Tranquility in the Mist - Watercolor Landscape

1. Tranquility in the Mist - Watercolor Landscape : Hello, I am Shanan Subhan, an artist and an art educator based in Bangalore, India. You can check out my works on Instagram. I go by the handle, whatacurls Welcome to my painting class, tranquility in the Mist. I will teach you to paint this tranquil Mist watercolor landscape, following very simple techniques. I'll walk you through the supplies and all the colors that you'll need for the class. Also, we will have a small practice session though. Brush up your watercolor skills. I'll be teaching this painting step-by-step with detailed instruction to achieve enriched outcome. Join me. I'm much excited to see you inside this class. Let's get started. 2. Art Supplies : Let us talk about the art supplies. First off, we'll talk about paper. I'm going to use arches, 300 GSM, a 100% cotton paper. This is cold press texture, which means it is slightly rough. You can use any alternative watercolor paper, which is at least 300 GSM and 100% cotton to get the best results. The size of this paper is 12x 22 inches. Now let us talk about the colors. I'm using. Watercolor, artist grade paints. I'll have a separate chapter mentioning all the shades that I'll be using. Next, we will talk about brushes. I'm going to use these four brushes. First is o Princeton mop brush size six. Then silver velvet, size 12. Size eight. Size two. These brushes are of different sizes. You can go ahead with whatever or similar brushes you have. Next to place the paper while painting. I'm going to use this piece of the plywood sheet. I'll be wetting the paper thoroughly and placing it on this sheet so that I can move it around while painting. Next, we would need tissues, are all napkins to wipe off the pains and water of the brushes. We would need two jars of water for cleaning the paints and taking Clearwater. Using single container will result in muddy paintings. Have two separate judge. We would need a plate or a palette for mixing colors. Blow dryer to speed up the drying process. And I'll also use a water spray bottle to wet the paper and also to soften the hard edges. That's all about the supplies. 3. Why no masking tape?: In this class, I'm going to paint on a larger paper. So I'm going to use this hard surface to place my paper. This will allow me to move on the paper while the painting. I'm not going to use any masking tape. But if you want, you can go ahead with masking the paper. The reason why I'm not applying masking tape on a larger paper is because when we apply what it is going to stretch to certain extent, which makes it go or buckle up in the center if we have applied masking tape. So in order to prevent the paper from buckling up in the center part, I'm going to use another technique. So what I'm going to do is wet both the sides of the paper. I'm using or re-usable napkin to wet all the sides. You can even use a clean cloth or anything that's available with you. Do not use tissue papers as it might leave its fiber on the paper. Now, I'll turn the paper upside down. The water on the paper will help the papers take onto the surface. Remember that the sketching should be done before applying water. Once the paper is wet, you won't be able to sketch anything. Notice how the paper stays intact and flat three means the same throughout the painting process. And this is the usable napkin that I'm using. 4. Colors used: Alright, let's talk about the colors required for the sky. I have used diluted version of ultramarine blue. You can even go with cobalt blue for the distant cliffs over y'all, I have used various colors, like raw, umber, burnt umber, wallet, ultramarine blue. So these four colors, I have applied it in diluted version. Similarly, for the foreground cliff, I have used the same colors in concentrated tone. Now for the darker shadows on both that lifts, I have used Payne's gray. You can even go with black for the water. I have majorly preserve the white areas, but for the sides, I have applied very diluted version of raw umber and ultramarine blue. For the ground part around the water puddles. We'll be using raw umber and then for the shadows will make small number and Payne's gray. For the glasses on the cliffs. I'll be using this yellowish green. If you do not have this color, then you can make sap green and orange. It will also result in similar shade. That's all about the colors. 5. Thumbnail: Before we start painting, let's draw a thumbnail to understand the flow and elements of the painting. In a simpler way. Atmosphere of this painting is quite misty. In the center area. The foreground here has a cliff which IPOs in its true colors. Since it is in the darker colored, it helps to glorify the midst in the background area. Then we have water puddles on the ground area and Yoda foreground. So we will draw some random elliptical shapes, something like this. So as we move away from the paddle, it tends to appear smaller due to the perspective. So you can notice this yard, these puddles appear smaller because it is slightly away from the viewpoint. Then we have some grasses and debri, across this foreground paddles area. Then we have another cliff which is slightly away from the foreground, comes in and around the midground area. Next we have another cliff, which is very far from the viewpoint and it is though furthest cliff you're in this painting. Then again, on the left side, we have another glyph. So this is present somewhere around in the midground area. The tonal value of the cliffs determines its distance. He was a closer look of the thumbnail. So before starting the painting, draw a small thumbnail with a basic sketch and try to paint it on your own just to get a basic understanding and also to feel confident about the colors. Lastly, we have free flying birds in the sky. So yeah, that's all about the thumbnail. 6. Practice - warm up: In this chapter, we will practice some of the elements in the painting. First, letters spin this distant cliff. We will go with wet on wet technique for the base layer. So we will be applying lighter colors on the upper part and the lower area will be preserved for the midst, apply diluted colors. Then for the next layer we will apply some darker colors, like violet, ultramarine, want Dumbo, et cetera. The colors really don't matter here. We really need to preserve the whiteness of the paper to suggest the misty appearance. In the lower area. Again, we will apply diluted colors. For the final details. We will use concentrated colors. In the actual painting. We will be working on the elements one-by-one. Next, let us practice the water puddles. I'm going to draw these shapes. Apply clear water on this area to perform wet on wet. Then I'm going to apply with ultramarine blue for the base layer. Now I'm going to apply, but all on board, resolving some empty areas in-between. Next, we will add some darker colors, suggesting the darker shadows on the ground area. Use a blow dryer to speed up the drying process because the next layer will be wet on dry. So we need the paper dry. Next we will add some grasses and darker shadows around this area. Since these paddles are closer to the viewpoint, it needs some detailing work. In the midground area, we will add some tiny dots and horizontal lines. If you look at the painting, this is what I'm trying to create. These tiny dots and lines. You have to apply very little pressure to get it right. 7. Part 1 - Tranquility in the Mist: Alright, let us prepare people for the painting. I'm going to apply clear water on the backside of the paper. So here I'm using a reusable napkin. You can also go with a clean piece of cloth. Apply a generous amount of water. It is better if you place this paper on any hard surface rather than placing it on the table. Note on the paper to the front side. The front side of the paper is still dry. So I'm going to mark the composition of the painting. We're going to start by drawing a cliff on the right side. Then we'll draw a slightly smaller cliff. This will be further away from the viewpoint. On the left side of the frame, we have this thin gloves, which will have and miss TOP RNs. In the foreground area, we have these partly dried-up signed or the ground area. I'm drawing these random elongated shapes. So these are supposed to be the water puddles in the foreground. Sketching is done. Now let us start inside of the people. If you do not want to follow this step, you can also go with masking tape method. Since the size of the paper is larger. So it might stretch or buckle up while painting. I'm re-wetting the backside of the paper just to make sure it is enough wet. I've played generous amount of water on the sides so that it sticks onto the surface that we are painting on. 8. Part 2 - Tranquility in the Mist: Let us get started with the pinky. I'm going to mix the colors on this plate. When you start with this guy, loosely apply the brush strokes in diagonal manner. Since the paper is. So the colors are going to spread really well. And it will create a sense of softness in the sky. No paperboard around in different direction. The water will flow towards the gravity, creating stunning effect. Next, I'll take raw umber. If you do not have this color, then you can use bond Dumbo or burnt sienna. Mixed this color with ultramarine blue. On the wet surface, I'm going to apply two horizontal lines. So this is going to be the distant cliff. This is the base layer that we're painting. Going forward, we will add multiple layers in order to create a sense of depth in the painting. So leaving white areas will depict, though missed in the painting. Use diluted color. It could be any brown color. Next we have another cliffs, which is in the mid ground area. So we will use slightly darker tonal value of the same colors. That is umber and ultramarine blue. Now I'm adding this meal then blue on the edges of the water body. Moving on, lead to spin. There'll be Skyler for apartments. Use a diluted tonal value. We do not want to very dark and prominent color for the water. Moving on, we will paint the foreground cliff. So this is going to be a darker cliff since it is closer to us. Start with bond Dumbo, and then also add some raw umber and ultramarine blue. So yeah, I'm loosely painting this cliff, adding multiple colors. You can use darker colors like violet, Payne's gray, blond, Dumbo, indigo, or any darker color that's there in your palette? For the foreground, cliff, I'm not following any particular step or any such. I'm just randomly adding the colors because I know that after drying, this is going to look much lighter and I would still have to work on the detailing part. So for timing, just focus on filling this area up with multiple colors here. And I'm preparing the base for the reflection of this cliffs in the water. So I'm applying these horizontal strokes. These darker values are going to depict the shadows. No cliffs. We will apply another layer of ultramarine blue on the foreground area. And make sure to retain the whiteness in the area of the painting. So that it suggests the mist or forget most fuel. While the paper is still wet, we will apply another layer on the cliffs. So here I have mixed violet with one Dumbo. So it is like a purplish brown color. Notice how I'm preserving the white areas for the missed. In watercolors, we do not apply white color explicitly. We need to save the whiteness of the paper. Moving on, we will paint the reflection of these cliffs in the water. I'm using ultramarine blue with a tiny bit off. It makes it a muted blue color. On the upper areas of the cliff, I'm applying some darker tones in order to create the illusion of sharpness on the cliff. So this in turn will signify the midst in the lower part of the cliff. What colors you use, don't matter. Pay attention to the values. Here. I'm using a combination of blue, violet, one Dumbo bunch Yana to build a nice contrasting balance. So hard I used only one. It would look very boring and flat. Well, you can go ahead with single color as well. Where did the use of multiple colors brings a sense of jam and appealing look to the painting. Now you can see me adding these darker colors on the top part of the cliff automatically enhances the lighter areas in the bottom part. We can see the midst being formed here. 9. Part 3 - Tranquility in the Mist: Moving on, we will paint wet land around the paddles. No paper is damp currently. So we will apply this as wet on wet. So take raw umber and apply the veins, leaving some gaps. Genuine, go with burnt umber or any brown that you already have. For the pencil markings for your understanding. It go to medium, medium to pinch and do not apply watery paint as it will run into the blue areas creating Medea be orange. As we move further away from this foreground area, we will apply smaller lines to create a sense of perspective. Next, to create depth in these partners, we will add darker brown color. By mixing Payne's gray to the brown color. Apply these darker shadows across all the models that we have created. Next, we will go back to the foreground, cliff. Moving on, we will paint some more grasses on the cliff. So I'm using a warm green color. You can also mix orange with some green to this similar shade. The brush to create the impression of leaves and grasses. I'll also apply this on the lower areas of the cliff. So we're going to leave it to dry and then come back later and add the details. Now I'm working on the texture of the leaf. So apply some vertical brushstrokes using darker colors. When the tip of your brush add some tiny dots and on these grasses to create smaller leaves and twigs. With the help of my blow dryer, I am drying the distant cliff. 10. Part 4 - Tranquility in the Mist: Once the paper is dry, we will apply another wet on wet layer. So we will apply clean water again. Now, you might wonder why wet the paper again when we already had the wet layer. This is because earlier the paper was almost 60 to 70% dry. So if we had applied the pain's there, it would have created some backgrounds and wild blooms, which we do not want at this point of time. So to avoid that, I chose to dry it. Then again apply the wet layer. Now on this wet surface, let us apply some darker shades. You can go ahead with any of these colors. No compulsion on that. Main intention here is to have darker tone on the top of the cliff and lighter tone on the bottom, highlighting the midst in the lower areas. On the top of the cliff, we will paint some leaf-like shapes, suggesting the trees in the distance. Irregular leaf-like shapes. Now, with the help of a clean brush. And I'm softening these land on the leaf-like shapes that we have been good. Let us go back to the foreground leaf. So as you know, we have already painted the base layer for the grasses. Now let us add some details there. Being darker green color and add some dots and leaf-like shapes. And on the lighter colors, the North completely covered the lighter areas. We need them to, because it is important to have lighter and darker colors to bring out a sense of contrast and depth in what are we being. Next M logging on the detailing part of the cliff. So I'm adding darker colors will create a sense of what actual highlight and shadows apply, tiny vertical lines. Next, using darker brown color. I'm going to add some details around these puddles. Just have to use the tip of the brush, apply them tiny lines. Next we will use dry brush technique. Damp brush. I know Payne's gray. Now with this thick color, lighter brush and on the corners. So this creates a sense of noise and make sure I don't go by this. It makes on floor ground look busy. Oh, no. I'll go back to the distant. Live with clean water and just pull the paint down, creating some glyph extra. Back to the foreground. Adding these tiny, very tiny lines, you can use a fine liner brush and apply a very little amount of pressure. So here if you apply more pressure, the lines are going to be thicker. Next, let us create the ground for the distinct lifts. It will create a sense of aerial perspective, right? Any similar color and blend it well with the background. This will create the base area for the cliff. We will repeat the same for the one in the left side. Next, I'll add some mild texture on the distant cliff, your diluted color and glide the brush over the surface. Here on the left Cliff, I add some random dots creating or pattern and some irregular shapes. Or adding some darker colors on the bottom part of the right leaf. Using water spray, who spread the color as well. This will create a sense of inept at the bottom of the cliff. 11. Part 5 - Tranquility in the Mist: We are almost done. But before that we will add some tiny details here and there. So take any last paper, the upper part of the painting. Now we're going to take any darker color and splatter the paint on the water puddle area. Just tap on the brush to sprinkle some paint here. Moving on, we will add some tiny grasses on the World Cup or delirium. So these gases will be partly submerged in the water. And partly seen on the upper part. There are some tiny wobbly lines depicting a surface that is speaking through the water. So these surfaces that are peeking through, We either rocks or debris or any other thing. But we just want to make it look busy. Being these lines with minimal pressure. The moment you apply more pressure on the brush handle, you will see thicker lines. Also. We read the tonal values so that you have a nice balance in the elements. My next aim here is to make the foreground bubbly area look crowded and busy. Since it is closer to the viewpoint. So it demands some attention, right? So let us just randomly add some glasses and not making it look fuller. I think some more darker colors on the distinct glyphs here. Next I'm going to paint some distant ports in the sky. So I'm just going to add these simple shapes like alphabet, we are inverted V. So this will make it look like boards. You don't have to put much effort rolling on under distant cliffs. I see that is an hard edge here. So I'm just bringing the water to spread the colors evenly. I'm also adding some darker colors in the foreground and the main villain. Towards the foreground, we will add some grass blades using a fine liner brush. Next, at the bottom of the misty area, I'm going to apply some diluted color to suggest to the horizon line. Makes sure that you do not get any hard edges at the horizon area because that is going to spoil the misty APRNs. Suppose you have any hard edges on the horizon area. You can add water and blend it well with the background. Now, I'm going to fully blow dry this area, especially the mid area, so that I can pay him some boards. 12. Part 6 - Tranquility in the Mist + Conclusion: Alright, we are almost close to finishing this painting. But before that, let us add some more midground books. Which means that these birds are flying somewhere around with ground area, which is much closer to the foreground when compared to the distinct boards. So these birds appear slightly bigger. I have used raw umber as the base color for the board. Now, I am adding Payne's gray for the darker shadows. Let me add another board. You can paint as many votes as you want. So when I painted these mid ground birds, it automatically glorified though misty appearance in the painting, right? Don't do feel that. So I will dry the first layer in order to add the details using wet on dry technique. Alright, so the base layer of these words are completely dry. Now I'm taking my fine liner again, adding some details using Payne's gray. Okay. So we are done with this painting. No peeling the masking tape, nothing. Just lift the paper. That's it. And notice how our paper is still flat and there is no buckling or any such thing. Okay, there you go. This is the final look of the painting. The paper is still damp, so I just leave it on the table. And lastly, I'm going to add my signature on this painting. So I am begging white weekend, I'm sorry, white gouache paint. And just signing it on this right corner. The signature makes it complete. So we are done. Thank you all for joining my class. I hope you enjoyed watching, are painting along with me. Do share your class projects under the Projects can re or tag me on Instagram. I would love to reshare your works. Also, please don't forget to leave your review or feedback for this class. That would really mean a lot to me. Alright, then, whereby happy being thing.