Watercolor Travel: Build A Habit in 14 Days of Landscape Painting

1. About The Class: Would you like to experience the joy of traveling the world? Through watercolor painting, I'm able to experience the wonderful sights and colors of the world without actually leaving home. Hi, my name is Bianca Rayala. I'm a watercolor artist, I truly believe that painting is for everyone. My purpose is to help you discover and pursue your creative passion and I'm here to journey with you in experiencing the joy of painting. In this class, you will learn to paint while making you feel like you're traveling the world. This class doubles as a 14 day watercolor challenge to help you build a consistent painting habit and explore loose and expressive style of painting. In this class, you will learn a range of watercolor techniques and turn a photo inspiration into a captivating painting. Each day you will paint a landscape of breathtaking travel destination, but you won't just copy a painting stroke for stroke, you will learn principles and techniques to develop your very own painting skills. If you've joined my previous watercolor travel class, then this class is something you will surely enjoy even more. But if you haven't, I highly recommend to check that class out as well. By the end of the course, you will gain the necessary skills and confidence to create your very own masterpieces. Get your paints ready, and let's get started. 2. Building A Habit: On my previous watercolor travel class, [MUSIC] I shared how to develop your unique painting style in 14 days of landscape painting. If you've taken that class before, I'm sure you have already discovered your strengths, the techniques you loved and enjoyed doing and even identified the areas that you need to practice or study more. But if you haven't taken it yet, don't worry. You are very much welcome to this class and I'm sure you can still follow along. I encourage you to try it before or after taking this new class as you will greatly enjoy and learn from it too. On this brand new class is a continuation of our previous travel. My goal is to help you build a consistent painting habit and in the process help you nurture your unique personal painting style by learning how to apply it on diverse subjects. Each day you will paint a landscape that offers unique flavor and elements to broaden your watercolor experience. I'll share with you how to simplify seemingly complex subjects and how to capture the essence of the moment with loose and expressive brush strokes. To successfully build a healthy habit, we will paint 14 breathtaking destinations from 14 countries around the world. Each lesson will take only around 30 minutes a day and I highly encourage you to paint them consistently every day in the next 14 days. I'm excited in how your creative journey will tremendously change through this class. Let's get all the supplies we'll need. I'll see you on the next video. [MUSIC] 3. Materials: Welcome aboard. I'm glad to have you here in our 14-day watercolor travel. First off, here are the materials you'll have to bring in our trip. Number one, watercolor paper. On this trip I use this cold press watercolor sketchbook from [inaudible] . This is made of 100 percent cotton and 300 GSM. You may also use a watercolor sheet or block for your projects but I highly recommend using 100 percent cotton watercolor paper as this paper absorbs paints differently as cellulose paper. You'll learn fast and get better results when you invest on the right paper. Next is watercolor paints. here are the colors in my watercolor palette. Yellow ocher, burnt sienna, Indian red, Berlin violet, Quinacridone rose, neutral tint, amethyst genuine or dioxazine violet is an alternative. Horizon Blue, Cobalt turquoise light, lavender, compost violet, Payne's gray, permanent alizarin crimson, peach, indigo, olive green, blue apathy genuine or lunar blue, Cobalt blue, Cadmium orange deep, Berlin red, New gamboge, Naples yellow, and Titanium white for highlights. You may refer to the colors watches that I uploaded in the reference section to see the actual shades of these colors. But if you don't have these colors, I also encourage you to use the watercolor set or palette that you prefer using to give your paintings a more personal touch. I love using just a few selection of colors and try to mix them to get new shades to create harmonious artworks and avoid muddy colors. The brushes that you will see me using Ultra Alto Class are mainly these brushes. Renaissance sable brush size 8 and 10, silver silk 88 ultra round brush size 8, black velvet liner brush size 1, black velvet flat brush size 0.5. All these brushes are from Silver Brush Limited. I also use spray bottle for moistening the page and creating soft edges. Pencil and eraser for the initial sketch, cups of water and an old towel or tissue paper. I prepared a PDF containing all the reference photos and final paintings, there's a colors watch of my palette. Make sure to download it for your guideline painting along with me. You may download it on the resource section in the project and resources tab below this video. That's all you're going to need, so pack your bags and let's travel the world together. 4. Day 1 Philippines: Welcome to day one. To start our journey, let me take you to a relaxing trip on a chondrocyte beach in Philippines. My family had a wonderful vacation in the serene place last February, where I got the chance to do plein air painting. Let me share this beautiful place with you as we paint this boat, resting on a calm shore. Let's start with a pencil sketch. I place a light mark that serves as my border to guide me on my sketch. I don't like using tapes to create a hard edge border on the sketch book. I draw the horizon line quite above the middle part of the page, then draw the outline of the mountain. Next with a quick stroke, I draw the short line in a simple boat. We don't have to be too detailed on the pencil sketch. The important thing we just need to factor in is the correct size of the boat in proportion to the view and the straightness of the horizon. Here I just add a few strokes and finalize the slope of the mountain. I also erase some unnecessary lines. Let's start painting. I'm wetting my paints, so it's easier to pick up and mix colors. I start by setting the light in the sky by mixing yellow ocher and connect with on rows. I spray water on my paper and start applying yellow ocher then the pink mix on the sky. Next, I add the bluish-purple color and let the colors blend naturally. I try not to create so much blending strokes to prevent muddy colors and overdone mixtures on my paper. I apply the colors with a light stroke using my natural sable hair brush. I tilt my paper a bit to let the paint flow down. Next I make a thicker and creamier mix of light green using yellow ocher and olive to paint the mountain. Notice how thick my paint is. I almost created dry brush strokes. The paint has to be this thick and creamy, so it will look separate from the sky fragment. This layer is still wet. I try to connect a darker shade of green. This step is done to create volume and dimension on the mountains. I also add a brownish-green shade using burnt sienna. Here, we simplify the seemingly complex mountain background by playing with color connection. We don't actually need to paint each tree one-by-one, but we just look at the tones, looking for the spots with light green colors, mid green colors and spots with dark green colors to create an impression of the whole mountain. Once you're done laying the colors, sprinkle some spots of water with your finger, or with a spray bottle to create a misty effect. Next, let's paint the base of the mountain with a quick dry brushstroke using branch and mixed with amethyst genuine, these two colors create a rich brown color. I also dab some dark brown spots for depth. I kept those white unpainted gaps as is. Next, let's mix color of the water, using horizon blue and amethyst genuine and mixed with a bit of blue [inaudible] and olive green, I create a greenish blue color for the water. With my own brush flattened, I paint straight stroke from left to right to paint the water fragment. I also avoid painting over the boat fragment. I intentionally leave some white unpainted in gaps towards the edge to show glare on water. Now let's mix yellow ocher and quinacridone rose for the sand area. I do very quick and light strokes, I also left small white gaps between the sand and water fragment to show impression of tiny waves on the shore. I also add some splatters of the same color on the foreground for accent. I dry this layer completely using a heat gun to speed up the process. This is dry, let's paint the boat with a darker shade of blue using a synthetic brush. Carefully outline the edge, then paint the left side with a dark blue tone, then gradually feeding the tone towards the right side. Here it is important that the paint is not just dark in color, but also doesn't have much water in it, so It will pop from the colored background. Next, I get thick amount of Naples yellow mixed with a bit of branch, and to paint the portion of the boat, I took Naples yellow straight from the tube so It will appear rich, thick, and opaque. Make sure that the boat fragment is dry already before placing this opaque details to create these fine lines. As a final step, I also place a buoy on the side, and paint a reflection on the boat on water with the color used for the boat mixed with a little green. Let's add some splatters of blue on the shore, just to bring all colors connected and paint tiny flock of birds in the sky. Our first painting is done, get ready to experience spring blossoms in Japan on our next video. 5. Day 2 Japan: Today, let's enjoy the mesmerizing view of Mount Fuji in spring. Looking at our reference photo, Let's enhance the painting by treating those dried tree branches into a blooming cherry blossom trees. Let's start the sketch by drawing the outline of the mountain. I place the peak off-center. Next, I draw the horizon line somewhere on the lower third of the paper. Let's add some lines here as a guide on the snowy parts of the mountain and let's simplify the view of the city with some rectangular shapes. Don't be intimidated with those complex details. Next, I draw the tree branches peaking on the corners. Keep your sketch as light as possible. Let's moisten the page using a water sprayer. Now I mix the colors cobalt blue and blue apatite genuine to create this desaturated blue color. I've flattened the bristles of my brush, then create swift, downward diagonal strokes to paint the shadowed parts of the mountain. I do it with a dry brush to portray also the snow. Next, I drop a tiny bit of dark tone blue on some spots to create depth. Avoid overdoing this so we preserve the lightness of the strokes. You simply add a bit of indigo to my original blue mix to have a darker shade. See how light my stroke is as I dab, this dark color on the portion of the mountain. I also dab beans using just the tip of my brush. Next, I use the leftover blue paint on my palette mixed with cobalt blue to paint the lower part of the mountain. I pre-wet the lower part with clean water, then drop some colors on the edge and let it flow naturally on the wet surface. Here I add some olive green to my mix to create variety of color in the fragment. Doing this creates extra interest. Here with the horizontal stroke, I paint the foot of the mountain to separate it from the city. As I paint the city fragment I do it with a play of strokes, both hard and soft edges. I intentionally leave some square and rectangular gaps to portray the roofs of the buildings and also the houses. I also do a play of colors using blue and a bit of burnt sienna so the area won't look too plain or flat. A tip on painting top view of the city, you don't have to paint each structure one-by-one. We paint them by impression using play of colors, textures, and most importantly, leaving white and painted spaces. We leave it as is for now and we'll paint more details later on once it dries. Now we can move on to painting the sky. Using horizon blue and lavender, I create a very bluish lavender color for the sky. I carefully outline the mountain and spread the color. I avoid painting over the fragment reserved for the cherry blossoms. I made the wash flat and plain. Because we don't want it to compete over the bright colored flowers, we'll paint on the foreground later on. Now I get dark blue using indigo to darken some spots on the mountain. Notice that only the tip is touching the papers, so we can achieve concentrated and thick strokes. I also painted a very light tone of blue here to eliminate too much bright unpainted space here on the right. Let this layer dry completely before proceeding on painting the next step. Now I spray some water on the corners in preparation to painting the cherry blossoms. With a saturated mix of quinacridone rose and peach, I splatter some paints on the corners. I create a creamier and darker shade of pink using the same two colors. I vary the amount of peach and quinacridone rose to get different shades. For my darkest tone, I add perylene violet and splatter paints on top. I dab some paints on some areas, but I mostly prefer splattering to get a more natural effect. Using a liner brush, I mix amethyst genuine and Payne's gray to my existing pink color to get a dark color to paint the twigs and branches. The mix has to be so thick and containing very little amount of water. I paint impressions of twigs with very light strokes. I also vary the thinness or thickness of the lines. Here I created a blob of pink, so I tried to lift a bit of color. This step is not necessary if you don't encounter one. I just add some more tiny strokes to finalize the painting. Using amethyst genuine and indigo, I paint tiny strokes on the sitting fragment for the highlights. I also use my round brush to lessen the brightness of the white gaps. I wanted the mountain to have the brightest tone since it is our focal point, so I have to slightly increase the tonal value of these white spots on the city. This is our final painting. Get ready for a wildlife safari adventure on our next lesson. 6. Day 3 Kenya: On this lesson, we will be painting a simple yet very interesting plot, a sunset safari silhouette in Kenya. We will combine two reference photos to create a better composition. I start by identifying the ground here on the lower left part of the paper. Next, I draw the silhouette of the giant tree. Since it is our focal point, we must pay attention to it's shape. Next, let's draw the outline of the jeep. I simply copy the shape I see on the reference, but I pay attention to those tiny spots where light is peeking. Lastly, let's draw an animal here near the tree to complete the composition. Be careful on how big or small the animal should be to keep proper proportions. Our sketch is ready. To give you an overview of the process, we'll be painting the picture in two steps. First is the base wash of the sky, where I'll show you how to blend colors. Then second is painting the silhouette using dry strokes to create textures over the dry initial layer. It is a simple yet fun exercise, where we can learn about tonal values using just few colors. Let's begin. I mix yellow ocher and new gamboge. My mixture is flowy and not too saturated. I moisten my paper with my sprayer. Now I do some horizontal strokes near the horizon. Next, I create a warm orange color by adding perylene red to my mix. I paint this color to the horizon and connect it to my yellow color while it is still moist. Connecting colors while the previous one is still moist makes the transition of color smooth. Here I paint the upper part of the sky with a darker orange tone, then gradually decreases the tone, as I paint towards the yellow layer. I spray it some water on top to soften the hard edge. Next, I tilt my paper a bit so paints would flow down and blend more smoothly. Now let's continue painting the sky by adding some impressions of orange clouds. The key here is that the paper has to be a little bit wet, and the brush contains less water and more pigment to avoid blooms. Here I clean my brush and remove excess water in it. Then lift some colors to show light on the sky. I make a brown color using orange, amethyst, and neutral tint. I paint the ground initially with an orange undertone, then layer a brown color on top. I continue painting the ground with some quick dry strokes, and also do some splatters of paint for a special effect. I dry this layer completely. Make sure that the page is completely dry before painting the silhouette to avoid the paint from bleeding. Using amethyst, neutral tint, and new gamboge, I create a very thick and creamy mix of paint for the tree. Notice how I hold my brush to create the dry strokes for the tree. To achieve this effect, the brush has to have very little amount of water in it. I also rub the full belly of the brush on the paper to create those natural strokes. It is important also to leave some spots of orange color of the sky to prevent the tree from looking like a blob. Using the same color, I paint the twigs and branches. I changed my brush to a synthetic one for more control. Here, my mix for the branches is thicker. Notice the dry strokes created while painting the branches and trunk. I blend the base of the trunk to the ground by rubbing it with my finger. I also darken some areas some more to increase depth. Next, I darken the foreground with a few diagonal strokes using the same dark color I used for the tree since the ground faded a bit. Next, let's paint the Jeep. Don't forget to reserve some tiny spots for the light peeking from behind. It is helpful to use a brush with a pointed tip and has a good snap for better control and more precise strokes. Next, let's paint this wild animal under the tree. As a final step, I paint tiny stroke of grass on the ground. I also darken spots on the Jeep. Lastly, I will paint some birds on the sky. Our painting is complete. For our next stop, let's visit the photogenic blue domed churches in Santorini, Greece. 7. Day 4 Greece: I'm so glad to have you here on day four. Today, we'll paint the iconic blue dome church surrounded by bright pink bougainvillea in Santorini, Greece. Let's start by drawing the guideline for the flowers in the foreground. Next, I draw the dome here in the lower left side of the sheet. To simplify sketching architecture, I refer to my reference photo, observe the angle of each side of the structure, then duplicate it on my paper. Doing this makes the sketching easier and helps you draw lines with correct perspective without actually locating where the vanishing point is. Next, I paint this bell arch beside the dome. Again, I focus on looking at the general shape to simplify the drawing process and I observe and copy the angles of the lines for proper perspective. I'll draw a raw sketch of a mountain at the background and the horizon line. Now, I try to lighten my sketch so it won't be too visible after painting. Let's start. I moisten my paper and start by painting the warm light at the horizon line with the yellow ocher. Next, I paint the blue sky with cobalt blue. I will mix a bit of lavender to my blue so I can avoid having a green mix when blue touches the yellow color on the sky. I darken the upper part of the sky a bit for perspective. Next, I mix cobalt blue upper tip and olive green for the background mountain. The tone should be a little darker than the tone of the sky. The sky fragment is also moist when I painted the mountain to get that soft, misty edge. I let this layer dry completely before painting the water. For the water, I use the same color used on the sky, but I added a bit of cobalt and horizon blue for a richer color. Next, let's paint the blue dome. I will use cobalt blue with a bit of horizon blue for this. First, let's paint the light part of the dome using yellow ocher. Next, I apply the thick blue color, and let it softly blend on the light yellow fragment. The great dimension on the dome, we must place light and dark tones appropriately. Here, I make the portion of the dome darker in color to bring out its shape. Next, using lavender paint, the shades of the white wall. I vary the tone of each side to build the form. As a tip, when painting wide, we portray wide by painting the shadows and placing a dark contrasting color around it to make it shine. I continue painting the portions of the walls with lavender and dropping some hints of branching to make it more interesting. Next, let's paint the bell arch. I use peach and mix it with burnt sienna. We apply the same principle of varying the tones to define the sides of the structure. This is our initial layer for the architecture. We will add more strokes to define a shape and create contrast later on. For now, let's paint the flower fragment using connect radon rows in a bit of buried in violet. I sprayed some water to moisten the page using the same technique we did on painting cherry blossoms on day two, I load my brush with lots of paint in it and splatter some bright pink colors to portray the boom of video. Then I dab some dots of perylene violet to place some dark spots on the flower fragment. Next, let's add some green leaves using yellow ocher, leftover cobalt blue, and olive green. This time I do some dabbing strokes with my brush to paint the leaves. I vary the shades of green. Some areas are yellowish in shade especially those areas that are lightened by the sun. I also make a mid tone green and paint them in the gaps between pinks. Lastly, I add indigo to my mid tone green for the leaves in shadow. Now using a liner brush, I paint some fine shaky strokes for an impression of twigs. One thing I'd like to share is try not to put too much strokes between pinks and greens to avoid muddy shades. As long as the two colors naturally meet you won't have to worry about muddy mixes, but if you try to blend them with your brush you will get distracting colors instantly. Now let's build on the details of the church. I paint the doors and windows with a defined stroke. I still use lavender to paint the shadow parts and cobalt blue for the doors. That is the beauty of color diet. When you use just a handful of colors for the entire painting, the picture looks united and harmonious. Here, I'm just adding more contrast on some spots to highlight the white walls of the church. I also increase the tone of this wall facing to us to improve the dimension. For the bell arch, I will add some fine lines using burnt sienna to define the details. Using opaque white paint straight from the tube, I added some highlights and accents on the arch indoors. Now flower fragment may take extra time to dry because of the pool of water, but here our painting is complete. For next travel destination, let's take an unforgettable gondola ride through the canals of Venice. See you on our next video. 8. Day 5 Italy Part 1: Welcome to Italy. Today, let's paint the Gondola dock in Venice. We'll also learn to portray water, reflection, wood texture, and more. Let's start the sketch. I begin with identifying the horizon line somewhere here in the upper third part of the paper. Then I draw the St. Mark's Square at the background, and I just draw some basic shapes for this. Now I start drawing the Gondola, positioning it here in the left side of the paper. To follow the rule of perspective, I get the angle of the Gondola on the reference with my pencil and then transfer it to my paper. Then I draw the reflection with a shaky stroke. The reflection is a mirror view of the object. Next, I assign a vanishing point here on the horizon line to serve as my guide in drawing the wooden pier dock. All parallel lines should be intersecting on the vanishing point, meaning when drawing the base and railings of the wooden pier, the lines have to meet the vanishing point. Next, I draw the reflection underneath the post. I finalize the sketch by adding samples to complete the composition on the right side. Lastly, I'll add a lamp here on the left. Before I start painting, I will lighten my sketch and finalize the line art to avoid confusion when painting. Let's begin. I moisten my paper with this sprayer. Next, I create a bluish violet mix for my sky. I paint from top to bottom starting with the saturated color, then gradually lighten as it go down. Next, I make a mix of ocher with a bit of sienna to paint the horizon. I soften the edges with a sprayer then I darken the tone on the upper part of the sky. Next, I create my mix of blue for the water using the same color of the sky but I added some cobalt blue. I paint starting from the horizon being careful not to touch the yellow color, then continue painting going down, avoiding the gondola. As I reached the mid part of the water, I make the color darker by adding blue apathy in the mix. For the foreground, I made it a little darker by adding a little indigo. Here I'm just making sure I don't leave unpainted gaps around up here. Now let's paint the background. I mixed burnt sienna and lavender for a cool brown color for the background. Notice that the sky fragment is still moist, letting me achieve soft strokes. Now I dry the layer completely before painting the pear. I will finish by adding tiny marks for details and darkening the middle part of the gondola a little bit more. 9. Day 5 Italy Part 2: Using brown sienna and lavender in creamy mixture, I paint the platform. Now, with a darker brown shade, I paint the side of the wood to show dimension. Notice how creamy my consistency is. The mix should be quite thick so it will pop from the water fragment. I create interesting shades of brown by altering the ratio between colors brown sienna, lavender, amethyst genuine, and yellow ocher. Regardless of the color I create, I see to it that my mix is creamy, containing very little amount of water in it. I paint a portion of the railing with darker tone to show its sides and for it not to look flat. I continue painting the railings using the same group of colors. I also avoid painting over the portion of the gondola here. Here we can see that the pier looks much more alive and slowly pops from the page because of the saturated colors replaced. Now I'm mixing dark brown, almost black using neutral tint to paint the lamppost. I paint the lamp initially with lavender, then paint the metal outline with neutral tint. Now let's move on to painting the gondola. I define the shape of the furrow by painting the space around it. Next, I get rich amount of neutral tint with a bit of lavender to paint the gondola. I added a hint of blue to paint the edge to show the reflected light from the water. We need to show and bring out the dimension of the boat by placing proper tones, just like what we did on the blue dome church in Santorini. Thus, I make this middle part very dark in color, then slightly lightens as I approach the edge. Let's paint the inner side of the boat still with a saturated mix then leaving white gaps in-between. Next, I use cobalt blue with a bit of neutral tint to paint the other parts of the boat. I place the color on the edge, then spread the color with a damp brush to create gradation. I fill in the gaps with random strokes but still leaving tiny white spots inside. Next, let's prepare our color for the reflection using cobalt blue, blue apatite, and olive green and create a bluish green mix to paint the reflection. With one go, I paint the reflection with a shaky horizontal strokes. I avoid layering another color on top. I also paint the reflection under the pier and poles too. Next, let's paint the poles with brown mix. We do the same thing we did on the railings. We put base color first, then add a dark tone to show sides. Don't forget to paint the base of the pier and add contrast on the pier if necessary. For our last step, let's paint white highlight on the gondola using an opaque white paint. I'll add a bit of white too on the lamp for accent and some of the poles. I will finish by adding tidy marks for details and darkening the middle part of the gondola a little bit more. This is our final painting. Let's explore Czech Republic at night on our next lesson. 10. Day 6 Czech Part 1: Nightscapes may look intimidating to paint but today I'll teach you a simple approach to painting Czech Republic at night. Let's start with the horizon line. Then from here, I select the vanishing point that I identified from the reference photo. This serves as my starting point on drawing the structure of the bridge. I lay the lines first, then begin drawing the arches underneath. This may seem tricky at first, but in order for you not to get lost on your sketch, keep in mind that all parallel lines on the bridge must intersect on the vanishing point. I also simplify the structure by not going into too much details. I focus on drawing the general outline and on big shapes, to portray the entire image. Here we are good with our pencil sketch. I'll just finalize some lines and lighten the sketch a little bit. Let's start painting. First we moisten the paper with a clean water. I prewet the water fragment very well. Next, I get cadmium orange with a bit of yellow ocher to paint the light from the buildings, bridge, and water. I gently dab my brush. Since my paper is moist, the paints are softly laid on the paper. Here I place yellow paint on the arches to set up the light too. Next, I use a flat brush to paint the reflected light on water with a downward stroke. I let the paint to flow down. My page is also tilted a little bit and the stroke is very light, so I don't want it to look too harsh or manipulated. Next, I mix compose violet and Payne's gray to paint the water fragment. I paint the space in between the yellow light on water with this dark violet color. It is important that as you do this step, , the paper is still moist, so the yellow and purple colors will have soft blend. After doing this vertical strokes, I do light horizontal strokes to paint the foreground. I darken the purple strokes some more to increase contrast around the reflected light. Since the purple color starts to bleed on yellow, I do quick downward strokes to wash away those bleeds. Then I also add deeper yellow-orange color on the edge of the bridge. After this step, let's darken the foreground some more. You can do this step repeatedly as long as the paper is still moist. Once it gets dry already, it is better to stop as you will just create hard edges. 11. Day 6 Czech Part 2: Now, let's paint the bridge using [inaudible] I change the tone to darker one by adding a bit of Amethyst Genuine. Now, I changed the synthetic brush for more controlled stroke when painting the pillars of the bridge. For this fragment, we bring out dimension by differentiating the tones of the sides, and that way we create dimension without having to outline the sides. Then after painting this horizontal strokes, I drag the paint down, so it will blend with the water fragment. Next, I drop some dark paints on the outline of the bridge to define it more. Now, let's proceed to painting the building at the background. Since it is just a supporting element and not the focal point, we don't need to put so much details on them. Play of light tone colors is sufficient. I just use here different shades of muted brown to paint the picture. I also use muted green to paint the dome and roof. We paint the windows with some dot strokes and a little bit of small vertical marks using lavender. Next, let's paint the bunch of trees on the left side. I use a dark green color made of olive and indigo. I do some rough brush strokes to paint this fragment. Now, let's paint the dark sky using compost violet and paintegree to get a rich dark purple color. I carefully paint around the structures and spread the paint around. I keep my mix very saturated so it won't get transparent after drying. I spray a bit of water to soften the edge. Then I darken the parts that look light and make sure no white and painted gaps are left. As a last step, I add small highlights and texture on the bridge. I also add tiny strokes on the structure as finishing touches. This is our final painting. As a reward for finishing this challenging project, I'll give you a freshly picked flowers from Sweden on our next lesson. 12. Day 7 Sweden Part 1: Welcome to Day 7. For today's project, we'll paint a Swedish flower shop. First, let's draw a roof of the shop, and then the awning. I extend my sketch to the right side of the paper to get an imaginary vanishing point when drawing the parts of the awning. Now, let's draw the shop entrance, and place a lot of flower pots around. Here, I just draw a basic sketch of the pot and some fluffy outline as my guide. We don't need to also draw the view of the interior showing through on the glass panel, as we'll will just use colors to interpret it. Let's add some elements like a lamp post here to make the image interesting, and let's see later on if we'll need to add some details to enhance our composition. I choose not to paint the building behind, but rather to do a loose atmospheric background instead. I'm just adding small important details on the roof and awning, then we can paint. Now, I moisten my paints, and start painting the flowers. Using a clean wet brush, I roll it on the flower portion to pre-wet this section randomly. Next, I drop some green color using ocher and horizon blue. Since the paper is wet, I create this soft bleeds. Next, I drop in pink shades, and let the two colors blend naturally. I do the same step on the next flower pot, but this time I change the color of the flower. I also splatter some paints around. Note that they don't blend the colors with my brush as I don't want to create multi-colors. We repeat the same step on the other pots. We start by pre-wetting the fragment randomly with a wet brush, then drop different colors. This technique is really therapeutic as it is so relaxing to watch the paints move and bleed on wet surface. You can also be creative on the colors you'd like to use to build the flower shop. Now that the paper has absorbed the paint a little bit, I will drop some darker shades of green to add volume on the plants. I still don't do extensive strokes. It is still simple dropping of colors. Next, let's paint the burnt using burnt sienna yellow ocher and Amethyst Genuine. I mix this three colors to create different shades of brown. Since light is coming from the right, the leftmost part of the pot has to be in shadow. As I paint the pots, my mix is creamy so it won't bleed on the color of the flowers. After painting the pots I get a mix of lavender and ocher to paint the floor. I let the portion of my stroke touch the base of the pot so they will look connected. Then I deepen the color underneath the pot with a dark brown shade. Let's paint the flowers on the left side. We do the same step that we did for the flowers on the right. The only difference is that I made this portion look a little out of focus. I go back to the flowers on the right and paint over some of those big white gaps. I also darken the portion of the pot to define each one. I mix indigo and lavender and green to paint the roof. I do some playoff colors by putting dark bluish green outline, then a less intense green for the inner part. Next, I paint the base wash off the awning with a very light wash of lavender. I dry this layer completely before proceeding to the next step. 13. Day 7 Sweden Part 2: Using lavender and some very pale leftover paints, I paint the glass panel of the shop. Next, I get the thick mix of green to define the roof. Since I find it's still wet, I dry it again with my heater to get a defined stroke. I start defining the shape and adding contrast with this new layer. I paint some details like the tiny light bulbs here using Naples yellow and new gamboge straight from the two. I'll just do a sketch of the stripe design of the awning. Now, using lavender and neutral tint, I paint the stripes with the hair of my round brush flattened. My mix is not so saturated but more of muted in color. Some strokes are also broken in lines. Now, let's paint the metal frame of the glass panel using Payne's gray, neutral tint and burnt sienna. Now, I paint small details like this metal support of the awning using yellow ocher and neutral tint. Let's paint the atmospheric background using a mix of ocher and peach. I carefully outline the shop with this color and while it is still wet, I mix lavender next to it. The purpose of adding background is to create contrast around the white awning. I use a spray bottle to soften the edge and to create that soft diminishing color effect. I even splatter some lavender and peach beans for more texture. I will add a few dark strokes on the flower so they look on top of the background but be careful not to overdo this step. Always check your work from a distance from time to time to see if you have placed enough strokes already. Now, let's add some decor on the glass panel with some dry strokes. We don't have to draw what exactly we see in the picture. I dry the background so I can paint the lamp next. Let's finish this door section first by adding final details with the white paint. I place white highlights on the glass panel and on the pots and also some marks on the string of lights. Now, let's paint the lamp with neutral tint. I paint it with quick doodle-like strokes. I darken the post with a saturated paint to make it look more solid, then I paint the inner part of the lamp with lavender. Our picture is completely painted but I feel like we can still add something to make the picture more interesting. I thought of adding an easel board here beside a lamp which is a very common signage on flower shops. I paint the easel with a bench and a border. Next, I paint the space underneath with the same gray color so it won't look floating. Then here let's paint the inner board with a light tone of neutral tint. I'll dry the fragment completely and paint white strokes as an impression of text on the board. Now our flower shop painting is finally complete and finished. Let's fly next to Norway for relaxing stroll on one of its charming villages. 14. Day 8 Norway Part 1: Congratulations for finishing the first seven days of our challenge. Now on Day 8, let's paint a charming village in Norway. We start to sketch with a bridge somewhere below the mid part of the page. I draw the arch underneath and try to copy the angle with a freehand. Next, let's draw the surrounding, starting from the side of the brook then the house here on the right. Let's add some windows and doors. I put a little detail on the bridge like the handrails and the brick wall on the side. Next, let's draw the brook and put an impression of stairway here on the side and small stones here in the middle. Now I draw the distant mountains. Let's lighten some hard lines and add a bit of elements here on the right. Let's begin painting. I start by moistening my paper with my sprayer. Next, I paint the warm light with a watery mix of yellow ocher then blend in a milky mix of purplish color using horizon blue and amethysts genuine. This is my color for the sky. I darken the upper portion a bit then I will soften the edge with my sprayer. Next I mix the colors; horizon blue, olive and apatite genuine to paint the cold distant mountains. I tilt my paper so the colors won't flow to the sky fragment. Now, I create a yellow greenish mix using ocher and horizon blue to paint this mountain in the middle ground. Just like what we did on the mountains on Day 1 Philippines, we do play off colors and tones to portray the mountain. The next slightly darker tone while the initial color is still moist. For the dark tones, I simply add indigo to my mix. I skip painting the house and I still vary the tones of greens in the mountains. As I paint the foot of the mountain, I make the wash a little soft and watery. I also drop some branch in a color to add warmth in it. I also carefully outline the house to define the shape. Since my mountain fragment is still moist, I take advantage by dropping tiny dots of creamy mix of paints to show impression of trees. This step is possible if the layer is still wet, but if not, I don't advise doing it. Here, I sprinkle some water with my finger to create a unique texture. Now, let me clean my palette before painting the other parts. Using Horizon Blue and Amethyst Genuine plus Blue Apatite Genuine, I create the color for the water fragment. I start from the area closest to me with a saturated color, then gradually lightens as I go farther. I intensify the tone a little bit in the foreground to show depth. Next, using yellow ocher and Horizon Blue, I paint the grass here on this side. I paint the area following the direction or slope of the land. I also still do play of colors and tones in one layer. Next, I paint the small tree on the side with some jagged strokes. I darken the base part of the tree so it will be more distinct. I paint the bushes here on the right next. I make a milky mix of brown color using my leftover paints to paint this brick wall on the side. I use the same colors to paint the stairway on the left. 15. Day 8 Norway Part 2: Using yellow ocher and a bit of Amethyst Genuine, I paint the base wash off the bridge. The base wash is very light and transparent. Then I drop in a bit of amethyst while it is still wet, to create texture through colors. I carefully paint the outline to show its form. Next, I get a darker brown color using amethyst and burnt sienna to paint the dark spots of the bridge. Again, I do this while the fragment is still moist to achieve the soft blend of colors. Doing this step is like creating the texture of the bricks using color bleeds. Now, while waiting for this to dry, I painted both side behind the bridge. This time the water fragment is also dry, that's why I don't have to worry with color bleeds. After painting it, I drag the colors down using a dump flat brush to show an impression of reflection on water. The brush should be damp and has no excess water in it. I darken the edges a bit for more contrast. Now, using yellow ocher and lavender, I paint the underside of the arch. I observe their reference and see which part should be a bit dark to show dimension. Let's splatter some paints here on the foreground to show the little flowers. I use Naples yellow since it is opaque. Now, let's paint the house. I use Indian red as my base color for the house. I shift to a synthetic brush this time and carefully paint the sides of the house. Notice that I don't color it with a solid fill. I place a saturated color on one area and then spread the color going to the other area. I make a darker mix of Indian red with neutral tint to paint the shade under the roof, then I paint the roof itself next. I dry this layer completely before adding some more lines in details. I need to make more contrast between the house and mountain background. Let's do it by painting some trees around to better define the shape of the house. It is also called negative painting. Now, let's paint the hand wrist on the bridge using neutral tint and lavender. Make the lines very fine and not so saturated so it won't take too much attention. Here is our final painting. Now join me visit a cozy English cottage on our next lesson. 16. Day 9 UK Part 1: Thatched roof, lush greeneries, rustic, and vintage exteriors are just a few to describe our project for today. This is a sketch of this English cottage. I start with the roof and a copied angle of the roof from the reference photo to get proper angle and alignment. We will adjust the garden area in our sketch a bit since our reference is in portrait format. I focus on drawing essential lines or elements to show the essence of the picture like the wooden window shutters and skip on to small unnecessary details like those objects in front of the house. I finalize my line art by erasing those loose sketches and outlining the final sketch. Next, I lighten my sketch a bit and then proceed on moistening my paints and paper. Using yellow ocher and burnt sienna, I paint the base wash of the thatched roof. I paint with muted brown color, the edge of the roof. I try to paint the roof in one layer by placing appropriate tones in one go and also build color connection. I sprayed water to get that soft edge. Next, I drop some paints of dark brown color on the wet fragment to show texture on the roof. I also splatter some paints for more organic feel. Next, I paint the smaller roof on the side with a lighter color using yellow ocher. Here, I mix green color to paint the plants on the side. I hold my brush near the middle part of the handle for loser strokes. Since my paper has a little moisture, I create those lost and found edges as I lay the colors. Now as I paint the walls of this little house in shadow, I get a dark brown mix, which is a creamy consistency, creamier than the mix I use for the greens, so the brown color would not bleed as much. I continue painting the greeneries in front of the house and also the flowery plants in the foreground. Painting in expressive style may look challenging, but the key technique here is color connection. When you learn to balance in between paint and water to create the connection within color washes in one layer, you gain control over the medium despite its unpredictability. Next, I mix up color for the ground using lavender and very little amount of burnt sienna. I start with whitewash near the house, then gradually increases the tone by adding some more burnt sienna in my mix. I make the foreground darker in tone for perspective. I drop in some burnt sienna to portray the soil on the garden. I splatter some Naples yellow on the right bush for flower blooms. I also added a bit of pink to make color look more vibrant. Now, we go back to painting the walls of the house. Since the roof is already dry, we can define the shape through negative painting. As we paint the walls with limited color palette, it's crucial to defer the shades of brown to define different sides of the roof and walls. Here, I'm building the under portion of the roof by making it appear dark in tone as compared to the other side. 17. Day 9 UK Part 2: I also paint the front side of the house with a transparent wash to highlight the dark tone around it. I drop some shades of burnt sienna into it also while it's wet. Let's paint the other details of the cottage like this tiny window on the side. Don't forget to paint the shadow underneath. We'll let this layer dry completely first and while waiting, we can proceed on painting the greens on the left. I use yellow ocher and a bit of olive green. I pre-wet my paper to get soft blooms of paints. I do the same technique I did on the right side greeneries. Color connection is the key to building smooth blend on color play. Let's splatter nipples yellow and cadmium orange for flower effects. Lastly, let's paint some thick dark green strokes for leaves here on the foreground. Our foreground is almost done, you will just need to finalize the cottage to finish the painting. Let's do first a negative painting around the flower bushes to paint the backyard fence. I leave some white unpainted gaps around it. Then using my nails, I scratch the paint to show the fence. Next, I pre-wet the background slightly and paint a bunch of tree with big, bold strokes. I also use liner brush to paint the crown of the leaves and some twigs. Keep the tree looking a bit blurry or out of focus by misting it with water sprayer. You can also use it to partially define the shape of the roof through negative painting. Now let's go back to finalizing the cottage. Using a synthetic brush, I paint the details of the house starting on the windows. To avoid making it look flat, you need to show dimension of the wood shutters. I use branch, and now to paint the window borders in a dark brown color using branch and an amethyst and also neutral thin to paint the sides of the dark tones. Now let's add the rough textures of the roof with dry brush strokes. I rub my brush on the paper, making sure it has no excess water or moisture in it. I also darken parts that needed extra contrast, like the small cottage on the side. I will also do some dry strokes here on the main roof using branch and a bit of Indian red. I rubbed the paint with my finger to blend it with the base color. As a final step, I paint some certain lines here on the pathway to create extra interest and texture on the ground. This has to be very transparent and not distracting. Now our painting is complete. For our next lesson, let's take a walk on the streets of Paris with a view of the Eiffel Tower at night. See you on the next video. 18. Day 10 France Part 1: Today let's take a walk in one of the streets of Paris, while gazing at the Eiffel Tower at night. Here we'll apply the rule of perspective by copying the angles in alignments of lines on our reference to simplify the process. Second, we will also apply what we learned from painting nightscape in check. Starting from painting light, then adding contrast around it to make light glow in nightscape. Let's start sketching. Here you see me copying the angle for my reference to my pencil, then transferring it to my sketchbook to draw the building on the left. Next, I draw the Eiffel Tower. Even though we draw with freehand, we must ensure symmetry to make it look balanced, proportional, and most importantly, not awful. It's also okay to take the sketch a bit slow, especially with subjects that need to be symmetric. Next, let's draw the building on the right. I start with a signage, then the cafe awning. Since we will adjust again our reference from a portrait format reference to a landscape painting, we won't draw the entire facade, and we'll cut short the front portion of the cafe. Here in the middle, I disregard all the details in the reference, and we'll just use watercolor to bring out texture. I won't specify this rough cars here on the left side, and this side will be mostly faded. We will focus more details here on the right. I revise a composition by placing a window, and that there is here on the top part of the cafe. Our drawing is done, we can lighten the sketch and start painting. I moisten the page with water sprayer. Then using Naples yellow, I set up the baselight of the tower. Next, I mix Naples and lavender and paint over the layer to show the metal framework of the tower. The strokes are very light and subtle, I also do some six sub-strokes to show it. Next I get indigo, lavender and neutral tint to paint the night sky. My mix is very creamy and opaque to get the dark night sky effect. I carefully paint around the tower, and since my tower is still a bit wet, I leave some tiny white gaps so the dark paint won't bleed towards the yellow color. I will just paint over those pots later on when the tower gets dry. On this step, I'm just filling the entire sky fragment with color completely. I also avoided painting the buildings on both sides. I spread a bit of water just to soften the edge. Now I clean my brush and I will paint those white gaps with Naples yellow. I mix burnt sienna, amethyst and lavender to get the muted brown color for the building on the left. I add some more lavender to create different shades despite using the same three colors. I also add some Naples yellow to show a hint of light. With a creamy paint in a synthetic brush, I paint the details and structure of the building where the fragment is still wet. I do this wet-on-wet because I want this area to look out of focus. I also splatter some paints to create texture. Using lavender and neutral tint, I create a gray color to paint this row of cards. I don't intend to paint them one-by-one, and again, this area should not look defined. I just paint the row with gray colors and leave white gaps in-between. Now let's paint the middle area below the tower. I use thick orange color then connect grayish brown color to create the impression of row of buildings from afar. I drop neutral colors while the portion is still wet. I also paint the road using yellow ocher to set up the reflected light, then gradually blends in lavender mix to it. 19. Day 10 France Part 2: I get Indian red to paint the front side of the cafe in shadow. I make a darker tone by adding neutral tint to it. I also blend in Naples yellow to show the reflected light from the shadow on this wall. I spray a bit of water to create texture and soften the edge, we will paint the details later on once it dries. Let's paint the red awning. I get a very thick amount of peril in red. It is okay if it bled towards the upper wall a little bit, but as you can see I left a small unpainted gap to prevent the entire red stroke from leading up. I get Naples yellow with a bit of ocher to paint this light shining through the awning. While it is still wet I paint the upper portion with a creamy mix of red and tilt my paper so the two colors will mix and blend on their own. I avoid blending them with my brush as much as possible. Then I drop in some red spots. Next, I paint this portion of the awning with a different shade of yellow-orange with the mixture still thick and very saturated. Using a creamy mix of lavender and neutral tint, I paint the folds and design of the awning with broken lines. I mix burnt sienna, Indian red, and [inaudible] red to paint the sides of the building. The color should be evidently darker than the side facing us, the great dimension. Next, I paint the small area around the signage. For the signage I paint it partially with a pale yellow color. I'm still painting this side of the building. First, with burnt sienna and then dropping colors like neutral theme and Naples yellow. I mix Naples in orange to paint the light here in the coffee entrance. From this yellow color, we connect a warmer orange by adding burnt sienna to the mix. We intensify the color as we move further away from the light. I painted the glass door with lavender and mixed with a bit of neutral tint or show the impression of the interior reflected on the glass door. We do this step while the layer is still wet. Here on the left side of the cafe I paint Naples yellow as base color of the light on the pathway. Now I will paint some details starting with the signage with neutral tint. I also paint the outline with broken strokes and then paint the text in the signage. I add red accents on top too. Next, let's paint some more strokes to define the shape on the glass door with a brown color. I also darken some strokes on the awning and paint also the text design on it. I'll paint some posters here on the cafe with shapes and markings. Let's paint the window and terrace next. I get a dark brown color using amethyst and burnt sienna and a bit of neutral tint. I just draw some fluid strokes to paint the metal design. Then next, I paint the shadow underneath it. I still use burnt sienna as my base color for the window shutters. I paint the road with a green mix using lavender neutral tint. I rub my finger to blend it to the base color and I also paint the shadow on the road with the same color using dry brush stroke from left to right. I also enhance the tower with some dark lines using the same green mix. I wanted to bring out a little bit of this metal framework, so I do some swift zigzags strokes using just the tip of my brush. Now I'll do a negative painting around the cafe to define the border of the wall. Here I use a dark brown color to create that contrast. Then lastly, I define the details on the cafe entrance. Here is our final painting. For our next destination, we will visit a city full of pastel colored buildings and not to be missed yellow triumph of Portugal. See you on the next video. 20. Day 11 Portugal Part 1: For today's painting prompt, we'll be painting one of this bonds most iconic symbols, the cluttering mustard yellow tram, squealing its way on the rails through traffic. Let's start sketching. On the left portion of the paper, I position the approaching tram. To get the right size of the tram, I did a rough estimate of the real first on the lower part of the paper and I need to make sure that the tram doesn't look too small for it is our focal point, yet it should not be too big that there would be not enough space to draw the rail. Since it is most likely front facing, we draw first the general shape of the tram. Draw the windshield, the destination box, and a little portion of the sides strawing. Behind it we draw the buildings on both sides. I envision the painting to look like this, bright and striking tram against an out of focus blurry pastel color buildings at the background. I still draw some lines to show windows, but I don't intend to copy the full details of the buildings and even the business of the city. Here I draw the cable wires. Now let's begin painting. I activate my paints by pre-wetting them. I also pre-wet my paper with my sprayer. Using horizon blue and amethyst genuine I create a pastel blue color to paint the building on the right. I create color play by mixing a bit of ocher in the mix and also altering the ratio of colors. While it is still wet, I splatter some purple color on the side to create textures. Next with horizontal strokes, I paint the road starting from the base of the building going down. Here, I use yellow ocher with a bit of burnt sienna. As I approach the middle ground, I'll add lavender to my mix to transition my color to a darker tone. In the foreground, you will see more lavender color in my mix. I paint the real way with a grayish color, then splatter some paints on the ground while it's still wet. Next, I've paint the left side of the street with a mix of ocher and sienna. Now, I will paint the left building using a saturated mix of burnt sienna with a bit of ocher. I paint around the tram and avoid staining it as much as possible. I do the same step of creating texture on the building by splattering brown paints on it. Now let's paint the sky with a very light wash of lavender. The tone must be so light that it won't compete with the two buildings. Now that the blue building is moist, I paint the impression of windows. Is important to paint the windows while the layer is moist to get that soft blurry edge. If yours got dry already, you can moisten the fragment with a little water. Then let the paper absorb the water a bit before applying the strokes. Another key technique when doing this is that the brush should not have so much water in it. I use synthetic brush, so the brush contains mostly pigment. If my brush is so wet, the tendency is that the water in it will flow down to the paper and will create unwanted watercolor blooms. Now you can see an out-of-focus effect on your buildings. We then add some bits of gray on the road to add texture. Next, I paint the railway with a creamy mix of gray. Notice that my stroke is broken, I intentionally don't make a full stroke to support the loose field that we want to achieve. I also paint very light horizontal strokes to portray subtle texture on the road. 21. Day 11 Portugal Part 2: Using ocher and new gamboge, I color the mustard yellow portion of the tram. I paint one side with a saturated color then slightly spreads the color on other parts. Next, I paint the side of the tram with the same color but placing just a small portion on this side then wash it down. Next, I paint the black portion of the tram. I use a neutral tint with a bit of lavender. Since there is a reflected orange color on the surface, I blend in my mustard color mix and let the two colors connect. I carefully make some outline strokes to define the shape of the tram, and I also look for color bleeds so I can lift the color. Here, I am darkening some portions to create dimension and show the curved shape of the front. I also paint the lifeguard feeler below the tram using neutral tint while leaving white gaps in-between. I paint light gray strokes on the side of the tram. Now, I paint the windshield using pale colors. I initially put lavender mixed with Horizon Blue then I blend in burnt sienna with a bit of ocher. Here key here is to keep the tones very light and transparent. We do the same step on all the three sections. Next, I create depth by putting outlines with darker tones. I also paint strokes to create the impression of the reflection on the glass. Using this watery lavender mix, I paint the top part of the tram. Next, I paint the form with creamy burnt sienna color and some neutral tint. Let's paint windows with thin lines and fill in the roof area with a blend of lavender and ocher. Now I paint the side mirror with neutral tint, then use lavender for the inner fill. After this, I will paint its reflection on the glass using mostly lavender paint. Now, let's paint the destination box. I start from the outline, then fill it in with a blend of colors. Using new gamboge with no water at all, I paint the highlights in front of the tram. Then I paint the shadow on the rail using lavender and neutral tint. The tone should be darker than the tonal value of the ground for it to be distinct. I also deepen the color here right below the tram. Next, I add and enhance the left side of the street using burnt sienna. Using the same color with amethyst genuine, I add some elements through vertical and horizontal strokes. I darken some portions of the rail with thicker stroke of paint. I also create a clear separation between the building and the road with the horizontal stroke. I rub my finger on the stroke to fade the color away. I return to painting the tram to define its shape, especially the back part near the blue building. With dots and dabs of paint, I put some highlights and accents. Lastly, with the liner brush, I paint the cables with quick single stroke. Notice that I hold my brush at the end of the handle and at almost 90 degrees for a very minimal control and achieve very fine stroke. I finish off by adding white highlights on the destination box, some accents on the face of the tram, and on the cable wires. I wanted to darken this portion of the glass section a bit more since they faded after drying. Here is our final painting. From this one, let's fly off this paint and breathe some fresh air in Costa Brava. 22. Day 12 Spain: Let me tour you today in one of Europe's most romantic and sports stretches, of course, only here in Costa Brava, Spain. Here let's draw the horizon line. I assign a vanishing point almost near the center, and from here I extend some lines to draw the row of hotels on the right side. With a quick gliding stroke, I draw the shoreline. Then here in the foreground, I draw a boat. I go back to this structure on the right and draw impression of buildings or hotels by putting some roof, windows, and doors. Keep in mind to follow the rule of perspective, even when drawing the roof, the top part of the windows, and the top part of the doors. Now I'll erase unnecessary lines and lighten my sketch. I'll moisten my paper and my paints with a sprayer. Let's paint from top to bottom, starting from the sky. Using yellow ocher, I paint the warm light on the horizon with a very light wash. Next, I mix horizon blue and amateurs genuine with a bit of cobalt blue to paint the sky. I leave some white unpainted strips to portray clouds in the sky. Using a spray, I soften the edge on the upper part of my paper. I also darken the upper part to create depth and distance. I also soften the edges of those white strips of clouds with a clean damp brush. Now I tilt my paper a bit to let the paint flow. I soften the yellow paint I painted over the hotel fragment with my brush and also by spraying a bit of water. Next, I'll paint the shore using ocher branch in and [inaudible] rose. My mix is milky in mixture. It is not saturated and more of transparent. As I paint the shore in the foreground, I just make a quick stroke towards the edge to create the dry brush effect. Next, I splatter some brown color for sand texture. Now, I mix the color for the sea. I use my leftover blue paint and add horizon blue and indigo. I load my brush with paint, flatten the bristles and paint from the horizon going down. As I make a stroke, I try to create those tiny and painted dots for glare of water. I continue creating this dry brush effect towards the foreground. I lightly touched the sand fragment with blue paint. Next, I get more saturated mix of blue using more indigo into it to paint dark spots in the water. I will dry this layer completely before proceeding to the next fragment, I had to use a heat gun to stop those unwanted color bleeds between water, sand, and sky fragment. Let's paint the row of hotels. I start with a very light yellow ocher base wash. Then I paint the windows, roofs, and doors with burnt sienna. I change my brush to paint dark fine lines for the roof. I use the same brush to create texture on the walls and paint some portions. I get lavender with a bit of burnt sienna to paint the farthest part of the buildings. Using the same color, I paint the sides of the walls in shadow. Now, using the leftover blue paint, I paint the windows and doors. As much as possible it is advisable to use the same color mix on different parts of the painting to create balance and harmony. Using the same group of colors, you also build color connection between different elements and make the overall picture united. I try to give this fragment to look neat by not placing too much colors and just painting details with light transparent vertical strokes. Now I paint branch and highlights on the coast for a bit of contrast. Next, I will paint this boat. I wanted the boat to be white and I will keep the main part unpainted and paint the design with blue color, closer to color of the sea. Next, I paint the shadows on the white boat with light wash off lavender. Here I paint the paddle sticks the same way as we paint the sticks in Venice dock. We start with the light base wash and then add a stroke of dark paint to create dimension. I paint the other parts and details of the boat with the saturated blue paint. I partially outline the edge of the boat with a broken stroke using green mix. I slightly provide the sand portion so I can add some sand textures with splatters of paint. Then I splatter paints in different direction to be more expressive. I also darken the portion of the sand under the boat to show shape. Here I added contrasts around the white boat by darkening the sand part some more and placing additional splatters. I dry the painting with my heat gun, then I will add final highlights. With the red paint, I paint accents on the boat and a rope. I also put some dots of red colors at the background. Lastly, I added some dark strokes on the windows to make them look more alive. I'm simply placing dark strokes and highlights to enhance the overall look of the picture. Here is our final painting. We are down to the last two destinations of this trip. See you in the next lesson as we paint the northern lights. 23. Day 13 Iceland: As we nearly end our trip, I'll take you to this striking blue and green dancing lights in the skies of Iceland. For this prompt, I'll teach you how to paint the northern lights. But first, let's do a quick sketch of the outline of the tree silhouettes. I varied the height and angle of the trees for natural look. Now let's pre-wet our paper. I get a bigger brush to wet the paper faster. I mix my glowing green color using new gamboge and horizon blue. I add a good amount of water to make the mix transparent and flowy. I tried to find the right balance between the two colors to get a close shade to the reference photo. On my wet paper, I laid the yellow green color lightly. I let the paint to bleed and spread naturally on the wet surface. I even dance my brush as I do the strokes. Next, I create my mix for the dark night sky using a very creamy and saturated mix of indigo and horizon blue. As I layered this color, the paper has to be still wet. In this way, there won't be a hard edge between green and blue. I carefully paint the thin space between the green strokes and vary the general shape of the dancing lights. Don't panic if you feel that the blue color is starting to cover the green fragment. When you are done laying the colors, I get my flat brush and start to drag the blue color away from the green color. The brush has to be damp, having no water in it. It is like lifting the color but with a very light strokes. So we don't completely lift off the paint. I do this step to form the shape of the dancing lights and also to create that fading effect. Another key here is to wipe off or clean your brush every after the lifting stroke. Doing this prevents you from staining the green fragment with a dirty brush. Now we can see the colors are starting to behave and not moving anymore. Once you're happy with the results, you either let it dry naturally or in my case, I will use a heat gun to fasten the process. Just a warning when using a heat gun, the paints tend to fade much more compared to natural drying. Now I get the thick dark mix of indigo with neutral tint to paint the pine tree silhouette. I use a synthetic brush with a very fine tip to paint tiny and delicate strokes. The mix should be very thick, saturated, and containing very minimal amount of water so it would layer well on top of the background. I do some dabbing strokes to paint the silhouette of the tree starting from the tip, then going to the body. I also leave some spots from the background unpainted to show light peeking through. As I reach the edge, I just make bold, wide strokes to cover a large fragment. I repeat the same step as I paint the other trees. I varied the height and even the angle or direction of the trees so they won't look stiff and unnatural. Some trees I make thinner, while some are shorter. I also keep on leaving some unpainted gaps in-between the dabbing strokes to better illustrate the impression of the trees. As I paint the trees on the rightmost part of the paper, I made them short and with lesser strokes to maintain balance and direct the focus of the viewers to the focal point, which is the northern lights and the tall trees on the left. This is our final painting. We will close our trip in Canada as we paint a gorgeous sunset beach. 24. Day 14 Canada: It is truly a wonderful experience to journey with you across the world. Today marks our last destination and we'll paint the dramatic sunset in a surf beach in Canada. I start this sketch with the horizon line somewhere below the middle part. Next, I draw the range of trees on the right followed by the shoreline. Here on the left side, I draw a silhouette of two surfers. To ensure appropriate size of the figures, the head should lie within or very close to the horizon line. From there, you can decide how tall the human figure would be. I also draw shaky strokes for the reflection on the water. Let's paint. I moisten the paper with some water and also tilt my paper at a slight angle. Using cadmium orange and perylene red and a bit of ocher, I paint the orange skies. I do horizontal strokes with the full belly of my brush laying on the paper. I slightly decrease the tone as I go up by adding a small amount of water in my brush. Next, I mix the color of the dark sky with indigo and my leftover paints from the northern lights, it is made of indigo and horizon blue. On my following strokes, I added a bit of horizon blue and compost violet to my mix to get a purplish-blue color. With a wet brush, I blend the blue and orange color lightly with one stroke. I avoid making too much blending stroke to avoid muddy mix. I also darken the upper part of the sky. Now I mix lavender to my current dark mix to paint the purple clouds. I do horizontal and also curved strokes to portray them. This step, my sky fragment is still moist, giving me a soft edge on every stroke. I can see here that the purple color bleeds quite uncontrollably on the orange color. That is totally okay. I tried to control overwhelming bleeds by layering a thicker pigment over it. When I say thicker pigment, my brush has to contain very minimal amount of water in it. Now I proceed to painting the horizon with a pale lavender color. We'll continue painting the beach, mirroring the color of the sky. Using the same orange mix I used for the sky, I paint the water. Next to it, I paint the water with purple. Keep in mind that we must mirror the color of the sky on the water fragment. In the foreground, I darken the purple tone with horizontal strokes. To make the color more saturated, I add lavender to my mix. As I do this horizontal strokes, strokes near the horizon have to be fine, thin, and transparent. The strokes turn thicker, longer, and darker as they approach the foreground. Now I dry this layer thoroughly with my heat-burn. For our next step, I prepare the colors for the background trees. I use my leftover purple paint, then add amethyst genuine, perylene violet and also Payne's gray to get a very rich dark color. I start with the fine strokes here on the horizon, and then gradually build on the form and shape of the trees with organic strokes. Here I got my brush to create varying strokes to portray the silhouette. I also made the inner portion of the sky visible in between tree trunks to retain the light. I darken some portions using Payne's gray to make this portion more a peak. Next, I mix Payne's gray buried in violet and amethyst genuine to paint the reflection of those background trees on the beach. The reflection is quite lighter in tone as compared to the object being reflected. I paint the reflection with horizontal strokes and creating this mirror image. I paint the waves using lavender and do quick and light horizontal strokes as well. Next, using neutral tint, I paint the silhouette of the surface and make sure the tone is really deep and dark as I don't want it to appear pale or transparent when it dries. The human figures must stand out against the background. Since the human figures are quite small, be careful in maintaining proper proportions or size, so they will indeed appear like surfers. Next, I paint the reflection with a lighter tone. I finalize the painting by placing dark strokes on some areas that appear to be pale. This is our last and final painting. Thank you so much for being with me since Day 1 up to here. I'll share more tips on how you could sustain the habit you have built on the next video. 25. Sustaining The Habit: [MUSIC] As we close this 14-day watercolor travel, let me remind you that your main goal is not to paint. Your goal is to be an artist. If that is your goal, then ask yourself, who do you have to become? I've learned from the book, Atomic Habits by James Clear that in order for us to build and sustain a good habit, we must have a change in mindset. We must first decide who we want to become. To achieve that, we must focus on the habits of a true artist. You must make painting obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. To make painting obvious means your materials have to be visible and ready to use anytime. Assign a small area or a table where you can set up your things. Instead of keeping your brush and paper and paints in a box, place them on your desk along with your other materials, so you can easily get triggered to paint every time you see them. Second, make painting attractive. For you to do the habit, your area should look attractive to you. Make your space appealing and inviting. Make it a place that spurs you to create. Third, make painting easy. Start with easy and simple subjects. Start with large something you like. These objects may stretch you a bit but not frustrate you. Lastly, make painting satisfying. In order to make painting a habit, paint something that makes you feel fulfilled and rewarded. It could be something that you love or desire doing like traveling. As John Dryden says it, we first make our habits, then our habits make us. You become the artist that you desire to be as you make the decision to be and act like an artist each and every day. [MUSIC] 26. Final Thoughts: Congratulations for finishing the class. I'm so glad that you joined me in experiencing the joy of painting. I'm so excited to see your work, so don't forget to tag me on Instagram when you share them online. If you enjoyed painting with me, I invite you to join my other watercolor classes here also on Skillshare. Thank you so much for being with me, and I hope to see you on my other classes. [MUSIC]