Paint Dreamy Vintage Doors and Windows in Watercolor

1. About the class: Are you dreaming to paint those beautiful European vintage doors and windows in a loose and dreamy way? Expressive water colors may look intimidating at first, but believe me or not, this is the most relaxing and liberating way to enjoy water colors. It's all about learning to listen to your inner voice, to joyfully and fearlessly release every stroke. In this class, we will learn to paint as your heart needs and experience the joy of painting. We will cover how to easily sketch vintage doors and windows in free hand, paint textures and details without losing the dreamy feel of your work, brush techniques to simplify painting, flowery plants, wooden shutters and brick walls, and we will enhance your painting by adding shadows and essential details. When you're done with this class, you will be able to create loose and dreamy water-colored work, particularly door and window scene, play with colors, learn new techniques, and most of all, you will enjoy painting like never before. This class is for all levels, even for beginners without any background with watercolors. Remember, you don't need to have much knowledge about watercolor to create something beautiful. I'm Bianca Rayala, I'm a watercolor artist and a silver brush educator from the Philippines. I love water colors and I'm so passionate about sharing my love for arts. My goal has always been to inspire people to pursue their creative fashion and purpose. Come and join me and let's take this beautiful journey together. 2. Materials: Let's begin with a list of materials that we will need. Feel free to use whatever materials that you have at home. For the paper, you may use any type of watercolor paper, cellulose or cotton, or any thick paper that is thick enough to hold water. The one I'm using is 100 percent cotton cold pressed paper. Next are brushes. I have here natural sable brushes, and a synthetic round brush, and also a chisel brush. Prepare also a pencil and eraser. Then for the paints, you can play with your own colors that you have in your palette. This is yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, quinacridone red, neutral tint, amethyst genuine, horizon blue, lavender, [inaudible] gray, indigo, olive green, lunar blue, cobalt blue and lastly, this opaque white watercolor. Prepare also two cups of water and some tissue paper. 3. Practice Strokes: Before we begin painting French doors and windows, let's do some practice strokes in painting flowery pots. I'll be drawing two pots. Imagine that there is light coming from the left. Because of the light, there will also be a cast shadow from the base of the pot going to the right. Now when painting plants, there's no need to draw all the details, but a basic outline is sufficient to make our sketch appropriate. We will let the watercolor do the work in building up the elements of our plant. The colors I use for my plants are yellow ocher, olive green, lunar blue, and indigo. I start painting the plants first using a clean wet brush. I pre-wet the outline of the plants to create a random soft and hard edge when we apply the paint. I also roll the brush flat on the paper as I pre-wet it. Now using a mix of yellow ocher and olive green, I paint the lighted parts of the plants with this mix. Notice how I lightly apply colors with my brush flat on the paper. Next, I add a bit of lunar blue to my mix to create a mid tone and paint it over on some parts of the light green. Make sure that the layer is still wet so colors will blend softly. Now to create the darkest tones, the one's in shadow, I added indigo to my mix and dabbed on areas that are in shadow. You may also add some dots here and there to build the overall shape of the plant. Now, let's paint the pot using burnt sienna mixed with a bit of amethyst for a darker tone. I will paint only the half part of the pot with this dark color as the left side should be light in tone since it is lighted by the sun. If you want to make the brown pot even darker, just add neutral tint to your mix. I slightly darken some parts of the pot including the base so I can define its shape. You can also add some details while the layer is still semi-wet to create that soft, dreamy look. Next, let's do another pot but this time with flowers. I will do the first step of pre-wetting the outline of the plant and then I will paint the leaves with light and mid tones. I still use the same color mix for my greens, which is yellow ocher and olive green for the light tone. Then I add a bit of lunar blue to get the mid-tone. Now, I add some pink color for the impression of flowers while the green layer is still wet. I will also splatter some paints for the lose effect. Lastly, for the dark tones of the leaves, I will add indigo on my previous green mix, and then I will add amethyst genuine on my pink color to have a dark tone for the flowers. When you're happy with your plant, we will do the same procedure in painting the pot. Now to paint the cast shadow, I use amethyst genuine mixed with a brown leftover paints in my palette. With a swift stroke, I start from the base of the pot going to the right to paint the shadow on the ground. Practice this exercise, and I'll see you on the next video for our next project which is painting the turquoise window and flowery plants. 4. Project 1- Turquoise Window Sketch: Let's begin with the pencil sketch. I provided the template of the drawing as well as the reference photo in the resource section for your guide. Now in painting, always remember that your drawing is very important. No matter how good your coloring is, if the drawing is not right, the entire painting will not look at its best. When you draw windows, the alignment and balance should always be considered. Keep straight lines as straight as possible, especially when you do freehand sketching. Always remember also to focus on drawing main lines or elements, and practice disregarding small details, since we aim to achieve loose watercolor sketches. If you're not comfortable in drawing straight lines in freehand, you can always use a ruler to draw the window shutters. I just do a rough sketch for the outline of the plant by the window. Again, we want to look at it as a whole rather than drawing it part by part. Then let's just add this guide for drawing or for painting the cast shadow. I think our drawing is enough for pencil sketch. I'll see you on our next video as we begin painting. 5. Window- First Wash: To give you an overview of the painting process, we will divide our process into two parts. First is painting the base wash where we will set up the tonal value and second we will add shadows contrast in details. I start painting the lighted part of the frame of the window using a mix of horizon blue and amethyst genuine and then I will softly transition it into a light brown color. I'm using a sable brush so that my brush can hold good amount of water and pigment. When we want to achieve a dreamy painting, the base colors should always be connected with each other. Meaning, we should try to avoid hard edges between colors or parts that would make our painting look more like an illustration. If you notice as I paint the shutter with a light blue color, the brown color on my window frame is slightly wet. This is the color connection that I am referring to earlier. However, we should understand how water reacts depending on the level of wetness of the paper to avoid unwanted blooms or back-flow of paints. Where the layer frame and the window shutter is still wet, I add some darker tones and also slightly alter the hues to create more interest. I also keep the edges of the shutter a bit jagged to show texture. I want you to notice also that I leave the portion of the shutter covered by the plants unpainted. Now, we will paint the flowery plants. Let's practice what we did on our previous exercise. First, pre-wet the outline with a wet brush, as much as possible use a clean water in doing this step. Next, I create a light green mix using yellow ocher and olive green and then I use the belly of my brush to create random and loose strokes of the leaves. Because I pre-wet the portion of the paper, I get to have some lost and found edges on my plants. Now I'm adding some pink color to show an impression of flowers. I still damp my brush and add layers while the previous one is still damp. Feel free to do splatters to add some more interesting effect in your plants. I see a lot of white gaps in between, so I add some more green. But this time with a darker tone. In doing this step, the important thing that we must keep in mind is to know when to stop. Sometimes it is tempting to add more layers without noticing that the painting is overworked. To know when to stop, keep on stepping back to see your work from a distance. To paint the glass of the window, I use lunar blue diluted with lots of water. You may mix a similar grayish-blue color as an alternative. I painted the entire fragment and we'll just leave the color of the frame with a synthetic brush. Next, I add few dark tones on some areas of the glass, just copying what I see on the reference photo. We can let this layer dry and we will proceed on painting shadows in details. 6. Window- Paint Shadow and Details: Now we move on to adding shadows and details. This step gives more dimension of our work. But we must do this step once our first layer, our base wash, is already dried. Using my synthetic brush, I add some dark lines and also texture on the window frame. On this stage, our mixture is most of the time creamy since we are focusing on adding details and highlights. I also darken some parts of the window to show depth and dimension. You can do a dry brush technique to create this rough texture on wood. You can achieve this by keeping your brush with very minimal amount of water and good amount of almost dry pigment. As you do this stroke, you would see those white gaps on the surface of the paper. I also wanted to add more reflection on the glass panel using a mix of branch in and go work blue. I've painted some reflections on the glass to define also the outline of the flowers. Next, let's paint the cache shadow on the left shot. I mix up purplish-blue color using horizon blue am at this genuine and a bit of cobalt blue. I simply copy what they see from the reference photo, and carefully paint over the base layer to create this impression of shadow. Using the same mix, I use it to define the shapes and also the details of the other shutter. Using light strokes and also dry brushstroke, I paint the texture of the woods. Lastly, let's paint the shadow behind the flower using a purplish pink mix. I paint the shadow with a swift stroke and leave the edge row. Now, let's add some background by painting the one loosely and partially, knowing this eliminates also the brightness of the entire white background. Using a watery mix of yellow, ocher, horizon blue, and some colors from my palette, I do lose strokes and splatters of paint on the wall. Feel free to play with colors and don't be afraid to experiment. I'm just genuine to show texture on the surface. Just be careful not to paint the entire paper completely. Create soft and hard edges on your strokes to maintain that blues and dreamy field on your work. This is our final painting. 7. Project 2- Vintage Door Pencil Sketch: For our second project, we will paint this vintage door on a brick wall setting. Again, I provided the reference photo, pencil sketch, and photo of the final painting in the resource section so you can use it as your guide in preparing your work. Let's start. I place a door off-center and a bit on the right side for composition purposes. I start drawing the doorpost, then few details of the door. I prefer drawing free hand than using a ruler as I want to make it look lose rather than stiff. Next, let's draw some steps here below just to make the picture more interesting and then let's add a ramp here on the top. When you look at the reference photo, the photo has so many details and elements. But as I do the sketch, I try to pick only selected elements that I think would bring the essence of the image. For example, on this left side of the photograph, instead of copying exactly what I see in the image, I just picked around three parts and then let the watercolor fill the space later on. I just add some important details of the door and I think our drawing is ready. Let's begin painting on our next video. 8. Door- Painting the plants: For an overview of the painting process, we will begin painting the base wash where we will setup the tonal value and create color connections. All details and shadows will be added later on once the base wash is completely dry. I pre-wet the portion of the plans with clean water and then start painting the greens first. To create dimensions in your plans and to avoid making it look like a blog, you must have light tones, mid tones, and dark tones. Remember to look for the source of light so you would know where to position the shadows. Just let the paint bleed naturally and it's okay if the color spreads to other parts of the drawing. Our goal is to build color connection between all colors in our painting. We can always define the shape by doing negative painting, like what I will do on this flower pot. Next, I will paint the door post with a mix of ocher and burnt sienna. I also use lavender to paint this lipid portion of the door post. I diluted it with lots of water so it looks light in tone. I will draw up some colors randomly to create a rough and interesting texture on the surface. Now let's define the shape of the post by painting the wall loosely. This is similar to negative painting. I use a light mix of lavender in painting this base wash of the wall. While this lavender area part of the wall is still moist, I start painting the flower pots here on the left. Aside from brush strokes, we can also use splatters to paint interesting leaves or plans. Again, build the dimension by adding mid tones and dark tones on your plants. After painting the plant fragment, I paint next the clay pot so that the colors would connect to each other. That's the reason why I don't have much hard edges between plants and pots. I repeat the same process with other flower pots. But this time I will add bright pink color to show flowers. Now to get a darker tone of your pink flowers, I will just mix a bit of [inaudible] to my pure pink pigment to get a darker shape. When painting pots, I play with beige and ocher and [inaudible] as well as neutral pink. I darken the base, then blend it on the ground so it won't look cut out. Now we can somehow feel the looseness of the strokes. It is all because we let the paint to naturally flow on the wet surface, giving us random soft and hard edges. The main secret is not to dab your brush too much and to just trust the movement of water, as you lay down your colors. 9. Door- Painting the Door: Now that the left side is almost done, we can continue painting the door. Since the layer is still moist, I will leave the brown color between the two brown parts so I can define their shape and separate them from each other. Next, I paint the steps using a dark purplish-brown color. Notice that I paint a slightly lighter tone in between the purple steps to show dimension of the stairs. It's definitely okay, and well, in fact, for me it is beautiful to have looms like that in the stairs because it adds interest and texture to my painting. Before painting the main door, I'll finish those elements on the right first. I paint the part with the same technique, and add some loose strokes here at the base to create an impression of bushes. Remember to keep the strokes loose and soft by adding more water and making the mixture as light as tea. Let's define the shape of the door post by doing negative painting. I blend lavender and brownish color for the wall. Then later on I will show you how I will emphasize the rough edge of the post by enhancing the background. For the color of the door, I mix branchena, [inaudible] , and neutral [inaudible]. I vary the proportion of each color depending on how light or dark I want the color to be. Remember to leave the inner part unpainted as we will use a different color for it. Now, as I apply this dark and thick brown color, my initial brown color on the door is still moist. Because of that, I avoided having hard edges between the two tones. I repeat the same thing in painting the other half of the door. Using a chisel brush, I will leave some colors off this area to show the design of the door. Always clean your brush every after stroke to have a good lift of color. I use Payne's gray with a bit of lavender to paint the glass fragment of the door. I painted it completely and will just use white paint to draw the white design when it is completely dry. Next, let's paint the lamp. Make the lamp darker than the background color so it will stand out. Let this layer dry completely and then we will proceed on painting the details. 10. Door- Painting the details: We're almost done and we'll only need to add some details and shadows to enhance the picture. First one is to bring out the texture of this door post. Using a synthetic brush, I partially outline some fragment with a creamy mix of color and then later on I will soften it with another brush. As you do the outline, create the shape or form that you want to achieve. Avoid making it straight, so it will look more natural. This approach is what we call negative painting. Don't forget to soften the outline so it won't look like a drawing which is too heavy for the eye. I repeat the process of partially outlining the doorpost and then softening it with another brush. We do the same thing on the left side of the post, but this time I use lavender with a bit of neutral tint since this part is lightened by the sun. I will also layer some dark spots and dots on the door to make it stand out even more. We finished off by adding some small details like the house number. Since these elements, though too small, really contributes to the bigger picture. I also left this part on the right unpainted, so I'll do it now. I'll add details and designs of the lamp here. I still keep my mixture creamy to be thick enough and would make the picture stand out. Using an opaque white paint, I draw the white design of the door. I get the pigment straight from the tube, so it would be thick and visible even when it dries. Lastly, I'll outline with neutral tints some parts of the white drawing to bring dimension. I complete my painting by adding some dark spots and highlights here and there. This is our final work. Now let's summarize all the important learnings that we can get from this class on our next video. 11. Key Learnings and Class project: Thank you so much for joining me in this fun class, I hope you had a relaxing time as you've painted with me. Let's summarize the important learnings we can get from my class. First, when you draw architectural elements like doors and windows, alignment and balance should always be considered regardless if you will paint them loosely. The secret to a beautiful painting is having a visually correct drawing. Your sketch is the foundation of your painting, so always keep straight lines as straight as possible, especially when you do free hand sketching. Second, the secret a loose and dreamy work is building color connection on your painting as a whole. During your first wash that colors connect from one another, avoid too much hard edges as much as possible, and define your painting by placing appropriate shadows in details. Third, as you paint, have the mindset of making art a happy place. You will be surprised of the result when you paint with the intention to just enjoy and escape from your daily routine. That's it. I hope you learned a lot from my class and be sure to upload your works in our project section. I want to see them and share my thoughts about them. For our class project, paint the same door and window paintings that I did in my demo. Just follow the same process that I did and feel free to go back and re-watch the portions of the videos that you want to review. Don't forget to practice the brush exercises to prepare you in doing your projects. I invite you to check also my other Skillshare watercolor classes and don't forget to follow me here, and on Instagram, so you know when I have new classes for you. Thank you again and see you on my next classes.