Soft Snow and Silent Pines : A Monochrome Watercolor Class

1. Introduction: Winter has a quiet beauty of its own, soft skies, misty trees, and the peaceful stillness invites us to slow down and enjoy the moment. In this class, we are going to capture that calm winter more in a simple and relaxing way. Hi, everyone. I'm So McCarthy, a passionate artist and a mom, and I love creating beginner friendly classes that makes watercolor easy, fun, and enjoyable. And welcome to my class soft snow and silent pines a monochrome watercolor class for bigness. In this class, you'll paint a peaceful monochrome winter landscape using just one color. That's the beauty. Working in monochrome is a great way to understand different tonal values. Photo control and layering without being oral by too many colors. So you will learn how to paint soft light to dark, ady sky misty pines using wet on wet method and a crisp foreground details using wet on write method and a few dry brushing for the snow textures, a cozy little house and a simple fence. And for the finishing touch, you will add snow splatters and tiny birds for the perfect winter touch. So this glass is designed for complete beginners or anyone who want to paint a relaxing painting session. So all you need is a watercolor paper, two brushes, and one color, indigo, black, green, blue, or any color. So for the class project, you'll paint a beautiful winter scene along with me, and I'll guide you step by step, which is easy to follow and fun to paint. So by the end, you'll have beautiful monochrome winter landscape that you can display, gift it to your friends and family or recreate in other colors. So I'm excited to paint this painting with you. So let's get started. 2. Class Supplies: Hi, guys. Welcome back. In this section, we'll go the minimal watercolor supplies that are needed to paint our monochrome winter landscape. So first, I'll talk about the paper. So this is Arches paper. So this is my one of my favorite paper. It's very, very good. And it's 100% cotton paper, 300 SM, 140 LB. And it's cold press paper, and as you can see, it has cheures it's very beautiful for wet on wet techniques that we use in watercolor, and it keeps the paper wet for longer time. So that's why I like this paper a lot. You can use any other watercolor paper that is 300 TSM, 140 L B hundred percent cotton. Need not be arches. You can use fabron Bhong paper. So there are many out in the market. So you can use any paper you like. So next, I'll talk about the brushes we are going to use in a class. So these are the two brushes we are going to use for the entire landscape. So this is Escoda sized tin. It's like a mob brush, but it has a fine point when you dip it in water and take it out and see. So this one we'll use for painting the sky and even the pine trees. If you're not comfortable, you can use fine tip point brush or medium brush, n brush we have. But I'm going to use the same brush for painting the sky, painting the background pines and this one is from Grumbacher. This is size six brush, and this one is I'm going to use it for the other details of our painting, like painting the fences, the house, and even the birds. So this is a landscape. We are going to paint this landscape. This one is the size of the same 15 by 11.8. So I'm going to cut the paper into half and we'll paint this landscape using one single color. So next, I'll talk about the color. So as you can see, I have used indigo. So I'm going to use Indigo. This is C, you can see the number of the indigo, and you can see the pigment number. You can see the pigment number. So it's a very cool, beautiful blue that you can use because it's made out of plant leaves and its chemical properties makes us swatch colors, different tonal values from transparent blue to midnight blue. So you can create various different tones from dark blue to light blue. So these are the supplies we need, and you need two jars of water. One to keep your clean your brushes, and other to wash your brushes to make the initial washes and wash your brushes. So you need two jars of water, and you'll need also a white goh or a white watercolor paint to create the snow. And you need a cotton you need a tissue paper or cotton cloth to wipe the water or paints. And also, I'm going to use this ceramic palette. You can use any plastic palette to whatever you have, and you can use any brushes too, guys. Need not be the same brushes I use. So I'm going to use this palette ceramic palette while painting the class project and also while watching colors for the different tonal values, we'll see in the next section. So and also, you'll need a masking tape to creep your edges clean. And finally, we'll have a minimal sketch. So you need a pencil and eraser to make your sketch. So those are the supplies you'll need. So grab your supplies and let's get started. 3. Tonal Values: Before we begin our class project, let's explore the magic of indigo and see how versatile it is when you add different amounts of water and how it looks. So let's do a quick color study. So I'm going to This is my indigo color, and I'm going to add a little water to activate the paint. It'll be in the deepest darkest value. So this is my color, deepest darkest value. This color can be used to add final details and create depth and contrast in your painting like adding the birds. Using also dry brushing. So this is the darkest value. So next, I'm going to add a little more water, little more water. Just to make a lighter version of the previous one, not the same color. So if you want, you can remove the excess water from your brush by dabbing it in a tissue. So just a little water. So it's a little lighter version of your previous one. Make sure you add more paint and less water more paint and less water. So this is the medium tone guys. So next, I'm going to add even more water to make it lighter. So you can repeat the same step until you get a barely blue light paler color. See? So this is the next color. This one is the darkest one. The first one, the second is a little bit lighter. So if you add different proportions of water, your color gets lighter gradually. And next, I'm going to get even lighter color, see? I'm going to take my make sure you take the excess paint or water. From your brush before swatching it. This is a very good practice section to know about tonal values. And next, I'm going to take the lightest potion, more water. This one we can use to make background washes, a gradient sky. So these are the five colors, five mixes we got. This is the darker one. This one you can use to add the birds, add details to the fence and even dry brushing. This is the darkest value of the paint, and this is a little darker, not the darkest. So this one is a medium tone. This one you can use to paint the misty background trees. And even this one you can use to paint the foreground trees, which is detailed and more near to us. And this one you can use to adding details like shadows, little shadows, the snow, not a darker shadow. And this one you can use for a gradient sky. We are going to paint misty gradient sky. So this is the paler version. This is the darkest version. So make sure you swatch your colors and practice it so that you know what color you are going to apply in your paint your project before trying it out. So make sure you try it out. So understanding this three to five tonal values. You can even go further by making it lighter. But understanding these five tonal values helps you understand the light, medium and dark tones of paint, of a single color and helps you paint your monochrome like a pro. So you can add depth and dimension by knowing different tonal values. So Swatch these colors, practice it guys, see you next section. 4. Basic Sketch: Oh Hi, guys, welcome back. In this section, we'll start a class project and before that, we'll do a simple sketch. As you can see, I tape my paper on all four sides to keep my edges clean and also a little space I have left here to watch the different tonal values of indigo. I'm going to use this two H pencil and I'm going to use an eraser if I need to erase it. Let's start. Two thirds of the paper from the bottom of your paper, you need to draw a hell shaped horizon line like this. Not very dark like this. And next we are going to draw a small house, simple house that has a roof. So draw like a triangle shape start, not with the edges closed here. Next, a line to finish it. Next, I'm going to draw a roof. In an angle and finish it off. Then I'm going to draw a small door here of the house. If you want to make your house more detail, you can use any reference, but this one is very simple, that's it. Next, we are going to paint the misty pines first. And also before that, I want to draw a slopy downward line which is going down to show the snowy slope from the house like this. And on either side, I need a fence. So if you're not satisfied, you can erase it and draw a sketch. So make sure it is very light. And I'm going to draw a fence on either side of the hill going downward. So the one near us will be detailed, and the one going away will be a little small, seeing the perspective. So I'll start from here. Just a guide for me to paint over it on either side, going down fill. So that's the sketch, guys. So make sure keep your sketch ready, and then we'll start. 5. Gradient Sky and Misty Pines: Now we are going to paint this soft misty gradient sky with misty pines. So I'm going to wet the paper until the horizon learn leaving the house. I'm going to use my Escoda brush to wet the entire sky evenly, not dripping. If you're not comfortable with a round brush, you can use a flat brush. Make sure you don't with the house. Just be careful. And you can take the excess water if it's true dripping from a brush using a cotton cloth or tissue paper. See? Just be a little careful. I should not be dripping. And you can take a tissue paper to dab the excess water. I'm going to start lighter at the top, light to dark green sky. While I come near the horizon, I'm going to make it darker, it gives a soft misty background rise. Here is my paint. I activated it using my spray bottle. So I'm going to take a watery mixture, very diluted mixture. You can check with the scrap paper if you want to. Make sure you have scrap paper to see the mix. This one is the lighter mix. I'm going to paint at the top and gradually, I'll make it darker. First Just move with your round brush, bigger round brush or a flat brush. And if it's too dark, you can wipe your brush, clean your brush, and take it away. So make sure it is very light. And when you come behind the house, make it dark. And you can blend the two layers with your damp brush. Make sure you paint it to the horizon line, not behind that. If your house shape is getting wet, no worries. I'm going to make a smooth blend here do not be patchy. So again, I start with the top layer and blend it while I come so that it gives a soft misty effect, misty background, actually, to your sky. So I'm lifting here a few pains. So if you're satisfied, please jop while this layer is still wet, So to give a soft messy effect, I'm doing some brush moments here, as you can see, while this layer is still wet this push has a point effect. So I'm going to use the same brush to paint the background pines. If you're not comfortable, you can use a bigger one. Make sure you dab the excess paint like this before you paint your pines. I'm using a medium consistency of paint. I'm starting from here. Because it's wet on wet, it gives a soft blurry effect. If you think you have a darker paint in your brush, you can remove it and make it diluted. So paint a backbone pie. That's it. So just make a lime and messy strokes Wisp strokes on the sides. It's that simple place. So I think my brush has too much water, so I'm just taking the water away from my brush. Excess water. See? And keep going. So don't stop because this background pines should be done in wet on wet so that it gives a soft, blurry effect. And after the layer is dry, we can move on to the foreground trees. So just dab it on either side. It's that simple, guys. So for it to make it darker, you can background, you can add more paints. I think this tree has gone. It's okay. So let's wait until it gets dry. Then we'll paint the foreground trees and the house and other details of the painting. Let's wait. 6. Foreground Pines: So background is completely dry. Now we are going to paint the foreground trees like our class project like this, more defined and detailed and sharp too. I'm going to use my size number six rambao brush, and I'll show you how we paint the foreground trees. It's very simple, start with the line, thin line, thinner top and wider at the bottom, and then zigzag strokes on either side with some few dots with few br strokes on either side. As you go down, make it more dense and you go. As you can see, the pine trees will be dense at the bottom right. As you go downwards, make it denser. We're going to paint simple pine trees like this at the background in different proportions. Let's start. I'm going to take indigo, darker shade of indigo. And then we are going to start from here in between the trees, pines, background trees, thinner at the top, little wider at the bottom. Zigzag strokes and few brush strokes, just dabbing it. It's very simple. Just do it free. Don't overthink. So you can add few lines if you want it more detail. I'm going simple strokes, guys. So there's a first three. So I'm going to make it one over here, the next one, so thin stroke at the top and a little wide at the bottom. So make it even more large. So see zigzag strokes on either side. And just dab it. There are different type of pine trees, but I'm going with the simple one. So if you have any reference, you can try that too. See? It's very simple. The next one I'm going to make it a little smaller than the previous one. Let's go then line. So big on either side and even make it denser and you come down. So even you can make it here denser to show the depth of the tree, dens of the tree, see, like this. I'm going to finish off. You can make it thinner and even small strokes like this, not wider one on either side to make a variation. See, like this one. And then the other one, I'm going to make it a little taller again. So make sure you have a fine pointed brush to do this. So go slow. So I'm going to make it bigger at the bottom and thinner at the top. So just a few dabs, exact dabs and your pine tree is ready. So this is wet on dry method because you are using wet paint on a dry surface. So keep going and finish off your pine trees. You can use a bigger tree or a fine tip point round brush to paint your pines. If you're comfortable with the one I used before, you can use more brush too, but make sure it is fine point tip so that see, I'm making it denser at the bottom. See? So two more trees, I'll move my palette over there so I don't want to make a mess. So it's all practice. You can just practice your pine trees before doing your class project. That would be a good idea. And also, make sure you take a thicker consistency of paint while you do the step. So these are foreground tres. See, I'm just dabbing with my brush to make a detail. Load your brush, then drab it. It's that's easy. So Lodi brush, easy. Make it dense at the bottom. Remember that. You don't want to make it wider at the top. Make sure you do that. So then I final trees, I'll make it one large over here, but very thin one, I'm going to paint two more trees. You and one over here at the end. It's the tallest one. So take a thicker constancy. So I'm going to make it more thin strokes here so that we can see the background trees. We need that too to make the scene more beautiful. So It's bet on dry method. Wet on white gives a soft blurry effect. Bet on dry method gives sharp detailed strokes that are more defined. The final tree I'm going to finish short of, just few deps here and there to finish it off. Because it's at the corner of the paper, that's it. We're done with the foc pine trees. Now we'll paint the house. 7. House: So now coming to the house, I'm going to make it one side darker to add dimension and depth to the house. So maybe on the right side, I'll make it darker. Drawing over my house. It's wet on dry method two. And then adding the lines that we draw in a sketch. And also here just drawing over a sketch. And next, what I'm going to do? I'm going to take my water. Take a damp brush, and also make sure I take the excess. It's not very damp. It's little damp, so I'm going to soften the edges. Soften the edges. See? With a damp brush and then blend it. And just blend it. Here, I'm going to just use my dam brush and blend it to give a soft effect and make sure you add more paints to give our house dimension and depth. Also I'm going to add a few details here before wetting it. I'll first wet it. Then with the dam brush, I'm going to give a soft edge. Because at the right, we are going to keep it darker. So just cleaning my brush. And so, see, it's that simple. So make sure. I'm going to just fill the door. I'm not going to make it detailed. So let's wait till it gets dry. And before it gets dry, we can add few details. So I'm having a dark consisting of paint in my brush. So I'm going to make a few icicles from the house that shows up like this. Few details. If you're happy with the house as it is, you can just ignore this step. If you want to make it too detailed, then go ahead for this step. So I'm just dabbing my paper. Sorry, dabbing my brush the paper and then softening the edges. That's it. I'm going to stop it. So let's wait till it gets dry or you say had dry it to make your process fast. I'm going to add. I'm going to add the door, fill it up with your dark paint and you go. Make sure your house is right before you do this step. Your sketch is very important and you're just trusting it and filling it up. So make sure you see it or you can sketch and paint it. If your sketch is gone, so that's it. Now we are going to add shadows. So for that I'm going to wet here, little bit, not too watery, little bit here for the trees and the house too, to create depth to our scene and bring it to life. So I'm going to add shadows here, not too watery guys. So I'm going to give an impression of the trees here. This is wet on wet because I wet my paper first and adding the shadows here of the trees. I may not be detailed, blurry trees in the background and make sure you soften it. Same on the other side. I think my paper got dry, so I'm going to put it again and then make sure you take the excess paint and just do it in the shape of a house. And then. Just tiny shadows to our landscape. So that's it. Let's stop. Let it get dry. Maybe you can soften it a little more. If you're not satisfied. If you're satisfied, please stop. See? Let's stop. Next, we're going to do the fence detail, the dry washing snow detail, and the birds. Let's wait. 8. Fence: Now with the watery consisting of paint, I'm going to lightly paint the pathway here, see watery mix, and then I'm going to start from the house and paint it. Make sure it's very light, not thick. All these are all we are doing with the dry technique. We know the clear pathway from the house. There's hangout, just like that. As I see some hash ds here, so I want to smoothen it out. So let's wait. Next, we are going to add the fence and then finish off with the birds and snow. So I'm going to paint a fence. The car consists of paint on my number six fine pointed brush to paint the fence. Make sure it's nicely pointed the brush you use. So I'm going to paint a fence starting at the bottom. And painting it on either side, following the curve. See a sketch is very helpful in this place so that you know, if you're confident, you can paint it freely. So for a beginner, it'll be difficult. So I thought I'll sketch it. So there's my sketch, and I'm painting over it. So make sure it goes on a curve. If you have excess water, make sure you take it out and paint it. Because I'm painting it smaller because it's near, so I'm painting bigger. As you go away, it wide right. It becomes small, and it'll be less detailed. So I'm seeing that perspective, I'm painting like this. So I'll stop with that. One more touch. It'll make it even more wider. So I'll start with that. One more final touch. If you're satisfied, you can stop it. Next, for the snow texture, I'm going to use a thicker paint, and I'll show you. So I have got a thicker paint in my brush. So I'm just licking it. So make sure there's more paint and less water. See, lucking it dry brush. So let's start. So you take sure you dab your excess paint. And you have to have thick paint and very less water. So I'm going to add few vibrating details. Just dab it. Just flicking it through near the house and also the pine trees, just flicking it through. Make sure you take the excess water and just flick it to give the snow texture, it's very simple guys. Or here too. Just flicking it through. See? Fuse tribal stroke to bring a snow landscape to life. So that's it. Next, I'm going to add snow and the perds. So let this raise dry so we can add the snow over the fence and or the trees, house, and everything. Let's wait. 9. Birdies with Snow: Now we are going to paint the birds and then add the snow texture and snow effect to bring our landscape to life. So first, I'm going to add birds like this. We can also go like this, but I'm going to do like this today. So let's start. It's just, a v shaped seeing like this. Make sure you use a tip of a brush and then paint your bid. So just like this. You can paint it simple like this or this one, or you can go like this too. A V shape, but a detailed one like this. And you can give a head to make a little detail, head pop out to make it like the head, or you can go like this. Even like this too. It's just M shape and V shaped bots, shape, and VP shaped bods. Simple is. You take the excess water from your brush, then start to paint here. I'm going to paint one here, here and here and here. Let's start here. Load your brush. Do it slow. Don't hurry. Just a few fal flying birds to bring your scene to life. See, I'm going to add a little detail. So legs. And next the next one is like this. Little detail at the bottom. Only I'm using my tip of my brush to paint these bots. The other one goes here, and then a little bit detail. And then I'm loading my brush, and then this one's flying over here like the one I said before. So like this, and then the last one like this. Little curvy and then That's it. That's it, guys. Next, we'll paint the snow. Now I have taken my white watercolor paints. You can use gouache too. I'm going to load my brush with a thicker consistency of paint. And then the habit on tissue paper. And then I'm going to give a few dry brushing here for the snow on the right of the fence like this, touching it. Just S, I'll show you. So if the fence I have drawn, I'm just flicking it through on the right side, like this. Okay. So I'm just flicking it through to give the snow texture or the fence. See? It's like dry brushing. You have dry paint and do it on either side as if the snow has fallen over the fence. So next, I'm going to take a thicker paint again and tap with my fingers or other brush, I'm going to tap it for the snow effect. Just few taps. I think I have to load even more white. It's not enough. Tap a few taps. First, it'll be small, see? To create the magic now magic. I'm going to tap it with my hands. You can use even your brush or pencil, to make the snow effect all over the landscape. Or you can use your hand. And even you can add few snows here and there to your trees because snow might have fallen all over the place. So I think I'll tap it and then add the snow. See? It's very easy. Just tap your fingers to add the snow texture. Just snow magic. So I'll stop with it. So let's wait, it gets dry and see what are the final touches we need to do? A few gentle taps is enough to bring your atmosphere, winter landscape to life. So make sure you add more snow to get a beautiful snow effect. You can use your pencil, or your back of your brush, and type it or with your hand. I'm doing it with my hand just to show you. That's it, guys. Let's wait. 10. Conclusion: And with that, a peaceful winter landscape is complete, guys. I hope you enjoyed painting this calm monochrome winter landscape and discovered how a single colour can capture the softness and stillness of winter. And congratulations for finishing it. I'm so proud of you guys. And if you enjoy this class, I would like to request you to leave a review, so it encourages me as an instructor and also more learners can find this class and support me. And please don't forget to share your beautiful winter artwork of your version. And I would definitely give my honest feedback, and I'm also excited to see it, and it inspires me and other students in the class. So until then, keep exploring, keep creating and I'll see you in my next class. Take care. Happy patting guys.