Transparency in Watercolors: Unlocking Depth, Luminosity & Textures

1. Introduction: Hello, my creatives. As we step into a brand new year, I want to wish each and every one of you a happy, creative, and a fulfilling start to 2025. This time of the year is perfect for refreshing our minds and embracing new creative habits that bring us joy and growth. And what better way to do so than diving into the versatile world of watercolors? If you are new here and don't know much about me, I am Nilim Roy an art educator and a watercolor artist with four years of experience exploring this magical medium. Currently, I am the brand ambassador to a South Korean paint brand named Shinhanat and Sitar am Stationers in India. My journey with watercolors has been one of a constant exploration. Every stroke reveals something new, and it is this very unpredictability that makes watercolor so fascinating. Today, in this class, we will focus on mastering one of the most magical qualities of watercolors that is transparency. Transparency is what gives watercolor paintings its luminous glow and incredible depth. In this class, we will systematically explore what is transparency and why it is important, how to identify transparent, semi transparent and opaque pigms, correlation of staining and non staining pigments to transparency and techniques to create transparent mixes from opaque colors. Our class project will reinforce all of these learnings in creating this beautiful winter themed painting. We will begin our class project by selecting the color palette for our class, focusing on the properties of transparency and the stining behavior of the watercolor pigments. Then we will simplify the reference and create a sketch to establish our composition. Next, we will dive into loose expressive wet on wet strokes to form organic patterns and shapes, mimicking the natural cracks and textures found in the eyes. The class is designed with easy to follow manageable steps removing the stress of recreating the painting and encouraging you to enjoy the process. As we progress, we will use laying techniques to create the illusion of depth, making the flower stem appear as though it is encased in ice. This is the magic of watercolor transparency in action. By the end of this class, you will have a solid grasp of watercolor transparency, empowering you to elevate your work by making intentional color choices which you could use for your future projects. Whether you are a watercolor enthusiast or someone looking to refresh your creative skills, this class offers you a comprehensive exploration of the subject. So grab your brushes and paints and let's get started. In the next section, I will take you through about how the class is organized. So meet me at the next lesson. 2. Class Overview: Thank you for joining this class. I'm thrilled to have you here. Let me quickly take you through how the class is organized. To begin with the class, we will explore how transparency in watercolors creates depth, luminosity, and glowing effects that make your paintings captivating. Next, we will learn to identify transparent, semi transparent and opaque colors using simple techniques like the grid test and understand their impact on your work. The next lesson is all about creating transparent color mixes, where I will show you to create temporary transparent mixes by blending colors and adjusting water levels. We will then understand how transparency influences layer, glazing, and the overall mood of your painting through the help of our layering or glazing charts. Combining all of these learnings from the previous lessons, we will put into practice by carefully selecting a palette of transparent colors using techniques like layering and wet on wet to replicate the ici texture and depth for our class project. I would also highly recommend watching the entire class first so you can mentally prepare for what's coming next. This will give you a clearer understanding of the process and flow, making it easier to follow along and fully enjoy the creative journey ahead. In the projects and resources section, I have added the original reference image, my final artwork, and a sketch you can trace or print for guidance. Feel free to experiment and upload your finished painting under submit project. I would love to see your work and provide feedback to help you grow. If you are on social media, tag me at the rate Neil's arts Underscore Cove. I would be thrilled to share your creations. And last but not the least, don't forget to follow me here on Skill Share for updates on new classes and giveaways. 3. About Supplies: Welcome to the supply section. Let's quickly take a look at all the materials or the supplies that we are going to need to create a project. The first and the most important supply we will need for this class is watercolor paper. I'm using here Saunders waterfot paper, a premium quality watercolor or aquaril paper. It is made from 100% cotton acid free archival grade and is perfect for professional results. The paper I'm using is coal pressed, also known as grain fine, denoted by the letter CiPi naught. Here is a close look at its texture. It's not overly grainy, nor it is as smooth as hot press paper. It strikes a perfect balance, offering just the right amount of texture to deliver stunning results for any watercolor painting. Now it's absolutely okay if you do not have the same exact brand of paper that I'm using. Feel free to use any brand that you are comfortable with or you have on hand. As long as it is 100% cotton, coal pressed, and at least 300 GSM in thickness, it should be fine. If 300 GSM isn't available, a minimum of 250 GSM would also work. The paper that I'm using here is a size in between A three and an A four size, but you are welcome to choose any size you feel comfortable painting on. The key is to work with what suits you the best. Next, let's talk about our colors. For this class, I'm using professional grade paints from Shannan Arts extrafine watercolors from their PWC range. I have been using this brand for several years and absolutely love the colors. Being artist grade and made with single pigments, they offer excellent clarity and transparency just as watercolors should. Specific colors selected for the class project will be discussed in detail in the selection of the color palette lesson where I'll share the pigment names and explain why they were chosen. As mentioned earlier, it's perfectly fine if you do not have the same exact brand or colors that I'm using. Feel free to work with whatever supplies you have in hand. You can always learn and invest in higher quality materials as you progress. Let's talk about our brushes. For the classes, I'll be using a few key favorite brushes of mine. First one is this hake brush. This one is from silver Atia series and with bristles which are made from goat hair. It's incredibly soft and has excellent water to paint holding capsity making it perfect for watercolors and laying flat washes. Nextus round brushes. I'll be using a size 12 round brush from silver black velvet series, which is ideal for versatile strokes. Alongside that, I will be using size six round brush or an ultra round brush. My ultra round brush is from the silver silt series. The next brush is this detailing brush. I'll be using size two synthetic round brush from the same silver silt series. Now, apart from them, I'll be also using these blend brushes. The purpose of the blending mops is to blend the colors very softly on wet and wet background. So either you can go for the silver reteliaGtir mob brush or a synthetic blend squirrel blend mop brush or a natural squirrel mop brush, anything that you have got. It's absolutely fine if you do not have mop brushes, as long as you have round brushes in sizes 12, six, and two, or even a mini liner or a detailing brush in size one or two, you are all set. That's pretty much everything about brushes. Next, we will need a palette knife, which we will use to create textures. If you do not have a palette knife, you can also use expired or discarded cards as a substitute. We will also need salt for additional texture effects. Regular table salt works perfectly fine, but you can also experiment with chunkier options like rock salt or kosher salt. Just use whatever you have in your kitchen. Finally, we'll need some basic sketching supplies, a mechanical pencil with HB lead, preferably 0.3 MMM thickness and an eraser. Now you can use any pencil that you have got. The next supply that you would need is your masking tape. This will be used to tape down your paper on fo sites. Next is palette. I'll be using a ceramic palette along with a mixing tray to create color pools. Next will be tissue paper or towels. These are essential for lifting. We will also need two jars of clean water, one for rinsing your brushes, and another one is as a fresh source of water for laying flat washes on the paper. Another essential supply that you would need is a spray bottle to miss the paper lightly and keep it moist as needed. And that's all the materials that you will need to get started with the class. So gather your supplies, and let's begin this creative journey together. See you in the first lesson. 4. What is Transparency ?: If you are wondering what is transparency, let me explain. Transparency refers to the ability of watercolor paint to allow light to pass through it and reflect off the paper beneath. This property is what makes watercolor unique compared to opaque mediums such as acrylics or guash. Let me demonstrate this concept using simple swatches. I'm starting with my ultramarine blue, a transparent watercolor. First, I create a watery pool of the color by diluting it with plenty of water. Then I apply it in a thin layer over this black grid which I have prepared using a black permanent ink. As you can see, the black grid remains visible throughout the transparent layer and the whites of the paper shines through. This effect will be more pronounced when it dries completely. Next, I'm repeating the same using gouache, which is an opaque medium. I use the same ultramarine shade but apply it over the black grid. Notice how the paint sits on top of the grid, partially covering the black lines and giving a more solid appearance. Finally, I do the same with acrylics. With this opaque medium, the effect is even more pronounced. The paint completely covers the black grid sitting prominently on the surface, creating a vibrant bold layer. When comparing the three, the difference becomes clear. The transparent watercolor appears to sit behind the black grid, allowing the texture and details beneath to show through. In contrast, both gauche and acrylic sit above the grid, masking it and making their opacity evident. Let's take a quick look at some of my watercolor paintings. In this, I have combined transparent and semi opic pigments to create striking contrast. In my seascapes, I use viridian, a transparent pigment for the water in varying tonal values. For the skies, I use semi transparent to opaque pigments, giving them a velvety softness, perfect for creating the dramatic feel. The colors of the sky reflect on the sea while the luminous transparency of the viridian makes the waves glowing. This shows that opaque pigments are not to be avoided in watercolor. They are essential when paired thoughtfully with transparent colors. Understanding pigment properties allows you to make informed choices for your palette unlocking endless creative possibilities. In the next lesson, we'll explore this further. 5. Determining Transparency: The transparency of a watercolor paint can be determined by the following three methods. Now let's take a look in detail about each of these methods. Let's take a look at the first method. Most professional watercolor brands provide pigment details on their product catalog broochurs or their tube packaging and websites. Thise properties include transparency, staining and granulation. Look for symbols such as open square, open square with a diagonal, half filled square, and a fill square. If your tube lacks the information, check the manufacturer's website for a comprehensive breakdown of the pigment properties. This is especially useful for verifying details when certain properties aren't specified. Here is an example of how Daniel Smith's website provides detailed information about their watercolors. The list all the essential properties of each pigment, including their transparency, staining, granulation, light fastness, and pigment composition. You can find all the pigment properties right on your paint tubes. Look for symbols commonly used by watercolor manufacturers such as filled square for an opaq, open square for transparent, half filled square for semi opaq and open square with a diagonal is for semi transparent. Now let's take a look at the second method. That is a grid test. Draw a black grid on watercolor paper and apply a wash of color over it. Observe the result once it dries. If the paint is transparent, black lines are clearly visible. If the black lines are partially obscured, it is semi opaque and if the black lines are completely covered by the paint layer, it is opaque. Now, if some color appears, but the black line remains visible, it is semi transparent. It's an excellent way to test your colors and verify transparency. If the label information seems inconsistent, this can be the best method that you can test your paints for transparency. The next method is to experiment with a flat wash to further confirm transparency, create a flat wash. Now, what is a flat wash? A flat wash is a consistent even layer of paint applied across the paper at one go without lifting the brush. By observing how the color interacts with the paper, you can determine transparency. Transparent pigments will allow the paper's texture and whiteness to shine through it, whereas the opaque pigments will create a more solid flat layer masking the paper beneath. Testing your colors through this methods ensures you fully understand their properties, allowing you to make informed choices for your future artwork. 6. Correlation of Staining & Non-Staining Pigments to Transparency: In this lesson, let's understand how staining versus non staining pigments affect the transparency of a color. Now, water staining pigments. Staining pigments are those that soak into the paper fibers, making them harder to lift. Now, how do we know if a color or a pigment is a staining or a non staining one? We can determine so by doing this simple test. On a black grid, lay a flat wash across and let it dry completely. I'm mixing my peacock blue into a thin, watery mix. After I lay a flat wash of my peacock blue over the black grid, I let it dry completely. I will repeat the same process using another pigment, which is my ultramarine light and repeat the entire process all over again. After layering a flat wash of my ultramarine blue over this black grid, I will wait for it to dry completely. Now, the best method is to let the colours dry 24 hours before you go ahead and perform this test. Once both the layers have dried, I use little water and damp a portion of my peacock blue layer and try to lift the paint off we notice that it's difficult to remove the paint completely. A bluish tinge remains on the lifted areas showing that this pigment has been absorbed into the paper fibers. Staining pigments like this, such as PB 153, such as Taloblue or peacock blue are known for their intense vibrancy and subtle transparency, contributing to a luminous glowing effect when lead. I repeat the same process with the ultramarine, and I notice that the paint easily reactivates and lifts off revealing the underneath of the paper. This indicates that it is a non staining pigment which does not fully absorb into the paper fiber. Once the paper dries, we can understand the difference between both the colors distinctly. The white of the paper is distinctly visible under the ultramarine blue, whereas we see a bluish tinge appearing on the lifted areas for the peacock blue. This test clearly determines which is a staining and a non staining pigment. For this reason, non staining pigments are easier to manipulate, making them ideal for corrections and adjustments in your work. Since they get readily reactivated with water, you can effortlessly rework the underlying areas if needed, providing greater flexibility and control during the painting process. If you would have noticed, both of my colors are made from single pigments, single pigments tend to have more consistent transparency because of the pigments, natural characteristics are not altered by the blending of different pigments which have different properties. On the other hand, mixed pigments which are made up of more than one pigments might result in less transparency as some pigments used in the blends could be more opaque affecting the overall transparency of the paint. Let's explore how the transparency of staining pigment affects watercolor painting. In this painting, I use halo blue or warm staining blue to paint a bright blue sky with fluffy clouds. When I tried lifting paint from the areas which are meant to represent the clouds, it was difficult to completely remove the blue, leaving a faint bluish tinge on the paper. To effectively depict the glowing white clouds, I used the negative painting technique. Instead of relying on lifting to create the cloud shapes, I outlined the shape of the clouds with my blue and intentionally left paper unpainted in those areas. This approach allowed me to capture the luminosity of the clouds while avoiding the limitations of lifting a staining pigment. Thus, by understanding the behavior of staining pigments, you can make informed decisions about how to work with them to achieve the desired effects. 7. Creating Transparent Mixes: In this video, we will learn how to prepare a transparent color mix using an opaque color. To demonstrate the dilution method, I have prepared a black grid using a permanent ink marker and allowed it to dry completely. Once dry, I remove the masking tape, leaving our grid ready for testing. Our grid is now all ready. Let's begin. For this test, I'm using my neutral tint and opaque mixed color made from two pigments, PB 66 and PBK 11. Now you can go for any opaque color of your choice, but here I have used neutral tint because it did not have any white pigment mixed in it. I squeeze some paint onto my palette and prepare a uniform paint pool using a watery flat brush. Then I apply a single stroke of the paint over the grid. You will notice that the paint covers the black grid, darkening it significantly. This shows its opaque nature. Next, I use a dropper to add water to the paint, diluting it to create a lighter tonal value. I mix it well and apply it over the grid. You can see the tone lightening, but the paint still remains some opaque. I add even more water further thin the paint. At this stage, the layer turns semi opaque, allowing hints of the black grid to show through. By continuing to dilute the paint, the intensity decreases and the mixture transitions from semi transparent to fully transparent. This process is similar to creating a tonal value chart for watercolors. These lighter values of opaq colors are ideal for layering techniques. However, since opic colors, especially those made from mixed pigments, tend to dominate the layers beneath, using them as an underlayer can sometimes cause subsequent transparent or semi opic layers to appear muddy. By understanding how dilution affects opacity and transparency, you can make more informed choices when building layers in your watercolor compositions. The next method is to mix and layer colors by understanding how the colors interact when layered, including changes in hue, saturation, and transparency. To do this, we will go ahead and create a glazing or a layering color chart. Now, what is a glazing or layering chart? It is a tool that helps you to evaluate the transparency of watercolor paints and how they interact when layer. It is particularly useful for understanding how pigments behave when overlapped, revealing their potential for creating depth, luminosity, and complex color effects in your paintings. To create this glazing chart, I have used all my primary warm and cool colors. You will notice that most of my primaries fall into the categories of transparent, semi transparent and semi opaque colors. This chart helps me to understand how each of these colors interacts when layered, providing valuable insights for future projects. To start, I painted a horizontal one stroke layer of each color across the grid and allowed it to dry completely. Once dry, I labeled all my primaries along the X axis of the grid. Then I repeated the process for the Y axis following the same color order. Using a single stroke for each color, I carefully painted vertical down the grid without lifting my brush, ensuring smooth and even overlaps. I observed that the granulation effect of the ultramarine blue was prominently visible when paired with both transparent and semi transparent colors. When mixed with warm yellow, it created an early warm, slightly muddy tones of green. On the other hand, when paired with cooler reds and yellows, it resulted in smoother, brighter greens and purples with a clean, vibrant appearance. Notice how smooth and vibrant color mixes are formed when peacock blue is paired with semi opaque lemon yellow. This interactions highlight how the nature of each pigment can influence the final result. Depending on your needs, you can then use these observations to select the right colors for the specific techniques in your future projects. The possibilities are endless. Create as many glazing charts as you like to explore the interactions between different colors and unlock their potential. Now it's your turn to create your own glazing chart and be amazed by the results. I will upload this glazing chart of mine under the projects and resources section so you can find it there. 8. Selection of Color Palette: Now that we have explored the transparency of the colors, let me share how I thoughtfully chose the color palette for our class project. Looking at the reference, I know I will need to work with different tonal values or blues. My first step is to swatch out my blues and perform the grid test to identify their transparency and staining properties. I then narrow down the most suitable single pigment transparent and staining blues in my collection. Here's my color selection process for the project. For the base color, I will go ahead and choose peacock blue, which is semi transparent and staining to lay down the lighter bases. And now to add textures, I will use ultramarine deep and ultramarine light for their granulating properties. You can see here how beautiful the granulating effect of this blue pigment is. For the flower stem, I'll use burnt sienna, which is a transparent pigment and sabgreen which is, again, a transparent pigment, followed by a custom mix of a cool yellow with sav green to create lighter tonal variation. The stock of the flour. Now, the sap grin that I'm using here is transparent, making it idle for creating custom lighter yellowish green tones. To achieve this, you can either mix your sap grin with a transparent yellow, such as permanent yellow deep or a transparent lemon yellow. Now, the lemon yellow that I have from Shinhan is semi opaque, but I'll show you how to make the resulting mix appear semi transparent by adjusting the water to paint ratio using opaque to a semi opaque paint. For this, I will use two parts of transparent sap green and one part of lemon yellow. Now you can see the lemon yellow is semi opaq whereas sap green is transparent. Here are some key points when mixing these colors that you must keep in mind. The resulting mix that will be produced from mixing lemon yellow and sap green will be a smooth, yellowish green, but with semi transparent properties. Now, how we can achieve the semi transparent property by adjusting the proportion of lemon yellow or the water content, you can control the transparency. When you add more lemon yellow, it makes the mix lean towards semi transparent or semi opaque properties. And when you add more water, it increases the transparency and lightens the mix, requiring multiple layers to build depth. Notice how the paint starts to turn translucent as I keep adding more lemon yellow. However, when I increase the amount of sap green, it then suddenly neutralizes the translucency, resulting into a semi transparent mix. When the mix is wet, it may appear slightly semi opaque, but the true nature of the transparency becomes evident once it dries. We will wait for it to dry completely. As it dries, you will observe that the color appears semi transparent with the black grid line still partially visible beneath that layer of paint. This demonstrates how the proportions or pigments and the drying process significantly influence the final transparency of your watercolor mixes. To enhance depth along the edges of the paper, I select indigo. While enhance indigo doesn't meet my preference for this project, I opt for indigo from art philosophy, which delivers the desired effect, it being a semi transparent and a highly staining pigment. Let's recap the color choices. For the texture defects, I use my granulating ultramarine blue, and to add contrast at the bottom and the sides, I use indigo, along with little traces of transparent permanent violet. Now the glow around the stem will come from a highly transparent cool blue. In my case, it's peacock blue. And for the flower stem, I use a combination of browns and greens. By selecting pigments based on their transparency, staining properties, and their behavior, we can create a balanced and visually engaging painting with glowing layers and rich textures. Let's dive in and see these choices in action. 9. Class Project- Sketching: This is the reference that I have chosen, while it may look delicate, but it may seem complex at first. So we will simplify it to create similar textures and effects. Instead of replicating it exactly, we will try to give it a unique artistic touch. I would recommend watching the entire sketching process first before attempting it yourself. I have printed the reference on an A four sheet as I am painting on watercolor paper that's slightly larger than A four, but smaller than A three. If you are working on a smaller canvas, observe the reference closely and note the flower stems position. It is not centrally aligned, but slightly shifted towards the right near the two thirds intersection. I am positioning the printed reference on my watercolor paper and roughly marking the flower stems placement along the edge and the bottom of the sheet. Next, I begin the sketching process by marking the flour stalk and extending it down to form the entire stem running to the bottom of the paper. It's a simple sketch, so I recommend watching the entire process first before starting on your own. I begin by marking down the flower stalk and extending it to form the entire stem running to the bottom of the paper. But first, while forming the flower stem, I create this V shape. As you can see, the first two flowers in the reference are positioned exactly in the same way, and then I join it to form the stem. As I reach the lower half of the flower stem, I draw another line extending to the right, forming a V shape to create the internode of another stem. The basic outline of the stem is now complete. We now add the flower stalks and leaves to completely finish of the sketch. A Now slowly, we will start to create the flower and start forming its petals. So these are very easy. It's more like a kind of tulip, but not exactly a tip. So it has almost three or four petals per flower. We will now extend the lower half of the stem, leaving a 1 centimeter gap from the bottom edge of the paper, just like how you see it on the reference. Next, we will add the stems, leaves and complete the sketch by drawing the flower petals on the internodal stem. Here I'm replicating the flower stem as seen in the reference, since I'm working on a larger sheet of paper. However, feel free to adjust your composition by adding more or omitting some flowers and stems to suit the size of your paper. If you are working on a smaller sized paper, I would recommend to omit some of the flowers so that your sketch looks neat and not very overcrowded. Making some final corrections to the stem, and once you are finished, our sketch will be ready for painting. I'll include the sketched outline, along with the reference image in the class resources section. Feel free to download and use it for your own sketching needs. Oh 10. Class Project - Background I: Our sketch is ready, and we will begin with the background shortly. Before that, I'm squeezing out the paints from the tubes. You can see the colors I'll be using in the left corner of the screen. If you don't have tube paints, that's perfectly fine. You can use pan paints instead. Just make sure to have cool and warm blues in your palette. With that, our freshly squeezed paints are now ready to use. A quick sprits of water will activate them. Before we start painting, we will thoroughly weight our paper, and I will be doing so by using my soft hack brush from silver black velvet of size number ten. But you can use any broad flat brush that you have got. Ideally, a soft goat hair flat hag brush will provide you better blending results, which you will notice as we progress into the painting. I'm currently applying an even layer of water across the paper surface. Make sure to spread the water uniformly, avoiding any puddles or uneven spots. Using a back and forth motion with my hack brush, I'm ensuring that the paper is evenly coated with a flat wash of water. You can do this step multiple times, ensuring that the paper is uniformly coated with water. Once the paper has an even shine and you are satisfied with the uniform water application, we will move on to the next step that is paint application. For this, I will be switching to my size number 12 round brush from silver black velvet. I chose this brush for a sharp pointed tip and rounded belly which holds water effectively. Using the tip and toe of my wet brush, I will be picking up some of my peacock blue. The peacock blue that I'm using here is from Shannan arts peacock blue. Using the pigment PB 15 is 23. It is a cool, semi transparent pigment, but it also has a semi staining property. So I'm creating a watery pool of a light tonal value. This diluted mix will ensure the transparent appearance as the paint starts drying, maintaining the delicate effect we are aiming for. I'm starting with a very light tonal wash of cool blue, randomly covering areas on the left side of the paper while leaving some white spaces to show through. Notice that I have avoided painting close to the flower stem, leaving those areas white for now. As we progress, we can then decide whether to fill some of those gaps based on our preference. Next, using a watery brush, I'll mix ultramarine blue deep to a medium tonal value. This is a beautiful granulating and transparent warm blue. I'll use it to layer the leftmost corners, enhancing depth without fully covering the light wash of cool blue underneath. Let's begin adding mid tonal values of ultramarine blue to the lower right corner of the paper, keeping the mix watery to ensure it stays wet longer. This allows the darker and the lighter tones to blend seamlessly achieving the soft blended appearance we are aiming for. Now closer to the flower stem, I'll carefully apply a very light tonal wash of cooler blue. That is my peacock blue to preserve its luminous quality. Next, switching to a size number six pointed damp round brush. I will fill the smaller details around a stem with delicate light wash. Once this layer dries, you will notice the dreamy luminous effect we are creating. Here in the upper right corner, you can see that the previous layer has dried already. So in order to create a smooth blend, I will be using my size number 12 brush loaded with a watery mix of my peacock blue and begin to fill the area while blending the colors seamlessly. This technique is known as layering with transparent tonal washes, which helps build the depth and dimension we are looking for. But With the same size number six brush, I'm going to load a little medium tonal value of my peacock blue and blend it into the lighter tones that we layered earlier, blending it seamlessly because now we will start layering our darker tones towards the corner edges of left and right. Before we start adding darker tones of blue, to enhance the texture, I'll add water splatters, which will help disperse the paint and produce beautiful organic patterns. I am absolutely loving how the ultramarine blue has granulated and blended so beautifully with the peacock blue, creating a moody spontaneous effect that enhances the texture. To intensify the depth, I will now add darker tones of ultramarine blue with a hint of permanent violet to the left corners of the paper. Mixing little amount of my ultramarine violet with this watery mix of ultramarine blue and dropping it randomly into certain spots at the left corner. Here, the strokes are totally random. Since the paper is wet, the colors will disperse beautifully into the wet background. With my damp watery brush, I'm pushing out the cooler tones of blue towards the darker tones of my ultramarine, which I just lay to facilitate that blending. To lay the groundwork for the appearance of the frozen leg, I use the tip of my brush to create subtle slanted strokes. These strokes will play a key role later in the process as they help build the illusion of cracks, adding a sense of realism and texture to the icy surface. Using my damp tri coat hair hag brush, I softly blend the colors, starting from the light peacock blue and moving outward towards the darker tones. Observe the gentle control brush movements here. Applying too much pressure can lift off the layer since our background is still wet. I repeat this process for the bottom and the side darker tones of ultramarine, but this time, I reverse the strokes, converging them inward to create a cohesive seamless blend. Switching to my blended squirrel mob brush, I create a puddle of darker values by mixing indigo with ultramarine blue to build depth. Insured the consistency of this mix is balanced. It should be fluid enough to layer on wet paper, but not overly watery, as it can make controlling the flow of colors difficult. At this stage, if you notice the colors aren't dispersing or moving properly on the wet paper as it should, it's a sign that the surface has started to dry to avoid disturbing the underlying layers, Lightly miss the paper with a spray bottle to rehydrate it, allowing for smooth blending. Once you do this step, you will notice the stark difference. Now the colors will be easily moving and flowing across the paper and your brush will be gliding very smoothly onto your paper. This is the magic of wet on wet. Using the same mob brush, I start layering the darker values to the outer top edges and bottom of the paper, leaving the center areas lighter to create contrast and enhance the composition, repeating the same process to the right side of the paper as well, adding in the darker values to the cornermost areas while leaving the areas closer to the stem lighter. Now to create the illusion of cracks in the eyes, I will add some sharp lines using the pointed tip of my brush. However, it seems better to switch to my size number six synthetic round brush for more precision. Since the paper is wet, these lines will blend softly, creating a smooth, natural effect rather than appearing very hard and rigid. These lines will serve as guides for adding more textures later on. Adding in the lines to my left as well, here I'm using the mix of my ultramarine blue and my permanent violet, using a very light gentle stroke with just the tip of my brush, I'm creating the strokes, now adding in some darker tones of my indigo mixed with ultramarine. I feel we can go ahead and add in some more of the darker tones of indigo towards this left corner. Once you are happy and satisfied with the lines and values, and before the paper begins to dry completely, quickly use a fluffy dry brush to softly blend the layers again as we have done earlier. Here, I'm using my smaller mob brush to blend the darker value seamlessly, achieving the same soft cohesive effect as before. Here at the left bottom, if you observe, our ultramarines are completely covered with the indigo mix, so I'm just going and quickly layering a wet mix of ultramarine, blending it all into the wet background. Now it's time to add very light tonal wash of our ultramarine blue mixed with our peacock blue and create this very light soft blend near to the stem of the flower, ensuring that the white spaces are still retained. Now time to create some magic. I'm here using table salt and sprinkling it onto this wet background all over the area, especially the darker areas. This will give a very beautiful outcome. Also, if you want to experiment and enhance the textures, you could go ahead and add in some other bigger chunks of salt particles like kosher salt or rock salt to it to have more pronounced effect. A pro tip for you. Add salt for additional textures, only when you feel the paper has reached a semi wet state. If you add salt well the paper is too wet or soggy, the salt will begin to dissolve, which will then prevent it to create the desired texture you are looking for. Timing is the key for this technique. Looking at my paper, I can gauge that certain areas have started drying, which means the salt might not create the desired textures. So to help the process along, I decided to add few water splatters to allow the salt to work its magic. At this point, I feel that some darker splatters near the corners and sparingly around the lighter areas will also set the tone beautifully for our next step. So go ahead and have some fun with it. Let the spontaneity of the splatters enhance the overall effect. Continuing with the splatters, but being mindful not to go overboard with it. I think with that, I'll stop adding the splatters and prepare for the next step with my palette knife. 11. Background II- Textures: At this stage, our paper is semi wet, so it's a perfect time to start with our textures. Time to have some fun with a palette knife, to create the texture of the cracks, use the side of the knife and gently drag it across the paper. In the direction you want the cracks to appear. The key here is to do this when the paper is still semi wet, wet enough to allow movement of the paint, but not so wet that it all blends together. Now you must be wondering how to identify the semi wet stage of the paper. We have no idea. Here are two of my pro tips. One is visual clue. The paper will start losing its shine but will still appear slightly damp. You can also identify the stage by the touch test. That is, lightly touch the paper with your finger. If the color displaces immediately, it is still too wet. If you feel the dampness, but the color stays in place, it's a perfect time to start creating textures. But be wary. You should not apply too much of pressure while touching the paper, then you might just lift up the paint because after all, the paper is still wet. Once you have found the right stage, lightly press and drag the palette knife. You can also use alternative tools like old credit cards, hard plastic cards, or any other similar object to achieve similar effects. Here are some pro tips for you. Light pressure. Avoid applying too much of pressure as it may tear the paper, practice few strokes on scrap paper to get the hang of it. And then second point is reactivating dry areas. If you notice parts of a paper have dried out and you can't create the texture, miss the paper lightly with one sprits of water and wait for a few seconds for the layers to reactivate. Be careful not to oversprit or you may need to wait longer for the paper to return to the semi wet stage. I hope you find these tips helpful if you find any hiccups along the way, and this will make the process much more smoother and enjoyable for you. I will continue creating the cracks until I'm satisfied and they resemble the texture in our reference. Once I feel they are just right, I'll stop and avoid overworking them. At this point, the paper at the top has started to dry out. Well, the bottom part is still wet. So I'm going with the next step of using a crushed tissue paper to create some additional textures. But this is totally an optional step for you. If you feel that your paper has started to dry, please skip this step. It's pointless to go on with this dry tissue paper over a dry paper because you will not be able to get the desired result. If you are not aware of which technique I'm using here, so this dabbing technique is also known as the lifting technique, which involves lifting of wet paint from the paper to create textures. Here I'm using a crushed tissue rolled into a ball to generate the subtle textures of a frozen lake. Notice how gently and randomly I'm dabbing the tissue ball across the wet areas to achieve this effect. We will now move on to our next step that is creating the trapped bubbles in the icy waters. If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point, take a break and come back when you feel refreshed. There is no rush at all. This step uses the wet on dry technique, so you can resume exactly where you left off whenever you are ready. I begin by reactivating my cool blue on the mixing palette. For this step, we will use a light tonal value to mark the shape of each bubble. Notice that I focus on the lighter areas where we had earlier splattered our darker color. I carefully go around those tiny plattered dots, shaping them into bubbles. Then I fill the bubbles with darker values, blending them softly with the dam brush in the lighter areas. This blending creates a natural transition, giving the bubbles a realistic and three dimensional appearance. For this step, I recommend using a thin, pointy round brush, preferably size one or two or even size zero. Choose the brush size you are most comfortable with to create the delicate bubbles. The finer the brush, the more precision you will have for shaping and detailing the bubbles, making them look realistic and refined. I will continue creating these bubbles in varying sizes to achieve a look similar to our reference. But I'll be careful not to go overboard. Always remember, there is no end to adding details, so it's essential to know when to stop. One effective way to decide is to pause and view your painting from a distance. If you feel happy and satisfied with how it looks, that's your cue to stop. Trust your instincts, and enjoy the process. The next few minutes will be dedicated to adding and shaping these bubbles, bringing them to life on paper. While it is an easy step, it can be a bit time consuming since we are creating multiple bubbles of varying sizes at once. Because it is a repetitive process, I have sped the process up. I suggest you watch the entire video first before painting along. This way, you will be fully prepared for the next step and can follow along more smoothly. With this final bubble, I'll stop here and prepare for the next step that is painting the mean flower stem and the petals. 12. Flower Stem - Wet On Dry: All right. Let's begin with the flower stem and petals. I'll start by painting the flower petal using the layering technique. First, I'll apply a light tonal wash with my indigo and peacock blue. I will use indigo to outline the shape of the petal, and then with a slightly damp brush, I'll fade in the peacock blue. This creates the illusion of a white petal trapped in the eyes, adding depth and the required texture to the design. As you can see, once I have finished outlining the first petal, I load the tip of my brush with a very light tonal value of peacock blue. I start filling in the petal, beginning from the edges and gradually working my way towards the center. This ensures that there are no harsh lines between the outline and the body of the petal, even while using the wet on dry technique. Now, if you are wondering what is wet on dry technique, it is a technique which involves applying wet paint onto dry paper, allowing for controlled layers and smooth transitions. Will continue painting the other petals in the same way. Since the petals are small, it's important to maintain control over your brush strokes. That is why I would recommend using a size number two round brush with a pointed tip like the one I'm using in this video. This will help you achieve precision and control while painting the delicate details of the petals. I'll continue using the same technique to complete the other petals and allow them to dry. Once dry, I'll reassess and see if any additional layers are needed to enhance the depth. Y with this last petal, I'm done with painting the flour. Now I will move on to painting the flour stock connecting it to the stem. For the stalk, I'll be using a beautiful yellowish green color. You can mix lemon yellow with sap green to create a similar shade. Here I have added a tinge of my burnt sienna into this greenish yellow mix to turn it into a similar color as that you see in the reference. Towards the bottom of the stalk, I'll add darker tones of green. To achieve this, you can either go ahead and mix your ultramarin blue with the yellow green mixture. Or use the sa green with medium tonal value directly. I recommend mixing the colors and testing them on a scrap piece of paper first to ensure they match the tone you are aiming for. I am painting directly on the paper here due to years of experience with tonal values and color mixing. But for beginners, it is always best to test your color mixes on a scrap piece of paper before painting the stalk and the stem of the flour. This entire process of painting the stock and the stem will be done using the wet on dry technique. It can feel a little monotonous at times as we will be switching between browns and greens to finish painting the stem. To make this process more efficient, I'll speed it up here. I recommend watching the entire video first so you can see where the color switches happen. This will help you stay prepared and organized when you paint along with me. If you so observe closely, I will first complete the flower stalks before moving on to the main stem. There is nothing new to explain here. I'm simply repeating the same steps that we used to paint the stalks earlier. So just relax and enjoy the process with a warm drink and maybe some good music. And You can now slowly see how our painting is coming to life as we complete the flower stalks. Now it's time to move on to the main stem. To begin, I will first layer a light tonal value of yellow green on almost half of the stem, connecting it to the stalks at the top. Then I will use the mid tunnel value of burnt sienna to finish the stem. I'm making sure to stick to the outline of the stem we created as I don't want it to look too thick or out of proportion. And to achieve this, I'm using a small pointed brush of size number two. Take your time and be patient with your strokes. Here is a quick tip. You will get smooth, clean strokes from the tip of your brush only if your paint mixture has a creamy consistency. If your paint is too dry, it will result in dry and patchy strokes on your paper, so make sure you adjust the consistency of paint accordingly. Now towards the bottom of the stem, I will start adding darker tones of brown by mixing ultramarine. When you mix ultramarine with burnt sienna, you achieve a darker hue because these colors are complimentary on the color wheel. Complimentary colors when mixed, neutralize each other, creating a richer and deeper tone. Our stem is slowly coming to life. I am now refining any wobbly lines to make it appear clean and realistic. Next, I'll start working on the internodal stem connecting the flower stalks to the right. As you proceed, be mindful of the amount of water you add while preparing your paint mix for the stem. The right consistency of paint is the key to achieve smooth and precise strokes. I will now start adding the dried empty flower stalks using my same burnt sienna mix. Once these are complete, we will then move on to painting the leaves. Just here at this part, I'll add a little yellow green mix and blend it directly on the paper. This adjustment is only for this specific area, as you can observe the same effect is there in the reference to. Oh, I just noticed that I missed painting the stalk of the flower on the left. So I'll just quickly go and complete that now, and I also see that the bottom of few stalks on the top of those flowers have faded out. So we will go back in and add mid toonal values of sap green to bring in more depth to those areas. Aside from the ulivations, I think there is nothing much to explain about painting this stem. It is quite self explanatory if you follow along on the screen. Now it's time to add the leaves. I'll begin at the top by painting the first two small leaves using mid tonal values of sap green. To bring variation and make the leaves look little more dynamic, I will occasionally add darker and lighter tones of green as we keep painting the other leaves. The variation will help the stem pop and appear more realistic. For the leaves, I am continuing to use the same technique that is our wet on dry technique as before. For painting the leaves, I have switched to my size six ultra round brush. Its beautifully pointed tip allows me to create those sharp strokes while its decent belly holds enough paint and water to paint these leaves in one smooth stroke. If you use a smaller brush, the process might just become more time consuming as you would need to reload your brush frequently, and this could also lead to inconsistencies in the tonal value of the paint. That is why I recommend using a brush with a sharp tip for precision and a good belly to achieve those broad, consistent strokes effortlessly. So for my recommendation, sizes four, five or six of round brush with a pointed tip is a good choice for painting the sleeves. Recently, I added this ultra round brush to my collection, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. Now, you must be wondering, what's the difference between an ultra round brush and a standard round brush. So here are the difference. Ultra round brushes feature this exceptionally fine and sharp pointed tip, which allows you to create fine lines details or any intricate work. Well, standard round brushes have a moderately pointed tip, which may be versatile for general use, but you cannot use for very precise detailed work. And also the stroke control. Ultra round brushes tapered design provides excellent control for both delicate and bold strokes, making it versatile for one stroke technique. And hence, my recommendation to at least have one ultraound brush in your brush collection. I will complete the remaining leaves using the same techniques, starting with a light wash of sap green and then adding depth to the sides using darker tones. After that, I'll finish of the stalk behind the first flower we painted. Once done, we will then move on to the next segment that is painting the flower petals. 13. Flower Petals-Layering : Okay, let's proceed to paint the remaining flowers just as we did with the first one. I will begin by applying a mid tonal value of indigo to outline the edges of the petals. Using my Sisix ultra round brush, I will then paint the insides with a light tonal value of indigo, lifting off pigment as needed to expose the underpainted paper blue. This same approach will be used for all the flowers. Take a note of the light source. For flowers in the lighter areas, keep the tonal value soft and delicate. For flowers in the darker areas, you can add more layers to create a stronger contrast, giving the illusion of light and shadow. Here, I slightly used a watery dark value of indigo to outline the edges of the petals, but it was too much watery. So to rectify it, I'm using a damp brush. I gently blend the areas to soften the edges. With the same damp brush, I attempted to lift off some excess paint. However, I noticed that there is too much of water, so I dab the area lightly with the tissue paper to absorb the extra watery paint. This is an example of the lifting technique. You can see here how we turned a potential mistake into an opportunity. This is one of the greatest joys of working with watercolors. Mastering the right techniques allows you to fix errors without having to rework the entire piece. That said, your ability to correct depends on the subject you are painting and the color palette you have chosen. The properties of the colors such as whether or not they are staining or non staining, play a significant role in how easily you can make adjustments, and I hope you are able to clearly notice the difference here. Another practical tip that I would like to share while working is whenever you feel your brush has too much of water paint or a darker tonal value than intended. Always keep a tissue paper or a towel handy, rub off the tip of your brush to remove the excess water or paint. This small step allows you to adjust the paint's value and work in a more controlled and precise manner. Following the same process, I'm going to complete the rest of the flowers and let them dry completely. Once you have completed all the flowers, observe the painting and match it with the reference, and then decide if additional layers are required for the flowers. If you are satisfied with the result, move on to the next step. If not, carefully add another layer to deepen the tones and bring out more depth. But here is one cautionary advice. Avoid overworking this area as it can compromise the freshness of the painting. When the painting has completely dried, remove any dried salt from the paper using a soft fluffy brush or by gently rubbing a tissue paper over the salt. Be cautious not to press too hard, especially if your darker colors are near to the base of the paper, as you may lift off darker tones unintentionally. Once your paper is completely dry, we will move on to the next step. That is to make the flour stem appear realistically embedded in ice. To do so, we are going to go ahead with a layering technique with a very diluted mixture of staining cool blue pigment. In our case, I'm using here peacock blue. Ensure the mixture is highly diluted to maintain transparency, especially if your cool blue isn't naturally transparent. As you can observe in the reference, the air pockets around the flower enhance the effect of it being embedded in ice. To achieve this encassing effect, we will outline around the flower with a light mix of peacock blue mixed with a little bit of indigo. This combination creates a subtle realistic effect of the flower being encased in ice. For this step, I'm using the long pointed tip of my size number six ultra round brush. However, you can choose any brush with a fine pointed tip to apply this detailing with precision. Using just a damp brush, I will softly fill the areas around the encasing. Observe how the paint mix is kept very light and blends seamlessly with a controlled wet on wet technique. Here I'm just going over the area with just the damp tip of my brush. I start by preparing a pool of very diluted peacock blue mix using my size number 12 black velvet brush. This brush with a rounded belly holds an excellent paint to water ratio, allowing me to smoothly apply the watery mix over the flower stem and into those wide spaces. The large belly ensures a consistent flow of paint, making the layering process seamless while the tip can reach out for all those nooks and crevices. While applying, ensure you don't go over and over the same area repeatedly, as this may reactivate the underlying layers and disturb the transparency. Use very light handed, smooth strokes in one single motion. Remember, the larger the brush, the larger area you can cover in one go, making this step more efficient. This step is very crucial as using a highly transparent pigment is essential to achieve the desired results. Start by applying a very light tonal wash of cool blue to leave a faint tinge of blue on the paper once it dries. If your paint isn't transparent in nature, dilute it until it reaches a tonal value similar to mine and always test the mix on a scrap piece of paper before applying it to your painting to ensure the desired transparency and the tone. I will not overwork with this area. I will stop here and let it dry completely. 14. Tapped Ice bubbles & Final Layering: Using this watery mix of my peacock blue and adding a little bit of indigo, I first identify the shapes within the texture to form the bubbles, outlining the bubble shape, and then I add the darker tones of indigo towards the bottom of the bubble, creating the depth. Now using a clean damp brush, I gently feed the darker tone upwards to maintain a lighter area at the top, giving the illusion of light hitting the bubble. I will repeat this technique to create bubbles of varying shapes and sizes, ensuring that each one has its unique character and glow. Now you do not need to fill the entire area along the textures with bubbles. Just a few will effectively portray the scene of trapped bubbles within the eyes. Here I'm using my mini liner brush to create bubbles of varying small and medium sizes. A fine pointed brush works well, so I would recommend you using a brush, which has a very fine pointed tip allowing you to paint the tiny bubbles with ease. The key is to vary the size and placement to keep the effect natural and realistic. I can identify a bigger bubble within the texture in this darker area, so I just go ahead and outline it with a medium tonal value of indigo as it sits within the darker area of the painting. Next, I feel the bottom of the bubble with a slightly darker tone to create depth. Now using a clean dam brush, I softly fade the darker tones upwards, leaving the top lighter to capture the effect of light. It's the same technique as before, apply to a larger bubble. Now it's time to switch to white watercolor paint or whiteqh and use a thin, pointy brush, preferably a detailing liner brush to create the bubbles on the flour stalks. We will create bubbles around the stalk of the flour to replicate the effect of the trapped bubbles. The technique remains the same. That is outlined the bubble shape first using white paint, focusing on the darker green areas of the stalk. As you can see in the reference, this helps enhance the realism and makes the bubble stand out beautifully against the darker background. Make sure to prepare a creamy consistency of white paint that is neither too thick nor too watery. Achieving the perfect consistency allows your brush to glide smoothly while outlining the bubbles. As you can see here, I struggled a bit with that consistency of white paint. So prepare your mix accordingly. Focus on creating bubbles that are medium to small in size, as you can observe it in the reference rather than going for larger ones. This balance will help maintain the realism of the trap bubbles effect. Here is a closer Zoomed in look at the process. I will continue creating these bubbles until the result closely resembles to that of the reference. While I'm not aiming to replicate the reference exactly, my goal is to create somewhat similar effect that conveys the same idea effectively. Using the pointed tip of the brush, I create sharp thin lines to indicate the freezing effect on the stem. Thise delicate lines will add texture and enhance the realistic appearance of the frozen stem. Here, I switched to my size six ultra round brush, loaded it with a light watery tonal value of peacock blue to fill in the whiter areas of the stem. If you remember correctly, we initially applied a very light tonal wash or peacock blue in this area, but it has now faded. Now I'll go over it with another delicate wash or blue to bring back the subtle tones and enhance the overall effect. For the next few minutes, I will continue painting these tiny water droplets on the flower stalks and adding textures to the stem to depict this encassing effect. I hope you are not feeling bored. Sometimes patience with the process rewards us handsomely at the end. So let's stay focused and enjoy this process. If you're feeling overwhelmed or tired from painting continuously, take a moment to stretch, go for a short little break, stroll around or sip on a refreshing drink. Taking little breaks during the process can help you regain focus and come back with fresh energy. Give it a try and let me know how it affected your mood and perspective when you resumed back your painting. Oh. Continuing with some thin, delicate lines along the stem by mixing my white along with that very light tonal value of peacock blue to keep things interesting and minimal. And here I have sped up this process because it's the same repetition of steps that I'm doing here. So feel free to watch the entire process, and then you can paint along. Once you have completed the frozen textures on the flowers and stems, we will move on to our final step, that is the layering process. For the next step, ensure your paper is completely dry and laying flat. To make sure the flower stem appears encased in ice, we will apply a thin wash of light peacock blue over the stem, focusing on the lighter areas only. Be careful not to touch the darker areas as preserving their contrast is the key. The layering process will enhance the depth and giving the encastefect that we are aiming for. For this step, prepare a very light tonal pool of your cool blue and load it onto your flat head broad hake brush. Softer brush is recommended for this step because you need to go very lightly and gently over these areas and spread it out outwards into the darker areas like the way I am doing out here. Sure not to exerting too much of pressure as you may lift the colors from the stem. Because those colors are not staining, so you need to be very careful and go on layering this color onto the areas. Do not go touch the darker areas. You just need to confine your strokes within the lighter areas of the paper. Next step is to let your paper dry completely so that it lays flat once it is flat and it has dried completely, peel off the tapes by pressing the paper softly, but ensuring that you're not ripping off the paper. And with that, our beautiful, frozen winter lake is complete. Take a moment to step back, admire your work, and give yourself a well deserved pat on the back for making it to the end. I'll see you in the next lesson where we will wrap up the class with a recap of everything we have learned so far. Great job, and thank you for painting along with me. 15. Final Thoughts: Congratulations on completing the class. Let's take a moment to quickly recap about the learnings of this class. Transparency is the heart and soul of watercolor painting, allowing light to pass through and create those beautiful luminous effects we love. We then learned how to identify transparent, semi transparent and opaque colors and how these properties influence layering and depth in your artwork. Together, we explore techniques like lacing, dilution, and creating transparent mixes, which are powerful tools to elevate your watercolor skills. Here are some bonus tips for selecting pigments. Choose transparent colors when layering is the key because they help build depth without causing muddiness. Use staining pigments for vibrant glazes and non staining pigments to achieve soft texture defects. Always test your pigments beforehand to understand how they interact with light and paper. I can't wait to see the magic you create. Don't hesitate to upload your work in the submit project section of the class. While you are there, take a moment to browse through your fellow artists projects. L and comment to cheer them on. Let's celebrate each other's creativity. If you have special recommendations or suggestions for future classes, please feel free to share them under the discussion section of the class. You can also ask any questions about watercolors or this class, and I will do my best to answer them promptly. I hope you have enjoyed this class. If you found this class valuable, then please feel free to leave a review. It not only helps the class reach a wider audience, but it also supports my journey as an instructor. Thank you once again for joining. I'll see you in my next class. 16. Bonus Lesson: Color Palette: Hello, my creatives. I'm back with a bonus lesson for this class. And for this entire painting, we will be just using the five basic colors. Let me quickly swatch them and walk you through the palette. One important thing to keep in mind, just as we discussed in the previous lessons is to always check the transparency or the properties of your watercolors before you begin. Now I have already sketched out the horizon line and the mountains in the distant. Here, we will introduce warm sunset colors for the sky and for the frozen lake, we will stick to cooler blues in the foreground and subtly mimic the sunset hues as reflections on the icy surface. So now let's get started with spatching our yellows. The first color is my naples yellow, the only opaque color in our selected palette. Now, when you observe this yellow is very opaque, but when you tone it down with water, you obtain the light tonal values which are pretty much transparent. Next yellow that I'm going to swatch out is my permanent yellow orange. This is a very beautiful, warm and very transparent yellow orange from Shinhan. Both of these colors are from Shinhanart PWC extrafin watercolor range. Now coming to the blues, for a change, I'll be using blues from Izaro watercolors, Belgian brand known for their beautiful handmade paints, and I'm loving it. And you can see just how richly pigmented they are. The blue that I'm spatching here is my halo blue, and it is very transparent. You can see here clearly, right? Thalo blue that I have swatched here is a cool blue consisting of pigment PB 15 is 23. Now the next blue that I'm going to swatch out here is an Idanthn blue, which is a very warm and highly pigmented color and also very transparent. Now, this consists of the pigment PB 60. Now, when you mix your danthn blue with your burnt timber or any other darker shade of brown, it creates a very deep and darker values of blue. If you use both these colors as transparent colors, then the darker mix will also be transparent. But if any of these mixing colors are semi-transparent or semi opaque, then the result will also depend accordingly. Now instead of this donthnblue, you could also use your Indigo or mix a little bit of neutral tint into your thalo blue. Here is a recap of the colors that we have swatched out. 17. Bonus Lesson: The Sky Part 1: Okay, now let's get started with our sketch. The sketch is very simple. We are just outlining the horizon line at one third of the paper, and then we will sketch the distant mountains, keeping it very simple and basic. There is no details involved in here. Once our sketch is ready, we will then move on to the sky where we are going to use the wet-on-wet technique. We are painting a sunset sky, so we would require some warm yellow tones for our sky. So let's get started. For the sky, I'm going to go ahead with a wet-on-wet technique that is wet paints on wet paper surface. So as a first step, I will generously wet the sky area with my Hake brush from silver Limited. Now, making sure there are no pools or puddles of water and carefully avoiding the outlined mountains, I'll spread the water uniformly across the paper. With the damp tip of my mop brush, I'm going to prepare a mix of my naples yellow, keeping it medium tonal value. I do not need it very watery because the background is already wet, so I'm going to prepare a nice buttery consistency of my naples yellow and start layering it at the base of the horizon, moving upwards and leaving a gap in the center. One reason I always prefer an opaque base layer for lightwh in the sky is what? Can you guess why? If you have taken my previous lessons in this class of transparency or my ultimate guide to painting watercolor skies, you will know the answer. Curious to know why, here it is. Transparent watercolors let the paper show through, which is beautiful, but often it can make it tricky to achieve strong and vibrant layers, especially when you are using the lifting technique or the layering technique to paint your clouds. An opaque base covers the paper more fully, so subsequent layers don't get diluted by the whites of the paper. And hence, it is easier to control light to dark transitions, especially when you are painting gradient skies. So this is why it is essential to know the properties of your colors, whether they are opaque, transparent, or staining. Understanding how your pigment behave allows you to make the right decisions and picking up your colors, whether it's building vibrant skies, creating depth in layers or controlling your light and dark values. When you know your colors well, every brushstroke becomes intentional and your painting comes alive exactly the way you want it to. Here I wanted my sky to have warmer orange tones, so I mixed in a little bit of opera. I love how this looks. Now, if you don't have opera with you, you can achieve a similar effect by mixing warmer reds of vermilion into your base yellow to create a brilliant orange, then you can layer it gradually over the sky. One important tip is to make sure that the colors that you are mixing are transparent. Using opaque colors here to mix in and layer over the opaque base layer can make the sky look heavy and unrealistic. Transparent layers, keep it light and airy, which makes the sky look luminous and natural. And that's all for our sky. While we let it dry, we will move on to painting the frozen lake. So let's get started with our lake in the next lesson. 18. Bonus Lesson: The Lake -Part 2 : Okay, now let's begin with the frozen lake. We are going to mirror the sky by replicating the same sunset colors in the lake. I'll first start with the very light washes of my naples yellow and then mix in a little bit of warm yellow orange to create our sunset hues in the lake as well. Now, for this frozen lake, we will work in single wet-on-wet layer. This means the entire lake will be completed in one go. While the paper is still wet, we will build depth and contrast by layering different tonal values from light to slightly dark, allowing the colours to naturally blend and create that icy reflective feel. Okay, so now let's get on with it. I'll begin near the base of the horizon using Naples yellow in a medium to light watery tonal value, and we will apply this on our dry paper surface. So here we are working on wet on dry technique. At this stage, I'm still deciding whether I want to paint sparkling sun ripples on the frozen lake or simply reflect the soft light halo that we created in the sky. I think I let that decision unfold as we progress into the painting. Since we are working wet on dry with a watery mix, we will have the flexibility to rethink and adjust the sun's reflection as we go. We will continue building the lake in layers, keeping the washers light and fluid. This approach will give us better control over both the intensity of the colors and the level of wetness, allowing us to work efficiently while still maintaining softness and clarity in the reflections. Now I'm going in with my permanent yellow orange in a medium watery mix. Here, my yellow orange is highly transparent, and this is very important here because if your colors are quite opaque or semi opaque, the layer itself will start feeling very heavy. It is very important that you choose your pigments wisely, especially if you choose transparent pigments, it will allow the layers underneath to glow through, keeping the lake luminous and light. If you use opaque or semi opaque colors, they tend to sit heavy on the surface which can make the frozen lake look flat or chalky and you may lose the sense of that light and glowing reflection that you want in your frozen here, I have added a touch of opera pink into my yellow, orange and naples yellow. If you do not have opera pink, a tiny amount of warm vermilion or any other warm pink works just as well. As I blend this warm mix into the yellows, I have decided to completely layer this first and then use the lifting technique to create the sun's reflection. Now here I start lifting a few areas to suggest cracks in the frozen lake. Now, you can choose to do this lifting technique later as well, especially if you're comfortable working quickly and can maintain a smooth gradient between blues and yellows before moving on to the lifting. This approach tends to be much easier for intermediate artists as it requires good control over timing, paper wetness, and pressure when lifting. Bgness may find it challenging to keep the paper at the right moisture level without accidentally lifting too much color. That's why I'm demonstrating the lifting process early here. Now I have switched to a flat brush to create that crack marks using the lifting technique and use a soft flat brush and apply very soft pressure. We do not want hard or sharp lines here. The goal is to keep the crack marks very soft and subtle at this stage. Now we will move into the foreground. I'm preparing a generous watery mix of my transparent, cool halo blue. Even though we are technically working wet on dry, the high water content and continuous layering will prevent the underlying washes from drying completely. This approach is one of my favorite and is often used by most other watercolrist who enjoy the look and feel of wet-on-wet but with much more control. The advantage of this technique is it allows us to build layers while still managing the wetness of the paper. The key here is to constantly observe your paper and adjust your water to paint ratio accordingly. This is a very timed and intentional approach. Once you understand it, it works completely in your favor. My paper is still moist, which is why the blues are beautifully blending into the yellow orange mixes. Occasionally, I might have to switch to a flat brush and lift colour to make sure the cracks are more prominent. We need to work quickly here and coat the bottom half of the lake with another light watery wash of yellow blue to ensure the wetness of the paper. To work on the bottom half, I'll slightly moist the paper at an angle so that the warm yellow, orange layers at the top remain undisturbed. Now I'm going to layer the bottom half with a light watery tonal value of my transparent thalo blue mix. I'll then mix a medium to dark value of Idothron blue, along with a touch of my ndiki brown audio burn tumber to create a deep blue. Make sure that the mix is a transparent mix. I'll use this to build contrast at the base of the lake. At this stage, we need to work quickly to create a smooth transition from light to dark while still allowing the halo blue underneath to show through. As I move close to the horizon line, I'll load just the tip of my brush with a light value of my yellow opera mix and gently layer written. This keeps the surface active and reweights the bottom layer, which then allows me to lift the color easily and create the sun's reflection in the lake. The bottom half of my paper is still wet, so I'll quickly go and add a few tiny water splatters and let it rest for a moment. Once the surface is just right, I'll use my palette knife. Instead of palette knife, you could also go ahead and use your credit cards or any other plastic cards to work with the side edges and create the crack textures. Another alternative is to use your Kling wrap. I have already a class on creating this frozen lake using Kling wrap. You could check that out. At this point, an important tip is, if the paper is completely dry at this stage, the paint won't disperse and you won't be able to get the natural textures that you are creating with your palette knife. So always feel your paper. Notice whether it's still moist. If there is that sheen on your paper, it's still moist. And if it is beginning to dry, you will notice the dry patches. W Here I have gone a little overboard with the number of cracks. If you're happy with just a few lines that reveal that beautiful white and light yellow blue textured paper, stop right there. You can always enhance the effect by later splattering some tiny water droplets. It gives a nice beautiful effect of tiny water purple strapped underneath the ice. To enhance the dark contrast at the bottom of the lake using my very dry brush and my very dry dark blue mix, I'm just going to brush it along the edges. This dry brushing adds a beautiful textured feel along the bottom edges, so I'll stop right here. I do not want to overwork this area. Now it's time to complete the painting by dry brushing the mountains. 19. Bonus: The Final Details: Using my damp dry ultra round synthetic brush, I'll prepare a dark dry mix to create dry brush textures on the mountain, and before painting, I'll test it on a scrap piece of paper. This helps me check if the paint consistency is right. Now, if you feel that your brush is too damp, dab it on a tissue and scrub it lightly on rough paper again until you start seeing those dry, scratchy marks. Now, I'll start creating dry brush marks directly on the mountain using just the tip and toe of my synthetic brush. As I build these textures, I'm making sure to keep my brush strokes unidirectional, following the natural curve and flow of the mountain form. You can refer back to the reference here. This helps the textures feel more organic and enhances the sense of the structure and depth in the mountains. With this, we are done with the mountains. The next step is to add a few dry brush highlights using thick whiteqh because as the paper dried, the white cracks that we created on the bottom half of the paper has almost disappeared. So I'm switching to a synthetic liner brush to carefully create these dry brush patterns. Earlier, I scratched the paper when the surface was too wet, and as it dried, the colors moved and settled back into the white of the paper, softening those cracks. This is exactly why timing is so very crucial in watercolors. Knowing when to add texture can make or break the effect you are trying to achieve. Our painting is completed. We will now let the paper to dry completely, and then we will peel our tapes from all the four sides. Before we peel off the tapes, I wanted to show you the difference that transparent colors make, especially in the sky. I think you can clearly see it now. Although I love the frozen lake effect in the left painting, the result came down to better timing. I started scratching and dispersing the paint just as the surface was beginning to dry, which helped retain those des beautifully. This really highlights the importance of transparency and timing in watercolors, and I hope you enjoyed this lesson. I'll see you again in my next class Happy painting.