Paint a Tranquil Lighthouse Landscape in Watercolor

1. Introduction: Hello and welcome to the watercolor painting tutorial. Today we'll be painting a beautiful, tranquil landscape featuring a lighthouse, a soft sky, and a winding path through grassy hills, a peaceful place that would be wonderful to visit. This tutorial offers plenty of opportunities to practice various watercolor techniques from wet to wet in the sky to wet on dry dry brushing, adding fine details, using liner brushes, and even incorporating a touch of guash into your painting. I'll guide you through the entire process step by step in a calm and relaxed manner. We'll focus on one section at a time, allowing you to follow along comfortably and bring the scene to life with a few easy to follow steps. You will learn how to paint a soft sky with white clouds, how to create the rounded form of the lighthouse and fence posts, and how to capture the look of rolling hills covered in tall grasses. My hope is that you approach this painting with patience and a relaxed mindset. Take this time for yourself. No pressure, no rush. Just enjoy the process and let it become a quiet creative moment. With a bit of patience and my guidance, we'll arrive at a beautiful scene together. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a vibrant landscape filled with rich color and interesting textures. I hope you'll feel proud of what you've created. So gather your supplies, take a deep breath, and let's begin this joyful painting together. Happy painting. Oh 2. Project and Resources: I've prepared a selection of helpful resources for your project available in projects and resources section. You'll find a PDF with the supply list I used for the painting along with a reference photo and an image of my finished artwork for guidance. Line drawings in various sizes are also provided so you can print and transfer them onto your watercolor paper in the size that best fits your needs. My painting is in a 15 by 11 inch format. Additionally, there are working progress photos to help you follow the process and focus on specific areas. Feel free to explore these materials and use them to create your own unique and beautiful painting. Please share your progress shots or final painting in the projects and resources section. I also encourage you to take your time to view each other's work in the student project gallery. It's always inspiring to see what others create and the support of your fellow students can be incredibly comforting. Don't forget to like and comment on each other's work. Lastly, I highly recommend watching each lesson before you begin painting. This will give you a clear understanding of what to expect at each stage of the tutorial. If you find this class helpful, I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave an honest review. Your feedback will help me improve my content and assist other students in deciding whether to join the class. Thank you in advance. 3. Inspiration & Painting Plan: Before we begin painting, let me share a few words about the reference photo and our painting plan. Here you can see the original reference photo. I think it's really beautiful and works well as it is. However, I wanted to make the sky a little more dynamic. So I looked for another photo with a more interesting sky, richer colors and cloud shapes. And once I found one I like, I used Photoshop to remove the original sky and replace it with the new one. Really like this new version because both the clouds and the tall grasses seem to lean to the left, giving this entire scene a greater sense of movement and energy. Next, I started exploring a few other ideas. Using the Procreate app on my iPad, I experimented by drawing in some flying birds to see how they would look. I also considered adding some flowers on the hills and more of those dry tall grasses to make the area feel like a lash meadow. Just wanted to explore different possibilities and see what felt right. In the end, I decided to include more tall grasses for texture and depth, but I chose not to add the birds or flowers. Of course, if you like those ideas, feel free to include them in your version. In the class materials, you will find all these optional elements, so you can take a look and decide what you like. Or maybe you will come up with something entirely your own. Perhaps a silhouette of a person walking along the path or a bird perched on a fence post. Feel free to change the composition however you like. Speaking of composition, this painting follows one of my favorite and most commonly used rules, the rule of thirds. This means dividing the image into three equal parts, both horizontally and vertically. The main subject, in this case, the lighthouse should ideally be placed along one of those lines or at one of the points where they intersect, which are called focal points. That's exactly what we see here. The lighthouse is positioned right at the upper left focal point and also aligns with the left vertical line. I also want to mention that the size of your painting matters. I painted this on 15 by 11 inch paper. If I had chosen 12 by 9 ", the lighthouse would have ended up really small. Even at 15 by 11, it's still quite small, but it's doable. You paint at this size, you will notice that the lighthouse windows are super tiny and the railing around the top has vertical bars as thin as hers. We're going to paint this landscape in a few stages. As always, I will break the process into manageable sections. We won't paint everything all at once. Instead, we will focus on one specific element at a time. We'll begin with the sky since it's the farthest away. Then we will move on to the lighthouse, or focal point. After that, we will work on the hills. And once the hills are painted, we will move on to the fence posts, which will be the final structural element. After that, we will return to the hills to add the tiniest details using guh, something best done at the very end when everything else is dry. Paint each area slowly and calmly, usually with at least two layers. Now let's move on to the next part, applying masking fluid to the lighthouse and the fence posts. 4. Masking: Before we apply any paint, I recommend masking out the lighthouse and the fence posts. These elements are quite small compared to the large areas of sky and hills behind them, masking them will allow us to paint freely without worrying about accidentally covering them with paint. Using Windsor Newton masking fluid with a yellow tint. This is a new battle I bought recently. It looked green. So at first, I thought the fluid was green, but it turns out that it's just a new battle design. I'm not really sure if it's a redesign or just a specific one I received. Normally, the battle is transparent and you can see the yellow masking fluid inside. We'll also need a container of water, a small piece of soap. I keep mine in a little container. An old battle cap or anything small for pouring a small amount of masking fluid. And a brush specifically for masking. Just a cheap brush. I use this one only for masking. Never use your good brushes for applying masking fluid. Before using masking fluid, it's a good idea to gently roll the battle to evenly distribute the yellow pigment inside. Don't shake it as that can create a foam, which may lead to gaps when the masking is applied. Alternatively, you can steer the contents with a stick. I'm using a simple barbecue stick here. Pour a small amount of masking into your separate container and close the battle right away. We don't want the masking fluid in the battle to be exposed to oxygen for too long, as it will start to dry and form clumps inside. Pour only what you need for the moment and keep the rest sealed. Start by dipping your brush in water, then rub it gently on the soap. This creates a protective layer on the bristles helping prevent them from sticking together. Don't worry, the soap won't affect how the masking fluid behaves on your paper. It will also not affect watercolor paint later. Now dip the brush into the masking fluid and begin applying it to the lighthouse and then to the fence posts. Take your time here. Try to create a straight edge along the lighthouse wall. Ideally, if we wanted to get really straight edges, we might use ruling pen for this kind of precision. But the lighthouse is so small that I think we can manage it without any special tools. Just try to be precise. Next, move on to the fence and apply masking fluid to the posts. In the class materials, you will find a reference image showing exactly where I applied the masking fluid. Once you've finished masking, rinse your brush thoroughly, clean it with soap again, and it should stay in good condition much longer. Here you can see my old brushes which I used for masking fluid without the soap trick. Notice how the bristles are stuck together. So using soap really helps prolong the life of brushes dedicated to masking. Now, leave everything to dry completely, and in the next part, we'll begin painting the sky. 5. Sky - Part 1: The masking fluid is now completely dry, so we can move on to painting the sky. We'll divide this process into two parts as I think it's easier to manage than trying to do everything in one go with a single layer. If we look at the original reference photo, this guy had a bit different feel. When it comes to colors, it reminds me more of a very light windsor blue or maybe cerulean blue with a touch of ultramarine blue in the upper right. In the reference photo with the new sky, the colors are a bit different. The blue feels closer to Windsor blue but with a slightly more neutral tone like cobalt blue in the bottom left corner. Since I aim to interpret the reference photo, not copy it in a hyperrealistic way, I don't worry too much about matching the exact colors. I like to use something similar, but I don't stress if it looks different. After all, this is my painting, and no one will be comparing it side by side with the photo. I always keep that in mind. So for my sky, I chose two colors cobbled blue for the lower part of the sky and Windsor blue green shade for the upper part. Of course, feel free to use different colors if you prefer. You could also simplify by using just one color, and I think that Windsor blue the green shade would work perfectly here, starting with a lighter tone at the bottom and gradually darkening it toward the top. For painting the sky, I'll be using a size 12 brush. I dipped it in water to apply an even water layer across the entire sky area and failure. It turned out I hadn't cleaned the brush after my last painting session, so there was some leftover pigment on it. I quickly grabbed a different brush just for applying water. So here is a reminder. Always clean your brushes thoroughly after each session. Otherwise, you might get some unexpected surprises next time. I will clean that first brush in a moment and continue painting with it afterward. In the meantime, let's go ahead and apply a clean water layer over the entire sky area. We don't have to worry about the lighthouse or the fence posts since they are masked out. When you reach the hill area, it's fine to slightly overlap the edge with the water. Don't worry to be too precise here. If the sky color bleeds slightly over the hills, it's actually helpful for a few reasons. The hills will be much darker, so we will easily cover any overlapping color. If we overlap the sky color over the hills, it will help visually push the sky behind the hills, giving us a better sense of depth. And finally, I will use a scrubber brush anyway later to gently soften the edge and make the transition look more natural. You will see that part soon. Once the entire area is wet, don't rush to apply the paint right away. Let the water sit for a few seconds and soak into the paper. You're looking for a high shin on the surface, not a mat finish, but also no paddles. If you do see paddles, just use your brush to gently spread the water evenly. Now, if you're working in a very warm environment where water dries quickly, use the priming method. Apply the first layer of clean water and let it soak into the paper. Then wait until you see a low sin. Not a high shin, but low shin, you will see a mad surface of the paper and then apply a second layer of water on top. The second layer won't soak in as quickly because the fibers are already damp, so it will stay wet longer giving you more time to work. When you're ready, begin applying the blue. I will start from the cobalt blue and the lower part, and then I will move upward, slowly transitioning to Windsor blue. If you use one color, just use a lighter tone now and gradually transition to a darker tone moving upward. The idea here is to apply the sky blue between the clouds. In the reference photo, the clouds have sharp, well defined edges. If I wanted to paint them that way, I would probably use more of a wet on dry technique. However, I want to create a very soft diffused edges. I think they look a bit more interesting this way, and that's why I'm using the wet on wet technique because I know that the edges will stay soft and blurry. I'm carefully controlling the paint's concentration by observing how much it spreads in the water. This is something that you will develop with practice. Only you know how wet your paper is, and you will need to adjust your paint consistency accordingly. If I notice that the paint is spreading too much, I have two options. First is to use a more concentrated mix, or the second one is to let it spread and then lift off the excess with a clean de brush where it's gone too far. Either option works. It just depends on the effect you want. In a way, we are using a negative painting technique here. Rather than painting the clouds directly, we are painting around them the spaces between to define their shapes. As long as the paper is still wet and you can see that high shin, you can continue adjusting, adding more color or lifting paint as needed. But once it begins to dry and the surface turns mat with a low shin, it's best to stop working in that area to avoid unwanted marks. While applying the paint, keep in mind that it will spread more than you expect on wet paper. So use less paint if you don't want it spread too far or use more concentrated paint, if you want it to stay closer to where you apply it. More pigment means less spreading. Once you're satisfied with the way the blue is distributed across the sky, carefully clean masking tape around the edges and allow the painting to dry completely. When it's fully dry, we will move on to the next step. 6. Sky - Part 2: Once the first sky layer is completely dry, we can add a bit more detail by painting the grayish shadows on the clouds to give them more form. Let's start by preparing the color. On my palette, I still have the two blues from the first layer, Windsor blue and cobalt blue. I will add more cobalt blue now and then mix in a bit of burnt sienna to neutralize the blue and create a muted bluish gray tone for the shadows. I'm using the same blues to keep the color harmony consistent. Since brown is the complimentary color to blue, it helps neutralize it. The result is a subtle greenish blue gray, perfect for soft cloud shadows. Alternatively, you can also mix burnt sienna with ultramarine blue to get a neutral gray, and then you can add a touch of your original blue to maintain harmony. Now, I'm switching to a smaller brush size ten, and I'll be using the wet on wet technique. But this time, I'm only wetting the white areas of the clouds and using less water to avoid the paint spreading too much. Using the tip of my brush, I lightly drop in the gray shadows mainly at the bottom and right sides of the clouds because our light source is coming from the upper left. The left side of the clouds will remain mostly white with subtle shadows underneath and on the right. If the paint spreads too far, I gently sweep it back to avoid covering too much white. When a hard edge appears, I rinse and blot my brush and then soften the edge with a clean de brush. While the paint is still wet, I can drop in darker, more concentrated gray tones to deepen the shadow where needed. I repeat the process across all the clouds, applying a water glaze, then dropping in gray shadows at the lower edges. After everything dries, I noticed one area where I wanted more defined shadow. I light the wet that spot again, and I added a little more shadow gray to shape the front cloud. Once everything is dry, we can carefully remove the masking fluid from the lighthouse and start painting it in the next part. 7. Lighthouse - Initial Layer: In this part, we will apply a simple initial wash on the lighthouse to begin shaping its nice rounded form. Let me show you how to do this. I'm switching to an even smaller brush size six to have more control over the details, but the lighthouse is also so small that a brush size six will work really well here. I've just changed the water in my container and cleaned my palette to keep the colors fresh and vibrant. For the lighthouse, I'll be mixing two reds, Queen acrodonRd and permanent Alyzarin crimson. This will be my main red mix. I will also keep queen acrodonRd on its own for some brighter accents later. The other side of my palette, I'm preparing a neutral gray by mixing ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. I will keep some burnt sienna separate as well for warmer shadow areas. The lighthouse is quite small, so painting it wet and dry would be easy. However, I decided to apply a light water wash first to ensure smooth gradients. Start by applying a thin water layer over the roof, while it's still damp, take your gray mix and paint the right side of the roof to create that shadow. You might wonder why I am starting with gray instead of red. Well, this is a bit different approach. I want to show you using a neutral gray to paint shadow areas first. When this layer dries, we will apply the red on top, and the shadows will naturally form beneath. The gray won't be as dark as the final shadow, so we will have to add deeper tones later to build up the depth. You will see how this works as we progress, but this initial layer will definitely help to create a deeper shadow later. Next, apply a water wash over the lower part of the lighthouse. Leaving the top area around the windows under the roof dry. Then use the gray again to paint the shadow on the right side of the main structure of the lighthouse. Near the balustrade, switch to burnt sienna to warm up the shadow. As you apply paint, try to keep the right edge lighter. This will represent reflected light which helps create the illusion of the lighthouse' around form. Even at this early stage, adding these subtle gray shadows transforms this flat white shape into a three dimensional form. Don't let the shadow extend all the way to the left side. Aim to create a smooth gradient from the pure white on the left and gradually transitioning into the shadow, starting around the middle of the lighthouse. Now, let's dry this layer with a hair dryer. While drying, I noticed a jagged edge on the left side of the building. Using a scrubber brush, I gently lift off the overlapping blue paint and blot it with a paper towel. This helps make the left edge perfectly smooth and clean. Once the surface is completely dry, it's time to add quinacridon red to the roof and other red elements. After applying this base red, dropping a mixture of quin aquedon red and lazarin crimson on the right side to deepen the shadowed red areas. I'll repeat this process on the lower part of the lighthouse as well. First, I wash of quinacredon red, then adding quinacrodon red and lzarine mix in the shadow areas. You might wonder if the initial gray shadow was necessary. Well, it wasn't really necessary, but it helps to build that shadow. When we add red over that shadow, the underlying gray layer intensifies the depth by creating a subtle buildup. It also unifies the red and white parts of the lighthouse because the shadow underneath connects both areas naturally. With the initial layer done, leave it to dry fully, and in the next part, we will continue refining and finishing the lighthouse. 8. Lighthouse - Details: In this part, we will finish the lighthouse by adding a few important details. Once the red layer dried, I felt it wasn't as intense as I wanted. In this case, a second layer is the perfect solution. I also decided to shift the color slightly warmer. To do this, I mixed Windsor yellow deep, my warm yellow into a blend of quinacrodon red and permanent lazarin crimson. S warmer red will be applied wet and dry over all the red areas. Applying it wet and dry allows me to quickly cover this whole area without the paint spreading too much, which is ideal given the small size of the lighthouse. Next, I will intensify the shadows by dropping the gray mix of ultramarine blue and the burnt sienna over the still wet red paint. Notice how many layers we have to build up to reach a satisfying intensity and saturation. Watercolors always dry lighter than they appear when wet. So it's often unpredictable how light the final color will be. So don't hesitate to apply multiple layers until you're happy with the result. From my experience, the most common mistake is using colors that are too light and not pushing the dark tones enough. Getting those shadows dark enough is crucial for creating a convincing sense of depth and realism. After this step, we can start adding more details. Use a mix of red with the gray to paint the underside of the gallery. I still feel the tone isn't dark enough, so I will mix pains gray with burnt sienna and apply this dark mixture to the deepest shadow areas and then fill the rest with the red, gently pulling the dark tones into the surrounding areas. Apply this dark color also under the roof and along the right side of the roof. Oh Now we can add the cast shadow beneath the gallery. I'll begin with burnt sienna and then switch to the gray mix of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. Notice that here I am intentionally creating a sharper, more defined edge for the shadow. Cast shadows usually have crisp edges. I will dry this with a hair dryer now, and once dry, I will use a scrubber brush to gently soften the shadow edge a bit. Next using a darker tone, I will paint the area where the lamp is located. I will simplify this by painting a dark square in the center with a few subtle lines suggesting structural elements, nothing too detailed. Now I'll switch to a smaller liner brush size zero. You don't necessarily need a liner brush. You can use a regular round brush with a sharp point instead. A liner brush has elongated bristles, similar to a rigor brush, making it perfect for painting longer lines or tiny details. I will use this brush to paint the bars in the balustrade. First, I will establish the main horizontal structure and then at the vertical bars. It's important to make the spaces between the bars narrower on the left and the right edges and wider in the middle. This helps create the illusion of the round form of the balustrade. The closer the bars are together, the more they appear to recede into the background. H. I'll also add just a touch of cobbled blue between the structural elements in the lamp area. Since there are transparent windows, we should see some of the blue behind them. Finally, using a small brush and a darker color mix, I will paint the windows. I can't really see the pencil lines anymore, so I will place the windows roughly where they should be simple oval shapes with a straight bottom edge. Now I will move on to a super tiny detail, which is optional, but I think it adds more to the realism of the scene. I will use white guash and a tiny brush to paint the mountains in the windows. For the window on the white wall, I will use pure white guash, and for the window on the red wall, pure white would be too harsh, so I will mix a bit of permanent izarin crimson into the white guash and paint the mountains with the softer reddish tone. If I add a tiny shadow beneath each window and on the right side, it will make them appear more three dimensional. As a very last detail, I will use a scrubber brush to gently lift paint from the reflected light area on the right side of the wall to lighten it up. This adds interest and enhances the three dimensional effect. You don't have to use a scrubber brush for this. You can also use your regular painting round brush. Just wet that area slightly and lift the paint with a paper towel. And with this little detail, the lighthouse is finished. Now we can take a break and later move on to applying the initial layer to the hills. 9. Hills - Initial Layer: Now that the sky and lighthouse are complete, we can move on to painting the hills. Notice that we paint gradually, starting from the planes that are farthest away and moving toward those that are closer. This way, each closer plane overlaps the previous one, preventing the weird gaps between them. For example, there is no gap between the lighthouse and the sky. The sky behind it appears as one continuous element. We paint the hills, we will overlap the sky and lighthouse slightly, creating a nice effect with clear distinctions between planes while maintaining unity in the painting. Let's begin by painting the path. For this, I'll mix, burnt sienna with a bit of Windsor yellow deep and then tone down the color by adding ultramarine blue. This will be my main light, yellowish brown color for the path and sandy areas. I'll also mix a very delicate purple using quinacridone red and ultramarine blue. This will be the initial color for the shadows. The goal of this stage is to cover the entire area including the path and green hills with an initial color. We want to create a base to build upon. The more layers we apply, the more saturated the colors will become, making it easier to achieve darker tones. This initial layer is just a light version of the final colors we will add later. Let's begin by applying this brownish color to the path and the sand in the bottom right corner. Using a large brush and the wet on dry technique because it doesn't really matter if we get some blooms, overlaps, or brush marks at this stage. It's just the initial layer, and we will add more colors later, and mistakes won't be noticeable. Besides, since this is nature we're painting, a bit of imperfection can actually contribute to a more natural look. Also makes the painting process much less stressful when we don't have to worry about perfection or fine details. I'm adding a little more Windsor yellow deep in the bottom right. While the paint is still wet, I'm dropping some of that purple color into a few areas to suggest shadows. Now, let's shift to greens. I'm mixing green gold with ultramarine blue, which gives us a fresh natural green. I will start covering the hills with this green, but I will be adjusting the color along the way to add variety and reflect the tones from the reference photo. For example, I will add burnt sienna and Windsor Yellow deep to shift the green toward brownish olive. Then I will return to the green gold and ultramarine blue mix. On the left side, I will use more brown again. I'm also going to add some Windsor green yellow shade to introduce a fresher green tone. Feel free to experiment with your own greens. You don't have to follow my colors or the reference exactly. Use what you think will look good in your painting. O I'm using a regular round brush here, but you can also try a fan brush to create a grassy edge on the hel. Just a few brush strokes can suggest many blades of grass. Of course, you can also use the tip of a round brush to paint grasses at the top of the hill. Later, we will use both a round brush and a liner brush for those details. When you finish applying this initial layer, let everything dry completely. You can speed up the drying time with a hair dryer if you like, but make sure the paper is completely dry and has returned to its natural temperature before moving on to the next step. 10. Hills - Deepening Colors: The initial layer is now completely dry, and in this part, we will need to be brave with color. We'll apply strong greens that will become the main colors of the hills. Because these colors are quite dark, we will use darker tones than before and more paint. Let's start by preparing the colors. My dark green will be a mix of green gold and paints gray. I will also mix green gold with a bit of Windsor green and ultramarine blue. This will be my middle green. Finally, I will use Windsor yellow deep mixed with burnt sienna and possibly a touch of the previous mix that I have on the brush. It doesn't have to be exact. Any colors you choose will work fine. Make it your own, and don't stress too much about the exact hues. Tonal values are always more important than precise colors. I'll use a size 12 brush because it has a sharp point which will be helpful. But it is also still large enough to cover big areas. I will pick up the middle green and begin applying many short brush strokes to suggest grass blades at the top of the hill. You can also use a fan brush for this if you like, but I prefer a bit more control over each blade. Notice that I'm painting the grass blades as if the wind is blowing from the right to left. I will keep this direction in mind while painting the hills. I want everything to lean slightly toward the left, which will help create the feeling of a gentle breeze coming from the right. Along the way, I'll be changing the green color and switching between my three paddles. Most importantly, notice that at the bottom of the hills, I will use a darker tone, while at the top, I will use a lighter green. This creates the effect of small hills stacked one behind another. The dark green suggests a small valley, while the lighter green on top indicates a hill catching more light. I keep this idea in mind as I shape these landscape elements. As you can see, I'm focusing just on the top part for now. It's easier to manage painting smaller sections than tackling the entire area at once. After applying the green to the top, I will let it dry before moving to the lower area. The right side where the path is is farther away, so naturally that area will have fewer details later. When you approach the path, apply the green in a way that follows the shape of the path. Don't be afraid to use dark colors. They will dry lighter than they appear now, and we will likely need to darken them later. Also, the dark areas will serve as a background for the light grasses on top. So painting them darker will create nice contrast. When I finish this upper part, I dry everything with a hair dryer. I prepared more paint since I've already used up what I mixed earlier, and now I'm ready to apply green to the rest of the hills. I'll start from the top and work downward. I'm looking at the reference photo for inspiration, observing how the big green areas are distributed and where the lighter and darker spots are. Of course, I'm simplifying everything into broad green shapes, remembering to use darker green at the bottom and lighter green on top. In the bottom left corner, I'll also introduce some burnt sienna because I noticed it in the photo. Can you see how I'm simplifying the scene into basic shapes and colors? Our goal here is just to cover the hills with nice saturated green hues that will form the base for painting grass blades later. Near the sand area, I'm blending the green gently to avoid a harsh contrast between the green and the light brown sand. A few more green brush strokes on the right side, and this part is done. It might not look perfect yet, but please don't give up. Trust the process, and everything will come together beautifully in the end. Every painting goes through an ugly stage where it's hard to tell if it's headed in the right direction. This was that stage for me with this painting. I had many other ideas on how to approach it differently, but I kept going because I knew things could change as I progressed. Now, take a break if you need to. Make sure everything is completely dry before moving on to the next step. 11. Grass: Now that everything is dry, we can move on to what might be the most tedious part painting the grass. For this, I'll be using two types of brushes, a regular size eight round brush for larger paint areas, and liner brush for the individual grass blades. Feel free to use any brush with elongated bristles such as riggers, designers or liners. They all work similarly. If you don't have any of these, a regular round brush will do though you'll need to be a bit more precise. I'll be using the same colors as before, my dark green mix of green gold and paints gray, a middle green made from green gold and ultramarine blue, sometimes with a bit of Windsor green and a more yellowish brown mix of Windsor yellow deep and burnt sienna. I start by choosing a small area to work on and apply dark green at the bottom part. This third overall layer deepens the green even more. I use the size eight round brush for this. Then I switch to a liner brush and using the dark tone, begin painting many brush strokes that represent grass blades. Notice I lean them toward the left, creating the effect of a gentle breeze blowing from the right to left. It's also worth mentioning that it's best to paint each blade from the bottom to the top, not the other way around. That's because a brush stroke is thicker at the start, the bottom of the blade, and naturally tapers off toward the tip as you lift the brush, leaving a thin, delicate end. I will then slowly move to the right side, working patiently on each small section. If needed, I'll first add dark green at the bottom and then paint the grass blades. This is definitely the most tedious part, but I believe the end result is worth the effort. You could, of course, use a fan brush for this, but I find it doesn't give me the same control as a liner brush, which lets me paint each grass blade individually. Will speed up this part of the video because I'm basically applying hundreds of thin lines until I'm happy with the result. The more we move to the right, the less detail is needed since that area is farther away. Naturally, we see fewer details in the distance, but adding some grass there still suggests texture. While painting the darker areas with a larger brush, I'm already thinking about the lighter high grasses we will add later with guash. Those will need a darker background to stand out, so I'm imagining where those lighter high grasses will go, and I'm applying darker paint in those spots now. The closer we get, the more detail we need to include. At the bottom, the grass is really tall and using a rigger or liner brush helps a lot to paint those individual blades. That's because this type of brush doesn't have a white belly in the bristles. So even if you press a bit harder, the line only gets slightly wider, but not too much. With a round brush, you have to use just the tip to get a thin line. And if your hand isn't steady enough or pressure isn't consistent, the line can quickly become much wider. That's why a rigor brush is much better suited for this kind of work. While painting the tallest grasses, I slowed down a bit to carefully paint each blade in the right direction. Notice that with watercolors, it's easy to paint dark over light, but painting light over dark is much harder because watercolors are transparent. This is why painting detailed things like grass or hair with watercolor can be challenging. It would be almost impossible to paint around each grass blade with a darker color to define its shape. From this point of view, opaque paints like acrylics or oils are easier to work with because you can easily paint light over dark. However, it's not entirely impossible with watercolors. Some pigments are more opaque, so you could use them for painting light over dark. Personally, I prefer to use gouache for that, and I will show you how in the next part. Below the biggest fence post, I painted this area with a deep dark color again to create a dark background for the lighter grasses that will come later. I mixed burnt sienna with paints gray, the green from my palette. I don't worry about perfect application here. No need for perfectly smooth layer or clean edges. It's nature, so a bit of randomness and organic shapes are welcome. I will finish this section by painting the grasses in the bottom right corner. Notice that here I slightly changed the direction of the grass, imagining the path running between the grasses and blades leaning toward the path on both sides. I also felt that one hill looked a bit too straight, so I used a darker green to sadly adjust its shape. Now, I think this part is finished. Take all the time you need painting the grass. There is no rush. You can add as many or as few grass blades as you like. You can even just suggest some blades and leave the hills smoother if that feels right to you. In the next short part, we will paint the fence posts. 12. Fence Posts: Now we will add another important element to our painting, the fence posts. Let's start by removing the masking fluid. You can do this using your fingers or if you have one, a rubber masking pickup tool. I personally prefer to use this tool because it makes the process easier and cleaner. Next, let's prepare the colors we'll need for this part. I'll clean some space on my palette. The first color is a mix of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, which creates a bluish gray that will serve as our main color for the posts. We'll also need a much darker tone, so I will mix burnt sienna and paints gray for that. After removing the masking fluid, the edges of the painted areas are not always perfectly smooth, and that's okay. But if you want to refine the edges a bit, I like to use a damp scrub or brush, gently rubbing it along the edge to reactivate the paint and then lightly blotting with a paper towel. This helps smooth out any imperfections without damaging the paper. Now, using a size six brush, I'll begin by applying the lighter gray color. I paint it mostly on the right side of the post, leaving the left side white because that side catches the sunlight. Next, I will start building the form of the post by adding browns and blacks to create volume and depth. Notice how similar this process is to painting the lighthouse earlier. Both have rounded form, and we paint them similarly. We leave the sit facing the light much lighter, paint the shadow starting from the middle and on the opposite edge, we keep a lighter stroke for the reflected light. This approach helps create the illusion of roundness. I will add more brown at the bottom of the post and then deepen the shadow with even darker paint to ensure the post has a strong, convincing shadow. I repeat the process on the other posts as well. Since they are farther away, they will have fewer details. Just remember to paint the right side, darker and left side lighter to keep the light consistent. Once the first layer is dry, we can add some texture and details. First, I will use a more concentrated dark paint with less water on a nearly dry brush, applying it gently using the dry brush technique. This creates an organic, irregular texture that works beautifully with the cold pressed paper surface. Next using a liner brush and dark paint, I will add a few thin vertical lines running along the posts to suggest cracks in the woods. These tiny details add a subtle but effective touch of realism. Finally, I want to add some details to the path. I mix a bit of quinacrodon red into my grayish paint to create a muted purple shade, and I use this to paint a shadow along the left side of the path. With the liner brush again, I will add a few more grassblades along both sides of the path and darken the edges of the grassy areas. I'm also painting some grass growing in the front of the fence posts now that the masking fluid is removed. This helps integrate the posts naturally into the scene. And with that, we can call the sport finished. In the next and final part, we will add beautiful finishing details that will bring even more life to this painting. So 13. Details with Gouache: After finishing the previous part, the painting already looks good, but we can enhance it further by adding lighter grasses using white guash. I'll squeeze a small amount of guash onto my palette and prepare a mix of Windsor yellow deep and burnt sienna next to it. Using a liner brush, I will blend this yellowish brown with the white guash to create a soft pastel light brown, something similar to yellow ochre, but less saturated. Let's call it a creamy color. Now the fun part begins. I will start adding those nice long grass blades at the bottom. I know gouache can be tricky. If you use too much water, the paint becomes too transparent and may disappear. If you use too little, it won't flow smoothly for nice brush strokes. This is a great opportunity to practice adjusting your paint consistency. Don't worry if your first strokes are too light. That just means there is too much water, so add more paint to your mix. Since we'll be painting many, many fine lines, you will have plenty of chances to find the right consistency. Each brush stroke contributes to the overall texture and look of the grass. The more brush strokes you add, the denser and more natural your grassy area will appear. We can also mix white guash with green to create an opaque, lighter green, perfect for adding even more grasses and highlights. I'm using just white guash mixed with different watercolor paints here. This is a great way to add opaque details when needed. However, it's important to remember that mixing white guash with any color will always produce a pastel muted tone. If you want a more intense, saturated and vibrant opaque color, you will need to use the pure guache color instead of mixing it with watercolors. I actually have a set of guache paints in various colors, but I don't usually include them in my tutorials, since we are focusing mainly on watercolor painting. Still, I believe gouache is a wonderful complement to watercolors. They work really well together. Maybe one day I'll create a tutorial that incorporates more gouache colors alongside watercolor. For now, let's focus on finishing this painting. Using the light creamy color I mixed earlier, I'm painting those tall grasses with seed heads at the top. They're all very easy to create, and I think they add a lot of character to the scene. They also help show the direction of the wind and give the painting that fresh sunny coastal day feeling with grasses waving gently along the path. To paint these grasses, you can start either from the stem or from the seed head. Both ways work fine. Just make sure before each brass stroke that you know exactly which direction the brass will bend and how much curve it will have. It's often necessary to go over the seed heads two or three times to make sure that the color stands out clearly. I had to apply the paint multiple times myself, and that's perfectly normal. It's just part of the process. I'm also adding some of these grasses higher up on the hills. But I keep in mind that since these hills are farther away, the grasses there are shorter and less visible, which helps create depth and distance in the painting. And with these tiny details, the painting is finished. As you can see, I didn't add flowers, birds, or even paint the lines connecting the fence posts that were visible in the reference photo. I felt that what I painted so far was enough and I didn't want to overcrowd the composition. But of course, feel free to add any of those elements if you want. It's your painting and you can do whatever feels right for you. Now it's time to sign the painting. I always do this in the bottom right corner. Usually, I use watercolor for my signature, but if that corner is too dark, I add some white guash to my watercolor paint. When we remove the masking tape, we'll get a nice clean border around the painting. Then usually the next day, especially if I've done a lot of wet on wet work, I detach the painting from the Gaitor board and carefully cut off the margins with staples using scissors. I also want to show you how flat the painting stays when it's attached to the Gaitor board with staples. I love using Gaitor board with staples because it keeps the paper very flat and prevents any buckling, which makes painting so much easier and more comfortable. All right, now let's move on to the final part of the tutorial, where we'll summarize everything what we've learned. 14. Summary: Thank you so much for joining me in this watercolor painting tutorial. I hope you enjoyed the process and feel inspired to paint the scene yourself. Before we wrap up, let's quickly recap what we've covered in this project. We began by discussing the reference photo and how I modified the composition to create a more dynamic and balanced painting. You learned how small changes like replacing the sky or adjusting elements can greatly enhance the final artwork. We worked in manageable sections painting one element at a time from the sky lighthouse and hills to the details like fence posts, and grass. The step by step approach helps you focus and stay relaxed while painting. You practiced essential watercolor techniques such as wet and wet for the sky, wet and dry for the structure, glazing layers for depth, and dry brushing for texture. We also used guash for the final details showing how it can complement watercolor beautifully. We focused on expressing a calm, breezy coastal atmosphere by leaning the grass to one side and creating soft cloud edges. These subtle decisions added movement and life to the scene. Throughout the process, we embraced imperfection and trusted the layers to evolve. With patience and mindfulness, the painting gradually came together, even through the ugly stage that every painting goes through. Truly hope this project brought you joy and gave a sense of calm as you painted. Thank you again for spending your time with me, and I look forward to seeing your beautiful version of this light house scene. Take care and happy painting. Bye.