and temperature, mixing colors and building the painting step by step using loose and expressive watercolor techniques. This class is perfect for beginner to intermediate artist or anyone who wants to paint more confidently and understand how to create light and atmosphere in their work. I hope this class helps you build rhythm of creative practice, rediscover the joy of painting, and maybe even surprise yourself along the way. So prepare your brushes gather your materials and paint along with me. I'd love to see your creations and hear about your experience. Share your sketchbook pages with me on Instagram or in the class project section here on Skillshare. I can't wait to see how you bring these paintings to life, so grab your brushes, and let's get started. 2. Materials: Before we start painting, let me quickly share what your class project will be. For this class, I'd love for you to create your own master study inspired by this landscape painting of Joseph Zbukvic. Once you finish your painting, don't forget to upload it in the project section so we can all see and celebrate your work. And since this is a master study, it's very important that we always acknowledge the original artist, Joseph Zbukvic. If you share your work on social media, I encourage you to credit and thank him and mention that your painting is inspired by his work. It's a simple way to show respect and appreciation to the artist you're learning from. Now, let me quickly walk you through the materials I'll be using for the class. For my paper, I'm using 100% cotton, watercolor paper, 300 GSM, cold press. I'm using Bao Hong Artist grade paper. I really love how this paper absorbs water and paint. It gives me enough time to work wet and wet while still holding beautiful textures. For my paints, I'll be using SmicaHadu watercolors. I'll be working from my usual palette, and you can actually find my full list of colors in the research section of this class. But just to guide you, it's helpful to have a mix of both warm and cool colors. Some of the key colors we'll be using are lemon yellow, yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, olive green, cobalt violet, burnt chena, cadmium orange, ice blue or lavender and titanium white. We don't need all the colors in the world. What's important is having both warm and cool version so we can create that beautiful glow of light and depth in the painting. For my brushes, I'll be using my go to brushes from Silver Brush Limited. I'll use my Renaissance sable brushes in size ten and eight for most of my washes. My silver silk 88 ultra round brush for more controlled strokes and details, and a black velvet liner brush size one for very fine lines like fences and accents. It's also helpful to have a large flat brush for pre wetting surfaces as teded. Other materials we'll also need are pencil and eraser for sketching, a water sprayer, two cups of water, paper towel or a rag, and masking tape to hold your paper in place and create a clean border. And lastly, you can download the reference photo of Joseph Zbukvic and my masters study in the research section of the class, so you can paint along with me. Feel free to use whatever materials you already have. What matters most is understanding the process. 3. Observing the Master Painting: Before we begin painting, let's take a moment to really observe the master painting together. In this class, we'll be studying afternoon shadows by Joseph Zbukvic. He shared that this is one of his favorite locations in Australia, the old making sheds near Melbourne, and it is painted late in the day, which is why we see these long, beautiful shadows that creates such a strong sense of atmosphere. You'll also notice the cows in the foreground. They help lead the viewer's eye into the painting. And interestingly, he mentioned that he often places cows in his compositions, even if they're not actually present because they help strengthen the visual flow. Now, as we study his painting, we will look at the following areas to effectively learn from his work. We'll start to observe his composition, how he uses light and shadow, how he applies warm and cool colors, how he creates atmosphere and use of edges, his brushwork, and how he preserved light and simplified forms. The barn is positioned slightly off center, close to where a rule of thirds line would be. This makes it feel balanced and not static. It gives a painting a natural and pleasing arrangement. There's also a clear sense of movement from the dark foreground across the sunlit meadow and toward the barn. The cows and fence posts subtly guide the eye inward, creating a visual path that pulls us into the scene. Each element has space to breathe, and together they create a composition that feels balanced, cohesive, and intentional. Looking at the heart of the painting, which is the light and shadow, what really stands out to me is how strongly the light is emphasized. If you simplify the scene, we can see two dominant shapes. First is a large glowing light shape across the meadow. And second, is a strong shadow mass in the foreground and around the trees. Joseph doesn't make the light bright by adding more brightness. Instead, he makes it powerful by darkening the surrounding shadows. The foreground is intentionally deep and cool, almost like a stage, allowing the light to stand out. The shadows are grouped into one connected shape rather than scattered, and this creates clarity and strengthens the overall design. The cast shadows from the barn and trees are painted with loose organic strokes, which keeps the natural and expressive feeling in the painting. So what we're really trying to see here is that light is emphasized by making the shadows stronger. Now, as I observe the colors, I can see how temperature supports the light. When we say temperature, is the use of warm and cool colors to create atmosphere. The sunlit meadow is warm. It's filled with soft yellows and warm greens, and in contrast, the shadow contrast the shapecialgground areas the word cool blues and muted violets. This contrast between warm and cool enhances the glow of light. The warm pulls the light forward, while the cooler tones allow the areas to recede. Another thing I notice is the use of edges. The sky, distant mountains and background trees are painted with very soft edges. They almost dissolve, which makes them feel far away. As we move closer to the focal point, the barn and parts of the foreground, the edges become slightly sharper. This shift in edges help guide the eye and reinforces depth. Now, this sky is painted with a simple blend of warm and cool washes, creating a natural atmosphere. The misty mountains in the distance are barely defined. It's softened with subtle textures and splatters. Here we can see that Joseph paints atmosphere in a very simple but very intentional approach. It allows the painting to feel light and atmospheric. Now, looking at the brushwork, the trees are painted with loose expressive strokes. They're not detailed, but they clearly suggest form and structure. This reminds me that we don't need to paint everything. We just need to paint enough for the viewer to understand. Now, as we look at those preserved lights, looking closely at the barn, especially on the right side, I notice small areas of untouched paper. These preserved whites represent light. So here we can see that instead of painting the light, Joseph protects it by leaving it unpainted. Now, let's move on to the cows. The cows are simple shapes with just a few strokes, yet they're immediately recognizable. They're not just subjects. They're part of the composition and helping guide the viewer's eye into the scene. As I take everything in, I can see that every decision in this painting is very intentional from placement and composition to light and shadow to temperature, edges and brushwork, everything works together to create a unified atmospheric scene. And as we begin painting, this is what we want to carry with us. We're not just copying what we see, we're learning how to observe, simplify, and make thoughtful artistic decisions. 4. Understanding Value and Temperature: Before we talk about color temperature, let's first understand how values are used in this painting because in watercolor, value is the foundation. It creates structure, depth, and clarity. If we simplify what we see, this painting can be grouped into three main values. One is light, the sunlit meadow and parts of the barn, two is mid tone. This is the trees behind the barn, the distant land, and shaded areas of the structures, and three, dark, the foreground and the cast shadows. Even without color, these three values already make the painting work. Let's start with the light. The light displays very intentionally across the meadow, forming one large, clear shape. It's not scattered, it's grouped to create impact. This becomes the main focal point of the painting. Now notice how the light is supported. The foreground is much darker, almost like a frame, and this contrast makes the light feel brighter. The shadows around the trees and near the barn are also connected, forming one strong, unified dark shape rather than many small ones. The key idea we want to see here is that the strength of the light depends on the strength of the darks around it. Now let's look at the mid tones. These are found in the trees behind and around the barn and the distant landscape and the parts of the barn that are not directly hit by light. They sit between light and dark, helping everything feel connected and balanced. The distant areas are softer and lighter, which helps push them further back in space. Value also creates depth in the painting. The lightest and softest areas are in the distance, the darkest and strongest values are in the foreground. This contrast guides the viewer's eye and creates a sense of depth. So even before we add color, the painting already works because the values are clear and intentional. When your values are right, your composition reads clearly. Your light feels believable, and your painting has depth. Now that we've understood how values are placed in the painting, let's take it one step further and talked about color temperature. Because once your values are clear, temperature is what brings the painting to life. It creates that feeling of light, depth, and atmosphere. Color temperature simply means whether a color feels warm or cool. Warm colors includes yellow, orange and warm greens, while cool colors include blues, violets and cooler greens. In watercolor, we don't just look at color. We look at how warm or cool a color feels in relation to another. If we observe the painting, the sunlit meadow is warm with yellow and yellow green tones. The roof and light heating the barn also lean warm. The trees behind the barn are more neutral to slightly cool. The distant mountains and background are cooler and softer, and the foreground shadow and cast shadows are the coolest and darkest areas. So here, Joseph is not just painting light and dark. He's using warm and cool contrast to enhance the light. Warm colors bring light forward while cool colors push areas back. Notice how the sunlight across the field leans toward warm tones. It feels bright and glowing. Then look at the shadows in the foreground and around the barn. Instead of just making them darker, they are painted with color tones. Instead of just making them darker, they are painted with cooler tones, blues and muted violets. This contrast between warm light and cool shadow is what makes the light feel even stronger. Temperature also helps create depth. The background is cooler and softer, so it recedes the midground, like the trees and structures sits in between, and the foreground is darker and slightly cooler, which frames the light. Even within the same value, cooler colors tend to move back while warmer colors come forward. As you paint, instead of asking what color is this, try asking, is this area warm or cool? Does it support the light? If your light feels weak, cool down your shadows, and if your painting feels flat, introduce more temperature contrast. Even with contrast, we still want harmony. You can achieve this by using a limited palette, letting colors mix naturally and repeating colors across the painting. So remember, value builds the structure and temperature creates the mood. And when they work together, your painting begins to feel more natural and alive. 5. Color Study: Or. As we begin mixing colors, I want to remind you that this activity is meant to be a basic and foundational guide to understanding warm and cool tones. As we go through the painting, the exact mixes may slightly vary depending on how the colors relate to each other. Our goal is not to match colors exactly, but to create a sense of harmony across the painting. So instead of focusing on copying my exact mixes, try to understand the process so you can confidently mix your own warm or cool colors using whatever palette you have. Let's begin with the lightest area, the sunlit meadow. I'm mixing lemon yellow, a bit of yellow ochre and a touch of ultramarine fineness. This creates a natural green that feels warm but still balanced. I'm keeping this mixture light and diluted so it stays transparent and allows the light to glow. Now, to build depth, I'll take that mixture and a bit of burnt henna. This softens the green and gives us a more earthy mid tone. I'll use this for the transition areas, places that are not fully in light, but not in deep shadow either. For the trees, I'll create a slightly richer mixture using lemon yellow, ultramarine fines, and a bit of orange and a touch of cobak violet. This shifts the color toward a cooler temperature, which helps push the foreground back and makes the light in the meadow feel stronger. For the shadows, I'm using ultramarine blue, burned enna and a bit of cobalt violet. This gives a rich, cool and slightly muted shadow color. If I want it cooler, I add more blue or violet. If I want it softer, I add more burnt enna. Mm. For the sky, I keep it simple. I'm mixing cobalt blue with cobalt violet, and in some areas, I'll mix in a bit of yellow ochre. This creates subtle temperature variation so the sky doesn't feel flat. As I mix, I'm not thinking about exact colors. I'm asking myself, is this warm or cool? Does it support the light and shadow? And I adjust the mixes as I go. Remember, there's no need to get every color exactly the same. What matters most is that you begin to understand how to control temperature and create harmony in your painting. Let's move on to the next lesson where we'll be doing the pencil sketch. 6. Pencil Sketch : Alright. Before we begin our pencil sketch, let's tape all sides of the paper onto a board. This helps secure the paper and also prevents it from buckling as we paint, especially when we start working with more water. As I look at the reference painting, I'll start by placing the horizon line somewhere below the middle. This helps create a more balanced composition and gives space for the light to really stand out. I lightly sketch in the distant mountains, just a soft indication, nothing too detailed. Next, I'll draw the barn here on the left side. I'll try to keep my marks very light and loose at this stage, just mapping out the placement. Then I'll add the two trees in between the barns. I'm not actually focusing on details here, simple shapes to suggest their form. Now, let's place the other barns near the center of the paper. As I draw, I pay attention to the angle of the roof so they feel natural and grounded. I also sketch in the tree line behind the barns, again, keeping everything loose and minimal. Next, I'll draw some guidelines for the cast shadows across the meadow. I try to keep the direction consistent so the light feels believable later on. Let's add the water tank here on the left. And as I go along, I'm also taking note of the areas where the paper is left unpainted in the reference. These are important. These are important because they represent light, and I want to make sure I preserve them later. Now I'll sketch in the cows. At this stage, I'm not thinking about drawing cows perfectly. I'm just focusing on their overall shapes. They may look a bit abstract for now, but once we paint the lights and darks, we'll start to come together. B Finally, I'll add the wooden fence post across the meadow and I vary their height and spacing so they don't feel too uniform. Now, looking at the whole sketch, I can really see how everything is intentionally placed. Most of the elements are grouped on the left, but they naturally lead the eye toward the light in the field. And that's what makes the composition so beautiful and effective. Oh Let's move on to the next lesson and start painting. 7. Painting Process: Background Wash : Begin painting. I start by lightly misting the paper with my water sprayer. This makes the surface lightly moist and helps the first washes flow more smoothly. Now I'm going to mix the color for the sky. I take yellow ochre and cobalt violet with lots of water, then I add cobalt blue. You'll notice that this gives a soft neutral warmth. Because of the violet, the mixture stays balanced and doesn't turn green. I load my brush well and begin painting the sky using horizontal strokes. I add a bit of violet in some areas where I want the sky to feel slightly cooler. Then a touch of yellow ochre near the horizon to bring back some warmth. Already, we can see a soft interplay of warm and cool tones in the background. I leave the trees and the lighted parts of the barns unpainted because I want these areas to glow with the natural white of the paper. Next, I take cobot violet, cobot blue, and a bit of lemon yellow to create a cool, purplish mix for the distant mountains. I make this mixture slightly creamier than the sky wash, so it feels a little closer to us than the sky. I make this mix slightly creamier than the sky wash, so it feels a little closer than the sky. I paint it while the sky is still moist so the edge stays soft, perfect for that atmospheric effect we want in the distant mountain. Now, let's mix a beautiful green for the meadow using lemon yellow, yellow ochre, and ultramarine blue. I add the colors little by little until I get the mix I want. I'm aiming for a glowing yellow green that captures the fresh sunlight heating the field. You'll notice that the paper is already drying. So at this stage, I need a more flowy consistency to carry the wash evenly across the shape. And just as I mentioned in our color mixing lesson, feel free to vary the ratio of your colors. The goal is not to create the exact same mixture but to achieve the right color temperature. As long as the mix feels warm enough, we can portray light successfully. As I paint the meadow, I intentionally leave the cows in the brightest parts of the barn unpainted. Now, I want you to pay close attention to this next step. As we move into the foreground, we need to shift into a cooler, darker green. So as you watch the mix I'm making, you'll notice I add more violet into the green. This gives me that cool contrast beside the warmer meadow. I paint the shadowed part of the field carefully, keeping that sloping shape to create movement and flow in the painting. Remember, light shines brightest when it is surrounded by strong dark contrast. So here, I'm not afraid to go bolder and darker in order to emphasize the light. Sometimes it can feel a little scary to add darks into a painting, but with practice, we slowly learn to trust it. Here I'm dabbing in a few darker spots around the cows to strengthen the contrast. With some gentle strokes, I also add streaks of shadow across the field. Again, don't be afraid of the dark values in the shadows. As long as the area is still wet, we can continue adjusting and deepening the tone. But once the surface begins to dry, we may need to remoisten it first before adding another layer. This helps us avoid hard edges or unwanted blooms. Now, I'm checking the mountain area to see if it's still moist. As I look at it, I realized that the tree beside it should also have a soft edge, so it feels like it belongs farther back in the scene. Since the paper has dried a bit, I slightly moisten the area with a flat brush so I can create that soft edge trope. Now, I mix a cool purplish green for the tree. As I test the surface, I'm happy with the moisture level. It's not too wet and not too dry, just to creating soft but still defined edges. As I make the strokes, pay close attention to how I hold my brush and how I slightly turn it as I paint. This helps create more fluid dynamic marks for the trees. We do the same kind of dabbing strokes near the horizon. But here, I intentionally leave some small unpainted gaps. Later, this will appear as spots of light in the meadow, and this is a beautiful way to suggest both cast shadow and scattered light, which adds a lot of interest to the final painting. Now, I take Brncena and cobalt violet with a bit of ultramardan orange for the tree behind the barn. Again, I slightly moisten the area with a damp brush so I can get a combination of soft and hard edges as I paint. I paint carefully around the roof, creating a sharper edge to define its shape. Make sure the area around the roof is dry enough so you can outline it clearly. I also deepen the dark just above the roof to increase the contrast. And again, always remember, light shines brightest where the contrast is strongest. Now that this part of the meadow is slightly dry, I splatter a bit of water in the foreground to create soft blooms and texture. I continue adding more trees to help define the shape of the barn's roof, and this time, notice that I'm no longer wetting the area. Since we want this tree to appear a little closer, I paint it with drier, sharper edges. Now let's paint the tree on the far left. I press and flick my brush with varying pressure and angles to create those loose organic strokes. Be careful not to paint over the areas we want to keep light, like the top of the water tank and some sides of the roof. U To finish off the trees, let's paint this area on the upper left. I mix a warm grayish stone for this because it is a tree that feels closer to us. I also scratch lightly with my finger to suggest branches. And finally, I take a liner brush to paint the twigs, along with a few dark dots and dabs of colors to create more depth. As we continue with this masters study, it's really important to keep asking ourselves what the artist might have been thinking and how we executed each strope. That's how we begin to understand his decision making process. And that is how we truly learn from a master, so we can carry that insight, style, and wisdom into our own paintings in the future. No. 8. Adding Shadow and Contrast: Let's continue painting the cast shadows to build contrast and further develop the painting. We'll start with the cast shadows around the trees and barns. I first check if the paper is already dry. When painting shadows, the surface needs to be dry so we can create clean defined strokes. I mix a cool grayish green and begin with a shadow under the tree. I connect it to the base, so it reads as one continuous shape. I do the same as I paint a cast shadow under the barn using a smooth horizontal stroke. I also keep the mixture transparent so the underpainting can still show through. Then I slightly deepen the shadows in the foreground to sharpen the contrast around the house. Now, let's paint the shadowed walls of the barns. I take this step slowly because it's very important. We define the structure of the barn by painting its shadows. One helpful tip is to squint from time to time. This allows you to see the shadow as one big shape instead of separate shapes. We're not painting objects, we're painting shadow shapes. This shift in thinking helps train us to paint more effectively. I also leave a few small gaps unpainted to preserve light. Notice that I use the same color mixture for all the shadows in the focal area so everything feels unified. Next, let's paint the trees in the middle using dry brush strokes. Make sure to remove excess water from your brush to achieve that rough textured defect, and try not to go over the same area too many times so you don't lose the light or covered unpainted spaces. I continue building the shadows and cast shadows. As I mix, I make sure my grays stay on the cooler side by adding more blue. The process remains the same. The key is maintaining the right consistency. We want the mixture to be cool and dark but still transparent and fluid. This helps create an atmospheric feel rather than something heavy or dull. Now, let's focus on the roof area. This part is very important because we need a crisp, sharp edge to define the shape and make it stand out against the softer background. Next, I paint the shadow underneath the roof with a single horizontal stroke. I keep the value consistent with the other shadows. We're almost done adding shadows. I add a few more cast shadows on the right side of the meadow using small dabs of paint. This may look random, but they are placed intentionally. Make sure to leave small gaps of light by preserving patches of green. Now, let's finish the shadows on the left side. I'm simply repeating the same process, squinting and observing where the shadows are placed and then translating that into the painting. As we do this master study, it's important to notice how Joseph paints light. He doesn't paint the light directly. He paints the shadows around it. This is the key. We emphasize light by strengthening the shadows around it. Now I slightly adjust the tone of the roof by glazing a very light layer of paint. I also add a few strokes of burncenna between the trees to separate them slightly. While the air is still moist, I add some fine lines on the roof for detail using burncenna. To finish this section, I add a fewer darker accents where needed. I squint and compare my painting with a reference to check if any values need adjustment. Finally, I add the small windows and their shadows. 9. Adding Final Details: So now we're down to adding the final details like the roof, the cows, and enhancing the foreground with flowers. I repaint the line details of the roof since the initial layer has faded. I gently soften the strokes with my fingers so they don't look too dark or harsh. Next, I darken the shadow underneath. These adjustments are only done when necessary, so it's always good to compare your work with the master painting as you go. Now, let's start painting the cows. Again, we're not painting objects, we're painting shapes. I begin by placing the darker spots, then I add a soft lavender tone to suggest the shadowed white parts of the cows' bodies. As I do this, I'm shaping the silhouette. Even though we're not painting them realistically, these simple marks are enough to create an impression of cows. As I observe how Joseph painted them, I can see how intentional each mark is. The addition of opaque white highlights really brings the cows to life. It's such a simple but powerful approach. I continue adding small dots of paint near the horizon to suggest cows in the distance, and it's amazing how just a few marks can communicate so much to the viewer. Then I add a few more touches of white paint on the cows in the foreground to make them stand out even more. Next, I add small highlights on the barns. I place them loosely, mostly within the shadow areas, but I'm careful not to overdo it. Now I'm using a thick mix of lemon yellow. I add dots in the foreground to paint the wildflowers. H. I scatter them in a natural way, avoiding symmetry and I vary the sizes. It's beautiful how the simple touches bring a sense of life into the painting. Then I paint a wooden post using a dark brown mixture. I use a creamy consistency to achieve a slightly dry brush effect. H After that, I paint the case shadows of the post using the same shadow mixture we used earlier. I also add few more details in the lighted part of the meadow, making sure to include cast shadows so the elements don't feel like they're floating. I darken some of the pose in the foreground where needed to strengthen the overall contrast. Lastly, I paint the tiny stems of the flowers using a dark green mix. I use light, swift strokes and very gentle pressure to keep them delicate. Then with a liner brush and a pale gray mix, I add a few tiny birds in the sky. Be careful not to make them too big. And that's it. Our painting is now complete. I hope you learned so much from observing and studying the work of Joseph's book which I did. 10. Final Thoughts: Thank you for joining me today for this watercolor class. I hope this session helped you reconnect with your creativity and reminded you that painting can be simple, freeing and fun. I hope you enjoyed painting this with me, and I hope it helps you better understand how to work with light, shadow, and color in watercolor. I'd love to see your creations and hear about your experience. Share your sketchbook pages with me on Instagram or in the class project section here on Skillshare. Let me know which subject you enjoy the most or how this practice helps park your creative flow. If you enjoy the class, please consider leaving a review. Your feedback means a lot to me. It helps me improve my future classes and truly encourages me to keep making more content for you. If you want to keep going with your journey, I invite you to check out my other watercolor sketchbook classes or try my watercolor travel class where we paint scenes inspired by real places and memories. They are a great way to stay inspired and keep that creative momentum going. Until then, keep painting with freedom, follow your curiosity, and I'll see you in the next class.