Watercolor Winter Wonderland - A Therapeutic Painting Class.

1. Introduction - Watercolor Winter Wonderland : In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. Today we venture onto a similar journey of discovering the incredible beauty within winter. Hello and welcome to my class on painting Winter Wonderland. I'm Shannon, an artist and art educator from India. You can check out my skillshare profile to know more about my art journey. Today, I'm thrilled to guide you through the magical world of watercolor, winter wonderland. We will delve into the fundamentals of light and shadow, unlocking the secrets that make winter landscapes truly come alive. We'll paint step by step, creating not just a masterpiece, but also a therapeutic experience. I'll share every detail, ensuring you not only follow along, but also gain the confidence to create your winter wonderland. Independently, we will explore composition, understanding each element to bring out the essence of this enchanting season. Our focus is on capturing the mesmerizing snow, infusing depth, and adding those perfect highlights to make it truly sparkle. Get ready for our session. Grab your watercolor supplies, find a cozy spot, and let's paint the magic of winter. I'll see you inside the class. 2. Art supplies needed.: Hello and welcome to Winter Wonderland painting class. I'm thrilled to have you here. Before we dive into our painting session, let us go over the art supplies you would need to follow along and create this beautiful winter landscape. We will start with papers. The paper that I'm using is Arch 300 GSM, 100% cotton paper. The size of this paper is 3.99 0.8 " in landscape orientation. If you don't have the exact paper, any similar 100% cotton paper should work well for achieving similar results. For our color palette, we would need the following colors. First is warm yellow. You could use Dmu yellow or Indian yellow. Then we have orange, burnt sienna, burn timber black. If you don't want to use black, then go with the brown and blue mixture. We would also need paints gray and then ultramarine blue for painting the snow. Avoid using warmer blues like cobalt blue or Thallow blue. I would recommend you to use a cooler blue for organic snowy effect in the painting. Additionally, we will use white gauge paint for adding highlights to the snow. If you don't have white gauge thick, white water color can be a suitable alternative. Next up is brushes, I'll be using Princeton mop brush in size six. Then we have silver velvet brushes in size 12, size eight, and size two round sizes. These brushes will give us the versatility that we need for different details in our painting. Don't forget to have a pencil and an eraser for sketching. Also need a masking paper to secure your paper, ensuring a clean and professional finish. Then we'll have two jars of clean water ready. One is for taking clean water for the washes, and the other one is for cleaning the dirty paints of your brushes. Keep a napkin or a tissue paper handy to wipe off excess paint from the brushes. This helps to maintain the vibrancy of the color throughout the painting process. I'll be using my head dryer to speed up the drying process. You could either use this or naturally allow the papers to dry. It is totally your call and there you have it. With these supplies, we are ready to hop on to our watercolor winter landscape journey. If you're ready, let's get started. 3. Composition and Fundaments: Before we dive into our main painting session, it is important to grasp the composition and fundaments of shadows and light. This will enhance your painting experience. Let us begin by breaking down the composition of the winter landscape painting. I'll start by drawing a rectangular box to suggest the painting frame. Now let us divide this space into two halves using the horizon line. This line separates the sky from the ground. Along with it, we'll add some cute houses here and there. Think of it as a small village in the countryside. Now let us mark the sun somewhere in the center of our painting frame. With that being established, we'll add some trees to our snowy ground. You can place the trees anywhere you want. Add multiple branches to the trees to make the scene look dense. Here comes an essential part, casting shadows on these trees. To determine the shadows of our trees, we need to look at the direction of the light source. In our case, the sun is in the center. If you consider the tree, the sun is being on the left side, which means the shadow will be on the right side. The same rule applies to the tree on the left side. The shadow will be cast to the left side of the tree. Applying the same concept to the houses. If the sunlight is on the right side of a house, the shadows will be cast on the left side. Conversely, if the sun light is on the left side, the shadow will be on the right side. Understanding the basic phenomenon allows you to paint shadows and lights realistically in your artwork. These are some of the examples of shadows and lights. Now let me illustrate this concept with some examples. I have three trees here and the light source is in the center all the videos, and you can determine the direction in which each tree should cast its shadow. Let me help you. For the tree in the center, the shadow will be right ahead of it, opposite to the light source for the tree on the right. With the light on the left, the shadow is on the right side. Similarly for the tree on the left side, the light source is on the right side. The shadow will be casted on the left. I hope you now have a clear understanding of how to paint shadows and lights in your artwork. Feel free to apply these concepts to create your own trees and shadows. Now, based on the light source, I'll be adding the sunlight and darker colors to the trees. For the darker side, I'll add darker brown color next on the sunlit part of the tree, I'll add orange color to suggest the reflected part in the tree. For this tree in the center, I'll be adding sunlit areas on both the sides because the light sources right behind the object. Moving on, I'll be painting a small thumbnail so that you understand the flow of the painting. I'll begin by painting the sky. This is a sunset sky. We have orange hues in the center. And I'll apply some darker clouds using paint gray. Next, we will apply some yellowish orange color on the ground to get that reflected light. Then we will add the cast shadows. You can sketch the direction of the cast shadows beforehand so that you don't get confused while painting. Then we'll be painting the trees. Once you paint the basic shape, then you can add the shadows on the trees. We will add some dimension to the snow painting the houses based on the direction of light. At the end, you can add all the details. This is simply a rough depiction of the painting. We will be learning to paint this in great details in the upcoming chapters. 4. Part 1 - Painting the Sky: Welcome to the painting session. I hope you'll are set with your supplies. Today we will be creating a beautiful winter landscape. To start grab your masking tape and let us prepare our canvas even if your paper is already secured. Applying masking tape will give us a clean border to our painting. A down all the sides. Take your time with this step and make sure it is well taped. Once you have taped down all the sides, make sure to run your finger over the edges to make sure it is tightly sealed. Now let us mark the composition of the painting. I'll draw a gentle horizon line somewhere in the center. This line will separate the snowy ground and the sky. Remember, we'll keep our pencil marks very light. We want them to be subtle, not overpower the painting. Now, let us sketch the houses. I'll be sketching it in a very simple shape. Pay attention to the roof lines here. These are slightly curved which will resemble the snow collected on the top of the roof. This will add a sense of depth to the painting. Next, I will add some random bumps in front of the second house, suggesting accumulated snow on various objects. It is these little details that will make a painting pop, adding in a chimney on the first house. Now let us add some houses on the left side of the painting frame. Moving on, let us introduce the trees in our snowy painting. Trees are a vital part of our composition. You can draw the trees anywhere you like on this snowy ground, but you need to be mindful about the shadow that they cast. Talking about the shadows, the direction of the cast shadows is determined by the light source, which in our case is the sun. I'll place the sun in the center area. The shadows will be cast on the opposite side of the sun. For instance, trees on the left will cast shadows on the left side because the sun is on the right side, right? Similarly to trees on the right side of the paper will cast shadows on the right side, because the sun is on the left side, which is the opposite side, the trees in the center will cast its shadow directly ahead. You have the creative freedom to place the trees wherever you like, but ensure that the cast shadows align with the position of the sun. This will make a snowy landscape appear more natural and realistic. The tree in the center will cast a shadow right ahead of it, because the sun will be behind it. Now to eliminate the darker pencil lines, I'll use a kneading eraser, although this is an optional step, But it can greatly contribute to achieving a seamless painting. In the end, you could also use any eraser to gently dab off the darker lines. Now that we have prepped our canvas, it's time for us to dive into the most exciting part, which is the painting part. Grab your brushes, clean water, and let's get started. First, take your mop brush or any large brush that you want to use. The put it into the water. Be generous with the water carefully applied to the sky area. Notice I am not applying water on the roof part, leave it untouched for now. We are using wet on wet technique. Here, apply multiple coats of water to ensure the paper absorbs the moisture. Well, this will set the stage for the de, playing technique in the sky. Remember, if you apply only one coat of water, the paper may dry too quickly. Make sure you apply multiple coats, ensuring a perfect canvas for our sky. Next, I'll switch to my size 12 round brush. You could use any similar size you have, load it up with yellow paint and start applying it around the center area for your glowy, sunny effect in the sky. Take your time and enjoy the process. Remember, do not apply thicker paints. We will go with slightly diluted colors. Once you have applied this yellow part, grab some orange paint, apply it around the yellow section. We'll blend the colors together for an intense and vibrant sunny effect. Feel free to play around with the intensity by adjusting the amount of orange you apply. Next, I'm going to add a bluish gray color to achieve a sense of depth in the sky. Pick paints gray or go and apply it to the sides of the painting frame. Slowly blend it into the mid area of the sky, creating a smoother transition. This will give the impression of distance and add a dramatic touch to your painting around the sunny area. We'll add a few blast strokes of this color. Take some orange and apply it around the sun area. I'll also apply a few strokes of orange on the bluish gray area. How I paint my sky could be entirely different from the result you achieve. Because in watercolors, there is no guarantee that we will achieve the exact same result. It is a completely unpredictable medium. We must be willing to let go of the pursuit of perfect results. A fun fact is that even I may not be able to replicate something that I created once. It's okay if your sky, the entire painting looks different. What is more important is to understand the approach and the technique before you paint something. Here I am using slightly midtone gray color to add some darker clouds in the sky. I'm using paints gray around the horizon area so that the orange part of the sky gets glorified. Once you're done with the sky, we'll move on to the foreground part, which is the snowy ground. 5. Part 2 - Snowy ground: All right. Now let us paint the snowy part. We will wet the area using a larger brush and clean water. Apply multiple strokes of water so that the paper absorbs good amount of moisture and remains wet for a longer duration. We are going with wet on wet technique for the snowy part, apply diluted yellow color on the wet area. This step gives an illusion of golden glow in the snow. Imagine a soft reflection on the snow. Apply a slightly intense low around the center. And tone it down as you move towards the edges. Now I want the same glowing effect on the roof top of the houses as well. Apply the same diluted color on the roof, but be careful. We don't want the sky color to crash into our roof part. Either tilt your paper or you could leave tiny gap between the sky and the roof to avoid any unwanted blending of colors. Next, going back to the sky, perform this step only if you feel the P is a bit damp, otherwise you can skip it. We are trying to add a bit dramatic effect in the sky by adding these darker clouds. A few strokes of paint gray can do wonders here. By adding more depth to the sky. I'll apply this diluted paint, scra mix along the horizon line. If the sun in your painting got a bit lost, then don't worry. Take a dry tissue paper and delicately lift off paint in a circular shape. This simple technique restores the presence of the sun in our painting. Moving on, let us paint the cast shadow of the trees. We will be using ultramarine blue and a bit of paints gray. To paint the shadow of the trees, use the color in a slightly diluted mix. Remember those sketch lines from earlier sketching part? They are like a map telling you where to put the shadows exactly. Now to make things interesting, add some blue strokes around the horizon. It makes the scene look far away and adds a sense of dimension to the overall painting in the front. Add some strokes for uneven heaps of snow. I noticed that I went a bit heavy on the midground area. With the darker strokes, I don't want the snow to be this dark. What I'm going to do is I'll grab a tissue and lift off some paint of that area. When the paint is still wet, it comes off pretty easy. You can fix if anything goes wrong. Now, let allow the paint to dry. You could either let it dry naturally or use a head dryer to speed up the drying process. I'm using my head dryer. I'll continuously move the head dryer around so that the paper dries evenly. 6. Part 3 - Houses and cast shadows: My paper has completely dried. You can touch your paper gently and see if it has dried or not. Moving on, let us paint the trees. I'll use burn Sana in a medium to diluted consistency to paint the initial layer of trees. Now load your brush with this paint and start painting the tree trunk. And then the branches folk the tree trunk into multiple branches. Use irregular pattern and shape to create organic looking branches. This will ensure that the trees don't appear uniform. Take your time. There's no fixed account of the trees. Just make sure it matches the shadows that we have painted. Pay attention to the origin point of the trees. It helps us determine their distance from the viewpoint. Follow the shadows To paint the actual trees, remember the keys to make them look natural. And don't rush. Just enjoy the process. At this point, I'm painting the trees with only one color. Once it dries, we can add multiple layers to add more depth to the trees. I'll extend the size of this tree and to make it more organic, I'll make the trunk thicker. Now let us move on to paint the houses mix a darker brown color for the sides facing away from the light source. We will create shadows, so use a darker brown for this part, I'll repeat the same step for the other house as well. Leave tiny white spaces for the snowy heap in front of the houses. For the sunny side of the houses, we will use shades of orange, which will suggest the reflected light on the walls. Gradually blend the darker side for a smoother transition. This will give a warm, glowing effect to the houses facing the lighter side. Now let us add those charming chimneys to our houses. Moving on, we are revisiting the snowy ground. To enhance those cast shadows, grab some ultramarine blue in midtone consistency. Let's run our brush over the same lines on the snowy ground, infusing them with the richness of the shadows. This will create intense cast shadow effect. As you paint this, think about the direction of light adding depth to our snowy landscape. Next, we will apply some shadows beyond the existing shadow lines. I'll dab my brush around the horizon area. This will establish a sense of distance and perspective. Don't forget the midground and the foreground area. A few stroke there will enhance the overall balance of our composition. Next, with clean water, I'll soften the edges of these trees. I don't want very sharp edges in the shadows. 7. Part 4 - Detailing work: Moving on, let us paint the shadows on the rooftops. Grab some diluted mix of ultra marine blue and apply it first on the shadow side of the houses, and then apply it around the heaps of snow. Next for the sunny side of the houses, a few delicate lines along the edges will suggest a sense of depth. Keep it light. We're just giving the hint of light and shadows. Now let us add some dimension to the trees. I'll add some darker color on the sides opposite to the light source and for the branches. You can add some random brush strokes. Use a fine liner brush for thinner and precise lines to the trees. On the right side of the painting, I led the shadows on the right side of the trees. You can introduce more branches and twigs, creating an organic appearance. Here I have lifted the pains to achieve a brighter sunlight effect on the tree trunk. Now for the trees that are on the left side of the sun, we will mark the shadows on the right side of the trees, which is opposite to the light source. In order to achieve a sunlit effect on the trees, you can use orange color for this tree. With my fine liner brush, I'm adding some branches using orange color. This suggests a sense of sunlit effect on both the trees. Here, you can follow along with me as I paint these trees. Take your time with the branches and the trees. There is no hurry. Let the strokes flow naturally, contributing to the overall harmony of our painting. Now let us add some dimension to our houses. I'll use a darker brown color on the shadow side, taking advantage of the dry paper to achieve some hard edges. This will contribute to a sharp sunlight effect on the houses. Add strokes on the sunny part, right under the roof, tiny strokes under the heaps of the snow for those final beautiful touches. This darker color around the houses really enhances the appearance of the snow. Don't forget the chimney Adding shadows there will further enhance the realism of the scene. Speaking of realism, you can add more tiny branches and twigs to the trees to make it more dense or keep it as it, it's up to you. Your trees doesn't have to look exactly like my trees. You can make it uniquely yours by adding your own unique artistic touch. Next, let us expand our scene by adding distant trees behind the houses. Use a slightly diluted tone to suggest distance from the viewpoint. This will enhance the overall depth and tranquility of our winter landscape. You could also add some distant trees around the horizon area. This will create a separation between the sky and the horizon. I'll be adding more trees along the horizon line. You could use paints gray or any shade of blue? Darker blue. Probably, we are now about 90% done with our beautiful winter painting. Before we call it a masterpiece, let's take a moment to reflect and make some final adjustments. I would suggest you to step back from your painting and observe it carefully. This is the time to look for any mistakes or areas that might need a bit of tweaking. Consider taking a picture of your painting. It's a fantastic trick to spot things that you might have overlooked in my painting, I notice that the tree looks a bit thinner compared to its shadow. To address this, I'm going to make the tree trunk a bit thicker. Your painting might have its own unique corrections needed. Take the time to find them and see if you can make those adjustments. If not, it's perfectly fine. Sometimes imperfections add character to our painting, Embrace your artwork as it is. Also. Remember, watercolors have a tendency to, the final result might differ from when it is. We keep an eye out for those changes. Now, for example, on the shadow side of the houses, I'm adding some darker color to intensify the darkness, giving our winter scene that extra depth. We will do some tweaking to the snowy ground. We'll apply some diluted paints in the snowy area. This will create an uneven snowy surface. Adding realism to the winter ground. Take your time with these final touches, and once you're done, step back and observe those changes that you have made. 8. Conclusion: All right, we have reached the final stretch of our winter landscape painting. Now it is time to add those magical highlights and a touch of snowfall To bring our painting to life. Grab some white paint or white watercolor in thick form. We'll use this to highlight the elements like rooftops, trees, and snow. Okay, I'll start by applying it to the rooftops. Focusing around the edges, this will give them that extra touch of whiteness, enhancing their snowy charm. Next, let us use the same thick white paint to add some snowy effect to the trees. Apply it randomly on the branches, suggesting the accumulation of snow on the branches and trunks. Take your time and neatly apply the snow on the branches. We will also apply this around the horizon areas and even on the snowy ground. This will create a wintery Vipe that feels truly enchanting. For the final touch, let us platter some white paints symbolizing the snowfall in the atmosphere. It is a simple, yet effective way to capture the magic of falling snow in the painting. If you want to make the snow appear real, use a dark color to paint grasses in the snow. This will add a sense of depth and also separate the snow from the shadows. Adding a touch of realism to we are done. The moment is finally here, let us carefully remove the masking tape and reveal the final look of the painting. There we have the beauty of the glowing snow, the play of lights and shadows. I'm so happy with how it has turned out. Isn't it gorgeous? I hope you enjoyed this painting journey as much as I did. Please share your class projects under the projects scale. I'm eager to see your unique creations and hear what do you think of this class? Thank you for joining me in this creative adventure. I'll see you in my next class. Until then, take care and bye bye. 9. Bonus Chapter: Hello, Hello. I hope you enjoyed and learned something new from my class. Now, I'm thrilled to introduce this bonus chapter to you. This painting serves as a reinforcement of the concepts we have covered in the class. Without any further delay, let's get started. I have taken the same paper as that of the class project. Now let us take down the paper, giving it a nice border. If you're using a loose watercolor sheet, I would recommend you to tape it down using masking tape. Aim down all the sides neatly. The paper is neatly taped down on all the sides. Now let us get to the sketching part. Now, take a pencil and mark the horizon line somewhere on the top part. Then right next to it, I'll mark some more lines creating a segment for the snowy area. This is the darker part, where we have the shadows. Towards the lower part of the frame, we have this bright snowy area. Okay, now let us draw the trees on the left side of the painting frame. We have this bigger tree, then we'll mark the shadow as well. Then we'll draw some more trees and cast their shadow on the snowy ground. Do not skip the marking of the shadow because that will guide you to mark the shadows during the painting process. Here we are considering the light source from the left side of the painting frame. Hence, the shadows would be casted on the right side. You can mark the trees anywhere in the snowy ground. Just make sure that the shadows are casted in the right direction. Now take an eraser and remove the unnecessary lines within the three areas. I'll also erase some darker lines since it is the snow part, so I don't want the darker lines to be visible at the end. Okay, we're done with the sketching now let us move on to the painting part. First, take indigo and paints gray mix in medium consistency. And we will apply this above the horizon line. This will suggest the darker tree line present around the horizon area. Carefully use the tip of the brush possible. You can leave some tiny white spaces. Otherwise it is fine. We can use white gauge paint. Apply paints completely along the horizon line. I am trying to leave some white spaces around the tree trunk areas. Using the tip of the brush, try to create a sort of uneven effect around the horizon. We don't want a straight line. Once you're done, take a tissue paper and try to lift off the paints by dabbing it on the surface. This will create a winter wipe in the background, the clean part of the tissue. Each time you dab, you could also the tissue and lift the pains. If you're finding it difficult, then you don't have to worry about this, just leave it as it is for now. Next, I'll use the backside of my brush to create the markings on the background area. I'm pressing the brush against the paper, creating this textured effect in the background. You could also use any other object to create this mark. If you don't have anything to do this marking effect, then you can skip. It doesn't matter. Okay, so the background area is done. Now let us paint the snow fake Altra Marine blue. We want a cooler blue paint, the snow. Mix this color in medium consistency and start applying the paints. I'll start from center and move towards the right side of the painting. Here I'm applying wet paints on dry paper, which is wet on dry technique. This blue color is going to depict a sense of shadow around the horizon area. Try to leave these wide gaps if you can. Otherwise it is okay. I don't want you to stress over it. Take it easy and enjoy the process. Next, we will apply few brush strokes in the midground area. Remember, this is wet on dry technique, the paper is completely dry, that is why we are able to achieve these Sharp edges. Also apply some tiny brush strokes suggesting uneven surface. The style makes paints gray and ultramarine blue. For a darker blue color, I'll apply this darker color right under the tree where we want to paint the cast shadow. I'll also apply this color around the horizon area, giving a sense of dimension. Next, with the same darker color, let us paint the tree. I'm applying the paints on the right side of the tree at this point. Let us also apply this on the other trees as well. Kindly leave white spaces that will suggest the snow. On the sides of the tree. If you don't want to leave this wide gap, it's okay. You can use gas paint later on applying some zig zagie brush strokes, trying to suggest a pine tree. Now take a clean brush, pull the paints towards the other side of the tree. We want a transition from lighter to darker color, suggesting a sense of light and shadow in the tree. We will repeat the same on the other trees as well. During this phase of the painting process, the painting might look ugly. Hang on. And trust the process, We'll take a medium consistency of this darker color and apply around the shadow parts on the right side. This will intensify the shadow and create a nice contrast. I'll also apply this under the tree. For the cast shadow area, we need to have a nice balance of lighter midtone and darker tones on the right side of the painting frame. I want to make this area darker. I'm adding darker colors now. You can take paints gray and add darker color on the right side of the tree trunks. Why right side? Because it is the shadow side of the tree. The left side of the trees here should be well lit because the source of light is on the left side. I hope you get that. Now I'm introducing some more trees in the background by loosely adding these vertical lines. Whenever I paint during the mid stage, I go for some wild loose brush strokes that adds a sense of character to my paintings. Further, adding some darker shadows. This is important to create that contrast between white and darker color. Otherwise the white snow won't be glowing. Also add some tiny brush strokes like this. This will suggest that the snow is not simply flat. Now I'm taking my size to round brush for some detailing work. The paints I've taken is paints gray and ultra line blue. I'll gently glide my brush on the snowy part. This will suggest an unevenness in the snowy ground. Next, I'll load my brush with the burned siana and apply it on the ground. This is to suggest some rocky surface on the snowy part. Then I'm applying some black over it. Next, I'll take a bigger brush to soften these sharp edges on the foreground area. Again, going back to my fine liner brush to add some brass blades around the foreground area. This is to make the painting look organic by having various elements in the painting. Feel free to add your own touch to the painting. Next, I'm going to add some more darker color around the foreground area because that is important to differentiate between the foreground and the background. Apply a few strokes of darker blue color around the horizon area. Use a thinner brush to get nice precision. You don't have to define each and every element in your painting. Some things you can leave it up to the viewer's interpretation. Sometimes it is okay to not define each and every element in the painting. Leave something mysterious, and leave it up to the viewer's interpretation. Like for example, in this painting around the background area, I just applied these angular brush strokes. I don't know what it could mean, I don't want to explain it as well. I leave it up to your interpretation to depict whatever you want. But it is working for my painting at the end. All that matters is how your painting turns out. That was my pro tip for this session. Let us add some darker colors on the tree trunks, making them more prominent. Now let us use white cash paint to add some white highlights on the trees. Use the paint directly from the paint tube and apply it on the left side of the tree trunk. You know why I'm applying it on the left side, right? The snow on the trees get highlighted because of the sunlight. Lastly, I'll take paints gray and slightly add more colors for the shadow of the trees. Sometimes you have to follow your intuition. I had already applied the cast shadow earlier, but for some reason I felt that the shadows were not so intense. There you go. I'm adding darker colors on the cast shadow. If you feel your shadows are perfect, don't touch it. We are done. Now, let us peel off the masking tape and reveal the final look of this bonus project. Okay, how was it? I hope you enjoyed painting this with me. If you have painted this with me, then please do share it under the projects gallery or your social media profiles. I would really love to see your works. All right, I'll see you in my next class. Until then, bye bye.