Watercolor Landscapes: Painting with Modern Watercolor Techniques

1. About the Class: [MUSIC] Painting has the power to transport you to the place it depicts. Through watercolors, you can capture still moments in nature with endless possibilities. Hi everyone, my name is Bianca Rayala. I'm a watercolor and gouache artist. I also teach drawing and painting in person and online. I'm a Skillshare top teacher, Etchr Studio educator, and Silver Brush ambassador. When I paint, life and nature are my constant inspiration. Landscapes are among my favorite motives to paint as they always have a special story to tell. Throughout the years, I've taught thousands of students across the world, because I truly believe that painting is for everyone. Painting is a special way of expressing oneself. It has always been my joy to inspire people to discover and pursue their creative passion. With liberating brushstrokes and splashes of color, I love exploring all the possibilities watercolor has to offer. Through modern watercolor techniques, you can create textures that no other material can replicate. In this Skillshare class, I will teach you to paint natural landscapes with watercolor. Diving into each modern technique as a starting point, you will gain hands-on understanding of the fundamentals of watercolor, and learn to paint landscapes in a way that captures the mood and the atmosphere. I will guide you on the materials you need to get started, from choosing the appropriate paper, mixing the right colors, and essential brushes to create the painting. Then I will teach you how to understand the subject, plan your painting, and how to draw a basic pencil sketch. I will journey you through the most essential techniques of watercolor, then we will move on to putting them all into practice by painting two natural landscapes that capture the essence of the moment. The first class project, a glowing flower against a bouquet background. You will learn to portray light and create the blurred background effect through color lifting and blending. The second class project is an autumn landscape made with burst of colors. You will learn to depict foliage through expressive strokes and blend of colors, and how to add depth and texture on stone bridge. In this class, we will start from scratch so you don't need any previous knowledge but a lot of desire to learn and explore. Join me and learn how to capture nature with watercolors. I'll teach you the process step by step. They'll be really fun, a bit stretching, but definitely you'll get rewarding results. See you in class. 2. Class Overview and Materials: Hello again. What are we going to do in this class? We are going to create two natural landscape paintings to capture the mood and atmosphere using different modern watercolor techniques. Our main goal here is to get a hands-on, an experiential understanding of each watercolor technique and learn to apply them and also combine them to create full-fledged landscape paintings. I will teach you how to use watercolors to create compelling scenes inspired by natural world. You will learn to explore with lighting, depth, textures to capture the feel of the landscape without diving into realism. For our first class project, we will portray light as we paint a glowing flower against a bokeh background. We will dive into the different watercolor techniques that you can use to achieve this blurred effect from soft blends to lifting of paint. You will need the following materials for this lesson, 100 percent cotton, cold press watercolor paper. It is important to get at least 300 GSM paper so it can absorb heavier amount of layer. I will be painting on the 7 by 10-inch paper in portrait format. For the paints, I'm using colors from the Schmincke Horadam Aquarell. I love that their colors are clean and transparent, very easy to lift, and also very easy to mix with other colors. The colors that I'll be using are the following, naples yellow for the highlights in the stem, yellow ocher mainly to paint the light, yellow orange for painting the flower, perylene dark red also for some dark petals on the flower. Next is a cobalt turquoise to be mixed with yellow to make green, Payne's gray to paint a deep dark background. Olive green yellowish, indigo, and lastly, deep-sea indigo to create interesting green mixtures. This color is actually not so necessary, I use this simply to add more depth and interest to my green mix. You may use other colors or brands, you just need colors like yellow, orange, blues, and Payne's gray to create different shades of green. The brushes that I'll be using are quite few, and first is this renaissance round brush, Size 6 for painting almost everything. Size 2 silver silk is a synthetic brush to paint tiny details, 1.5 inch flat brush or 3.8 inch angle brush to lift the paint. I will use masking fluid in a ruling pen for applying thin delicate marks of masking fluid. You can also use an old brush as an alternative for the ruling pen. Masking tape to secure and stretch my paper on my board. Pencil and eraser, cups of water and tissue paper. I will use this blue board to hold my paper when painting to make sure it won't warp when it is soaked in water. Now for our second class project, we will capture the beauty of bright autumn landscapes with expressive textures and blend of colors. We will learn how to capture the atmosphere with simple strokes and appropriate application of layers. The materials to use are almost the same. We will still use 100 percent cotton watercolor paper in 300 GSM. For the colors, I will use yellow, orange, or new gamboge as an alternative, yellow ocher,burnt henna, perylene dark red, quinacridone magenta, cobalt turquoise, deep-sea violet or dioxazine violet, cobalt violet hue, Payne's gray, olive green yellowish, indigo, and ice blue or titanium white as an alternative. I'll also use this seaweed sponge for creating texture and crowns of the foliage, you can also use a regular sponge as an alternative. Next is masking tape for creating this clean border and keeping my paper stretched when painting. For the brushes, I will still use this flat brush for pre-wetting the paper, Size 10 round brush to paint the foliage, and Size 2 synthetic brush for fine details. I will still use masking fluid and ruling pen for preserving some spots on the paper like this part of the bridge. Pencil, eraser, cups of water, this blue board to hold my paper when painting, and a spray bottle for missing the papers or the other necessary materials that we will also need. You may download all the references like the photo of the sketch and final painting under the resource section in the project and resources tab. There you go. I'm sure you're excited for the first lesson. Let's get started. 3. Modern Watercolor Techniques: Although watercolor painting has been a longtime favorite medium of expression, it still pays off to understand the basic watercolor techniques for you to easily plan out the painting process and effectively turn any subject into a captivating painting. In this lesson I will walk you through each watercolor technique and encourage you to practice them with me one-by-one. Having a hands-on understanding to each technique and learning when to use them in your work will surely make your painting process so much simpler. Let's start with flat wash. Flat wash is simply dipping your brush in water in paint and then spreading it over your paper. You can either do this in a wet surface or a dry surface. This technique is mostly used for painting background like sky fragment. We use the flat wash our demo of painting the bouquet background here in our first class project, and also in painting the sky and water fragment below the bridge in our second class project. Next is underpainting. This technique is placing a monochrome wash that is used for the base layer of the painting. After letting this underpainting to dry, you will add layers of transparent glaze of watercolor over it to create texture and luminous effect. I specifically use this technique in painting the base wash of the stone bridge. Color blending. We add depth and interest to our wash by placing blend of colors. We do this technique by first painting a freshwater color either on wet or dry surface, then while it is still wet take note that the layer should still be wet. You will add the second color with a more intense or more saturated hue. Because the surface is still wet, the colors will blend naturally and create a gradient. We will use this technique in painting the gradient of colors around the bouquet and also the colorful autumn foliage on the landscape. Layering. This technique is the opposite of color blending. We first have to wait for the paint to dry completely before we can add layers of watercolor to create dimension, texture, and color variation. If you want to soften the edges of the second layer, simply water your brush with water then brush it gently. I use this technique in adding contrast in the bouquet defining the flower here and also painting texture and details of the bridge. Next is dry brush. This technique is using very little amount of water and saturated paint to create scratchy brushstrokes. This is nice to use for painting tree stems, twigs, and also a rough textures. Lifting color. This can be done by simply using a damp synthetic brush and touching it to the paint you want to lift. This technique is the key to creating the bouquet effect. The paint surface has to be wet then using the damp brush, I lift off the color in a circular motion to create the bouquet. Now, let's do the scumbling. Scumbling is a technique where we vary the pressure we put in the belly of the brush to create irregular motions and strokes. It is like scribbling with the belly and the tip of your brush. I love using this technique to paint trees in expressive style either in dry or wet surface depending on the effect that they want to achieve. Next is sponge painting. We can add unique texture like foliage and trees and any rough texture with the use of sponge. You can use a seaweed sponge like this one or a regular new household sponge for this effect. I use it dry, I dip it on my pigment, then press it to the paper. Last technique is masking, using masking fluid. We use this to preserve the white paper from being painted over with watercolor. I apply a thin layer using a ruling pen or an old cheap brush and masking fluid tends to break the brushes after you, so make sure to use an old and cheap synthetic brush Once the masking fluid is dry, you can paint over the area. Once the painting is dry peel the masking fluid gently with your finger and you'll see the paper underneath. Let's put all these techniques into actions starting with our first class project. I'll see you in the next video. 4. Project 1: Flower & Bokeh- Sketch: Let's take a look at our reference and understand the subject for us to plan out the painting process and necessary techniques to apply. Here we see a glowing flower with light shining from behind in a blurred effect background, or what we term as bouquet effect. To translate this into a painting, first, we need to portray the light at the background by preserving a white portion of the paper on the upper right. Then we will do blending of yellows and greens to build on the background. Using lifting technique, we will create the round bouquet effect. As we paint the bottom part of the background, we will apply a heavy flat wash to get enough to create an opaque coverage. Now for the flower, notice that bright lightning we will create that effect using masking fluid to preserve that brightest portion of the flower. Then we will paint the flower itself through layering. Let's begin the basic sketch. I will place the flower in almost same position with the reference photo. I draw the flower big enough and in proportion to my paper size, I started with a basic outline of the general shape. After setting the general shape, I start doing a rough sketch of the individual petals. It is important to draw with a light sketch so the pencil marks won't show through the transparent colors later on. I also prefer using a kneaded eraser as it doesn't damage the tooth of my watercolor paper. Next, I draw the stem with a quick stroke to achieve that natural bend. Since I'm not using paper in blocks, I need to tape my paper on a board to keep it stretch even when the paper gets fully wet. It is also nice to get a clean border around the painting with the use of the masking tape. Let's apply masking fluid and do the base wash on the next lesson. 5. Painting the Bokeh: Using my masking fluid and ruling pen, I will apply a thin layer of masking fluid on the outline of the flower that has the brightest light. I will not be outlining flower entirely, just look for the brighter spots in the reference photo. Those spots are the fragments of the stem, some portion of the edges of the upper petal and a tiny dot here in the bottom part of the flower where the stem is connected. I also add those tiny hair-like strands around the stem. Note that you don't have to put thick application for masking fluid to properly preserve the paper. A thin layer is enough to do the work. Also, if you don't have a ruling pen, you can always use any old synthetic brush. Make sure to use a cheap brush since masking fluid leaves the bristles damage after use. A tip that I learned to somehow protect the hair of the brush when used with masking fluid is to prevent it first with a solution of water and dish washing soap. Once you're done with this step of applying masking fluid, let it dry completely before painting over it. As we wait, I'll first prepare my colors for the background. My base color for the warm light is yellow ocher and yellow orange. Here is the swatch of the mix. I make the color saturated since this will adjust in tone once it's dry. Next mix is yellow ocher and cobalt turquoise. I'll use this mix to paint the light green colors around the light. To increase the tonal value of this green color I'll add olive green and also deep sea indigo. These colors add more depth to my green. Now, for the bottom part of the background, the dark green color is achieved by adding indigo to my mix. For the darkest, almost black light green color, I will add payne's gray to create this deep dark green color. The darker the mix, the better. In this way, we create high contrast to make the flower glow even more. These are the color mixes that we'll use to paint the bokeh background. Let's begin by prewetting the paper with clean water as we start painting. I will generously wet the paper and prewetting only the upper half of the paper. I also avoid wetting the flower portion. Now, here we need to move fast in both mixing and applying colors as we need to lay the colors while the paper is still wet. Remember, blending technique is only possible if this surface is really wet. I lay circular strokes of yellow mix on my paper. You can use the reference as your guide in placing the colors, but I suggest not to be so focused on copying it as is so you won't get lost in it. Also, remember to leave the upper right corner unpainted as that will serve as our brightest light in the background. Now, I get a thicker mix of yellow orange. I still paint in circular strokes and the paint here is much thicker than the initial yellow layer. I paint around the yellow circles and I vary the size of them. Now, let's make a light green color using cobalt turquoise and my previous yellow mix. As I lay the green color around the yellows, notice that the green color softly blends with the yellow because my paper is still wet. I look at my reference to see where to place the greens, but to understand it more, painting green is like building the gradual contrast between light and dark in the bokeh effect. I will continue painting greens, but now varying the tone and slightly transitioning to darker tones. It is very important to do this step with the paper still wet so we won't create hard edges between colors. Now, just in case your paper is already starting to dry out, you should stop adding colors. Let the paper to dry completely first and then once it's dry, prewet the paper again with clean water and then you can start painting and blending colors again. Now I'm just placing darker greens around the yellow circles. Later on as I lift the color, there is a visible contrast between light and dark. Let's do the lifting to create those bokeh effect. Using a clean and damp flat brush, I press the brush flat on the paper and do circular motion. Doing this lifts the color off the paper leaving a round shape. I look for the white spots in the middle of the yellow circles and that's the spot where I lift the holler. I repeat the same process of pressing the brush flat on the paper and moving it in a circular motion to create more color lifts. But just a tip to successfully lift the color, you need to remember this. First, the brush must be damp. Second, clean the brush every after lift. You won't accidentally stain the fragment with a dirty brush from the previous lift. Here I make multiple round shapes to portray the bokeh effect. Try to vary size information of the circles. I change my brush to a smaller angled brush to create smaller circle color lifts. Once you're done, next step will be adding contrast around the color lift to make them shine even more. I get a very saturated dark green mix and paint over those green fragments. If your paper is still wet, there will be no problem with the blending of colors. But if the paper is starting to dry, like what is happening on some portions of my paper, I will blend this green color with the base layer by softening the edges using a damp brush. Notice how the circle shapes start to pop even more after I added a darker layer around it. I just keep on adding more contrast by placing some dark greens on random spots. If I notice hard edges building up, I simply soften the edge with a damp brush to blend the two layers together. I also look for spots that are still wet so I can maximize the moisture and add dark tones there. I return to lifting colors once more using my angle brush and then add a bit of dark tone contrast around it afterwards. Now, I will prepare my paint for the lower part of the background. Here I will paint wet on dry because, I want to make sure that the fragment will dry with a very dark and opaque coverage. I create a dark green mix using indigo and olive green, and then all the more increase the saturation by adding more of both colors and also Payne's gray. One tip when painting on dry paper, is to paint fast. It is helpful to have a good amount of mixed paint prepared beforehand if you feel that you need more time to mix colors. Painting fast will prevent the colors from drying and leaving hard edges. Here you can notice really thick application of paint, the lower part having the darkest tone. Here in the lower right, I plotted a thick light green color, just to add an extra interest in the plain dark background. I continued completing the holler and avoided painting over the flower yet. I noticed that a portion of my flower was wet leaving that soft edge on the upper side. If that also happen to your work, just let it dry and we will define the flower shape later on. While the background is still moist, I will lift few colors to create small circle bouquet effect on some areas. The lower part has to be mostly solid fill of color, so don't leave too many colors. I also darkened the area around the petal, so later on when we have the painted flower, there will be a strong contrast and would make it glow even more. Our background layer is complete. I will wait for this to dry completely, then I'll proceed on painting the flower. 6. Painting the Flower: Now we're halfway through the process. We'll paint the flower starting with a flat wash of yellow orange diluted with a lot of water. Make this wash so transparent. I observe the reference and look at the gradient of tone on this inner petal. There you'll see that the middle part is very light in tone, while those on the sides are quite darker. I drive this with a heat gun first, then proceed on painting the front petal. I get saturated mix of yellow orange mixed with barreling dark red. I dab the paint on the corner, and then spread the color with a clean brush to get that soft gradient. Since I dry the paint on the back petal, I don't have to worry about color bleeds. This way the flower gets easily defined through painting each petal. Here I create depth and dimension through layers with some thin strokes of dark tone. I continued painting the other portion of the petals still following the appropriate tonal value that I observed in the reference. Notice how controlled the water and the paint in the brush is, to be able to achieve controlled and transparent strokes. I carefully paint the entire flower with light strokes. I add a bit of cobalt blue to my orange mix to get a muted orange to paint the shadowed part of the petal. These strokes are so subtle and also not distinguishable. Now I will define the outline of the flower by doing negative painting using dark green color. The mix has to be thick and almost no water in it, so it won't create any backflow of paint on the background. Next, I soften the edge to make it blend with the background. I dry this using a heat gun then I will paint the stem. I agree that thick, opaque yellow green color for the stem using yellow, green, olive green. I do a thin stroke following the sketch. I use my round tube brush for the finer strokes. Next, I get a dark green color to paint the lower part of the stem, which is in shadow. Doing these two colors on the stem give it dimension. I'd write once again so I can rub off the masking fluid next. When you remove the masking fluid, make sure that the paint is all dry and your fingers are clean. The last thing we want is to stain the preserved white spot with our dirty fingers. Now there's that white light shining through. I add little mist effect and tiny droplets on the petals using my yellow, orange mix. Make the stroke very subtle and thin. Avoid painting over the white spots too so we don't lose the highlight. I'm just adding final strokes of green at the bottom of the flower and some dabs of paint on the petal to bring more life to it. Lastly, I get a thick mix of naples yellow to paint those tiny strands around the stem. I think our painting is complete. Now that it is all dry, I'll carefully peel off the tape to reveal the final painting. I hope this class helped you understand some of those watercolor techniques. Let's practice some more on our next class project. 7. Project 2: Autumn Landscape- Sketch: Let's talk briefly about our subject. For our second class project, we'll be painting on Autumn Scenery of a stone arch bridge surrounded by luscious greens. To build depth and capture the atmosphere, will paint with techniques like blending, under-painting, layering, sponge painting, dry brush and more. We'll start with a light wash off the background sky and waters, then followed by painting the foliage, then the bridge. For the pencil's sketch, I start by drawing the bridge below the middle portion of the paper. I hold my pencil in a way that I have less control, so the marks would be light. Next I draw the arches starting from the one on the right. I do quick rock curve stroke to make the stroke fluid. As I draw the other arch, I checked that the arches have the same height. Next, I draw the reflection of the arch on water and the plants in the river bank. I darken the under portion of the arch as my guide for painting. Here, I draw a horizontal strokes to portray the land portion behind the bridge. Next, I add some details on the bridge like this post. I finalize the line arch on my sketch by darkening it a little bit. Next step would be applying masking fluid here on the bridge handwritten platform. I still use my ruling pent-up light thin lines. I did the same broken strokes and applying masking fluid in the bridges platform. It is necessary to preserve white. The bridge would pop out and be distinct from the colorful background. I added some more vertical strokes of masking on the post. When you're done, let this dry completely before we start painting. 8. Painting the Foliage: We'll start by painting the background, wash off the sky and the water fragments. Then we will paint the trees afterwards. Using a small flat brush I pre-wed the sky fragment with clean water. I will not wet the bridge area and as you wet the sky fragment, make the wash even and not fully soaked with water. Next, I moisten my paints and prepare a purplish blue mix using cobalt turquoise and deep-sea violet. I paint the sky with a very pale wash. Since the paper is still wet, the strokes created soft sky. Next I mix cobalt turquoise and yellow ocher to get a light green color. My mix is a bit thicker than the mix for the sky, as I will use this green color to paint the impression of trees at the background. I simply scribble my brush and let the paint flow and move naturally on the wet surface. Now let's paint the river bank behind the bridge. I pre wet the surface with clean water. Then I drop greens and yellows to be in the area. I also paint these bushes on the left with a yellow orange color with some dabbing strokes. To create dimension, I blended a thicker green color beside the yellow one. Now, I mix some burnt sienna to this green mix to paint the water fragment under the bridge. I do quick horizontal strokes from bottom, going up to paint the fragment. Next, I mix deep sea violet and burnt sienna to get this purplish brown color to paint the reflection of the arches on water. I intensify some brown spots to define and separate the riverbank from the water. Now let's proceed to painting the trees on the right. Using a creamy mix of yellow orange, I remove the excess water from my brush and do some scumbling strokes to paint the impression of trees. Next, I use my seaweed sponge and dab some paint on the edges of my initial strokes to create the crowns of the trees. I blend a darker red orange color while this layer is still wet and just let the colors move on their own. I repeat the process of scrambling, then followed by a sponge painting to build the tree foliage. Now, I will add another tree with [inaudible]. Notice that the paints get more creamier in mixture as they add layers so they will create depth. I also avoid blending the haulers with my brush, but rather just let them as is to prevent creating muddy color mixes. With the tip of my brush, I add extra details like impressions of tiny leaves of trees. Now let's paint the trees on the left. I will start with green color. Since the paper has run dry already, I'll mix it a little bit with my sprayer. Don't spread too much so you can have this lost and found edges as you paint away. I vary the pressure in my brush and also alternate using the belly and the tip to paint the trees. I even splatter some paints to create extra expressive effect. Here in-between greens, I paint a bright orange foliage. Notice that I won't intentionally blend orange and green to avoid muddy colors. I let the colors meet naturally without my intervention. I'm now happy with the colors of my trees. So now I will let this layer dry first, and then we can start painting the bridge. 9. Painting the Stonebridge: Now that the initial wash is dry, we can move on to painting the bridge. First, I'll paint those little spaces in between posts of the bridge with the same colors that I used for the trees. Now, I'll do underpainting on the Stonebridge using a gray mix created from burnt sienna and deep sea violet. This serves as a base layer or undertone of the bridge before we paint the bricks and add textures. Now, I get a thicker mix of burnt sienna, and deep sea violet, and Payne's gray, to paint the under portion of the arch. I start with a very dark color. Then, I will gradually lighten the tone by adding ice blue or peak white in the mix to create dimension. Now, we can see the curve of the arch through the transition of tones. We will do the same on the other arch. I carefully paint the area, avoiding to paint over the face of the bridge. Now, using burnt sienna and yellow ocher, I paint flat strokes using the belly of my brush to create the impression of bricks on the bridge. I make the stroke a bit dry looking to achieve that rough texture. I also drop in some hints of dark brown color, and even splatters, to have a nicer effect. Now, I create an opaque brown color, which I will use for painting lines in details to define the bricks. I won't be painting them one-by-one, suggestive strokes are enough to portray the essence. The important thing here is the mixture is thick and a bit dry to make the lines more distinct. The bridge is almost done. I will just need to add final details and extra marks randomly to make it look more alive. Next, I paint the post using creamy brown color using the belly of my brush and it's okay if the stroke is broken and rough looking as it contributes to the general texture of the stone bridge. Now, let's enhance the water fragment by defining the background a bit with some loose strokes. I dropped the color, then spread or drag the same color down using a wet brush. Next, I also drag down the color to paint the subtle reflection. I do the same on painting these plants on the left. Now I want to darken the reflection under the arch. I'll wet the surface with clean water first and I'll make a dark purple mix using deep sea violet and burn chana. I had to wet the surface first, so the resulting stroke will have a soft and blending edge. Now I've dried the painting completely so I can rub off the masking fluid on the bridge. Now we can see this portion as the brightest part of the painting and thus make the bridge separate from the colorful background. As a final step, using my Size 2 brush, I create a query mix of dark brown paint to create stems and twigs using dry brush stroke. When painting twigs and stems, the twigs get smaller, thinner, and finer as they go further away from the trunk. I will do the same on the left side of the painting. I'll paint some jagged and wiggly strokes to portray the twigs and stems. The exciting part let's peel off the masking tape. Make sure to do this when your painting is all dry. This is our final work. Let's wrap up everything we've learned in the last video. 10. Your Turn to Paint: [MUSIC] This is the end of the course and I hope you feel inspired to take your landscapes to the next level. If you practice each technique and follow the lessons, it'll be easy to create your own paintings. But if you didn't get it in the first try, I encourage you to continue and keep on practicing. I'd love to see your final projects, so I'm looking forward to seeing them in the project section of this class. Simply take a photo of your paintings and upload them there. Don't be afraid to experiment and make mistakes. Watercolor may be honest in showing errors but it is also transparent as expressing how the artist feels when painting. Learn the techniques but don't eliminate the power of painting from the heart. I also look forward to hearing your thoughts about the class, how this class helped you or inspired you in any way. You may give feedback in the review section after this video. If you'd love to explore more landscape paintings I invite you to join my other classes. I have Watercolor Travel: Develop Your Style in 14 Days of Painting, Watercolor Landscapes in Sketchbook, Escape to Nature: A Beginner's Guide To Gouache Landscapes. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope to see you in my other classes. [MUSIC].