Painting Nature in Watercolor: Forest Wreath

1. Intro: Hi everyone, and welcome to my Skillshare channel. In this class, I'll take you step-by-step through my entire process of painting a forest inspired wreath. My name's an Anna Cutino, and I specialize in watercolor painting. I'm mostly inspired by nature and it's vivid colors. It's the beauty of the world around me that makes me pick up my brush every day. Before we start painting our project, we'll practice creating a variegated wash. I'll show you a simple way of shading berries. And we'll practice painting. Some leaves in a loose style. You'll have access to my line drawing of the wreath and to my final painting. I've also included the supplies list you can download in the resources section. So let's get started! 2. Supplies: Let's go through all the supplies you'll need for this class. I've included the supplies list you can download in the resources section for easy reference. The first and most important thing you'll need is a good watercolor paper. I highly recommend using 100% cotton watercolor paper. I'll be using Arches watercolor paper, cold pressed, 300 GSM. The size of my paper is A4, but I cut it into a square of 21 by 21 centimeters. You'll need some watercolor brushes. I'll be using a round brush size for a tiny spotter brush and a small detail brush. I also like having some extra brushes that I only used for applying clean water. It saves me a lot of time cleaning my brush is between applications. That's why I use to number four brushes. But this entirely optional. As for watercolor paints, you need a warm yellow. I'll be using yellow, orange, then some warm red. My choice is Scarlet. Next, quinacridone, lilac. By White Nights, it is a warm purple. Then dioxazine, violet, sap green, olive green band sienna, and burnt umber. I included the outline for you in the resources section. You can download it, print it out, and either trace it using a light box or by holding it up to a window. To draw your wreath, you will need a pencil. I'll be using an HB pencil and it's also useful to have an eraser to get rid of any unwanted pencil lines or to remove excess graphite. You will need two water containers, one for clean water and one for cleaning your brushes. You'll need some paper tissues and an old towel or cotton kitchen towel. Last but not least, you'll need a paint palette or an old plate. 3. Process Overview: Before we start with our exercises, I'd like to mention a few things regarding the process. First of all, let me explain the purpose of some of the lines and elements I added into the black and white template. This dashed line divides the read into two almost identical halves. You don't need to draw this line onto your watercolor paper. It's just meant for better orientation. I also added this little arrow. When you trace the wreath, make sure the arrow on the template points to the top-right corner of your paper. That way you'll have the highlights on the various, on the same side as I do, and it will be easier and more natural to follow the process. Lastly, I added these lines that serve as guidelines for the loose leaves. We'll add in the final lesson of this class. Trace these lines onto your watercolor paper if you aim for a more organized look, but feel free to omit them entirely and freehand the branches. I also wanted to mention that I'll show you how to paint each of the elements the suite consists of in real time. And then to avoid repetition, I speed up the video for the second almost identical half of the reef. As for technique, I'll use wet on wet technique most of the time. Meaning I wet the area I'm going to paint first and then I add the colors to the wet area before it dries. So I basically makes the colors directly on the paper and I let them blend. I'll use the wet on wet technique for the first two layers. For adding the details, we'll use wet and dry technique, meaning we'll apply the paint directly onto the dry paper. 4. Practice Part 1 Variegated Wash: To depict the gradual changes in color, like you can see in this maple leaf, I will use a technique called variegated wash. A variegated wash is a wash of two or more colors that match when applied to wet paper while still keeping some of their separate colors. I do some simple leaves to demonstrate this. First, I buy water to the entire surface of the leaf. Then I add yellow to the leaf tip and I let it fall into the middle. Then I pick up some sap green and I apply it to the leaf base. The two colors will meet in the middle and suddenly match, and they'll create a third color. What I'll do in the second example is similar, but sometimes this technique is called charging. Again, first I apply water to believe I covered the whole leaf with the opening and I add drops of Ben Sienna, still wet, yellow and Ireland, the colors blend. 5. Practice Part 2 Shading Berries: In this session, I will show you how to add volume to the berries in an easy way. I've decided that the light source is in the top-left corner. So that's where the highlights will be and the opposite side will be in the shade. First, I apply clean water to the very in the foreground. Notice that I'm leaving the highlight dry. Then I add some quinacridone lilac to the bottom right side of the very opposite to the light source. And I pull the paint slightly around the very keeping the bottom-right corner darker. If I need to add some more lilac to the bottom, then I add some dioxazine violet to the shadow area and I let it spread slightly. And that's it. This is by no means a perfect sphere. It is just a very simplified version that will work just fine for this project. I only start painting. Our partly covered by others in the foreground are completely dry. 6. Practice Part 3 Branches with Leaves in Loose Style: In the final lesson of this class, I'll be adding some loose leads to the finished tree. In this practice session, I'm going to show you how to paint them fast. I draw a thin line with the tip of my brush, that will be the stem. Then I place the tip of my brush to the stem and I press the belly of the brush to the paper. I made beliefs gradually smaller as I'm coming near the end of the stem. I changed the size of the leaves by increasing or decreasing the pressure on the brush. Let me show you one more time. All ready to be connected to the stem. 7. Main Leaves First Layer: Okay, So we've done our exercises and now let's start painting our project. You can see five types of leaves in this composition. What I mean by main leaves are these bigger, more distinct leaves, namely the may believe the lyndon leaf and the leaf. My first step is to apply clean water to the entire surface of the maple leaf. Then I load my brush with water and I add a few drops of benzene. Now, I start painting with sap green on the right side of the leaf. And I let the paint spread into the brown area. Then I switched to my spotter brush to clean up the edge. I add some more bent Sienna. I can see the green isn't spreading so freely. So I very gently blend the edge between green and burnt sienna. Now I move to the lyndon leave. I apply clean water to the entire surface of the leaf. Then I load my brush with the yellow and applying it to the other. Then I use green for the lower half of the leaf. And I lead the two colors flow into each other in the middle. Then I clean up the edge with my spotter brush. And I add some tiny drops of yellow to the green path and a few dots of green to the yellow path. Now let's pay the oak leaf. I start by applying clean water to it. I add some yellow to the entire surface. I take my spot. I add some events. Here you can see me repeating the process in the second half of the sienna. And sap green, yellow and sap green, yellow. And then allow it to dry completely. 8. Berries First Layer: In this session, I paint the berries as we practiced in the second exercise. The key here is to pay attention to the direction of the light. In this case, the light is coming from the top-left corner, which is where the highlight on each barrier will be. And the deepest shadow will be in the opposite corner. My first step is to apply clean water to some of the very, I always moist than just the berries that don't touch each other to avoid any unwanted bleeding on the paint. There is a small highlight on each of the berries, and I always make sure I leave the highlighted dry. Now I apply quinacridone lilac to the bottom-right of each of the moisten berries. I continue to work with the small spotter brush, moving the paint slightly to the top-left corner, but keeping the shadow but slightly darker. Then I add a drop of dioxazine violet to the shadow area and I clean up the edge with my spotter brush. Now I let it dry completely in the foreground and now partly behind them. I clean up the edges. The bottom right corner, dry completely. 9. Small Leaves and Acorns First Layer: Now you can see me painting. Leaves, drop yellow onto them. I clean up the edges with my spotter brush. I also pulled some of the events of water to these two smaller leaves to both the tip and then I add some yellow in the middle, are running into each other. I clean up the edges. I started with this, and I make sure I present the highlight. Then I add a tiny bit of sap green to the tip of the seed. Now I allowed this path to dry completely. When the seeds completely dry, I add a drop of burned down. I use my brush to move the paint around the edges. Now you can see me painting on dry paper. And I repeat the process for the second half. Then I allow it to dry. The first layer is now complete. 10. Main Leaves Second Layer: My goal in the second layer is to deepen the colors. I want them to be brighter and more intense, but bear in mind, I don't want to cover the first layer completely. I wanted to show through in some places, starting with a maple leaf, my first step is to apply clean water. Then I add Scala to the left side, sap green to the right side, and Ben Sienna to the middle where the two colors meet. Now I can add a few drops. Let's move to the first, As always. And now I repeat the process for the second half of my painting. 11. Berries Second Layer: To deepen the color of the berries, I repeat the process. I followed in the first layer by water to one of the berries, keeping the highlight dry. Then I add a drop of quinacridone lilac into the shadow area, and I pull the color gently onto the rest of the berry. And finally, a bit of dioxazine violet to deepen the shadow. I always remember. Always make sure to avoid any unwanted move to another part of the painting. Dry. Until I fainted. When I fainted in the foreground, I start painting the ones in the background. Behind. 12. Smaller Leaves Second Layer: To add more vibrancy to the small leaves, I cover them with water. Then I add a drop of yellow to the middle. I also pull the color onto this tense. Now I moisten the stems again. Now I repeat the process for the second half of my painting. 13. Acorns Second Layer: Let's add some more color to the. First I lay down a layer of water to the seed, remain the highlight dry. Then I apply Ben sienna and sap green to the bottom of the seed. Then I switch to my splatter brush to clean up the edge. I think this is a bit too wet, so I take some of the paint with my brush, wipe it off on a tissue, especially to the bottom. And now I allow it to dry. And especially at the bottom that's facing away from the light. And now I allow it to dry. 14. Adding Detail to the Leaves: At this point, it's good time to erase any unwanted. Just make sure your painting is completely dry before you start erasing. Then I started painting the veins. I'm using my detail brush and the previous layer are completely dry. Now let's start by painting the sky. Then the primary branches from the primary. Now I repeat the process using sap green. Now the F0 domain, I only using Scala sienna. 15. Adding Detail to the Acorns: Using my tiny detail brush, I add detail to the eye, become some highly pigmented mix of band amber, tiny circles, semi-circles on. However, it isn't my goal to draw perfect circles, so feel free to add some variety to them. Now notice that I'm making the lines thicker and darker on the right side of the cap to emphasize the shadow. The last step is to outline the span width band amber, and then let it dry completely. 16. Adding Branches in Loose Style: The final step is to add the leaves in a loose style. We break this bending in the third exercise. You may have drawn the stems when tracing. If you didn't, you can do it now or you can free him that it's completely up to you. I prefer drawing them with my pencil to make sure they are placed evenly around the ring. Now I bend this down with olive green and I add the leaves. Notice I'm making the leaves smaller and smaller as I'm coming near the end of the stem. When my paintings completely dry, I erase any remaining pencil lines. And we finished painting our project. 17. Final Thoughts: I hope you enjoyed painting this forest inspired tree and that it wasn't too challenging. I would love to see what you are able to create in this class. So don't forget to upload your projects to the project section. I would also love to read your feedback on this class so I can keep on improving my class is for you. Thank you again for joining me and I'll see you next time.