GREEN FIELDS, GREEN MEADOWS | Watercolour Step by Step landscape tutorial

Materials:

PAPER:

• • Watercolours 300 grams cold-pressed  36 × 51 cm (14” x 20”):

COLOURS:

• • Transparent Yellow or Aureoline, New Gamboge, Alizarin Crimson, Permanent Rose, Winsor Orange or (New Gamboge + 15% Alizarin Crimson), Perylene Green, Viridian Indigo,  Cobalt Blue and Ultramarine Blue.

BRUSHES

• • A big flat brush to wet the paper and a 25 mm (1”) for to make the first washes wet on wet.
  • A number 12 and 6 synthetic Tip Cosmotop Spin for example or mixed hairbrush good pointed. The advantage of a synthetic brush on the wet on wet techniques is that you have better control when you add colour to your paint. A natural hairbrush adds too much water, and you can get cauliflowers.
  • A foliage brush to paint tree leaves and textures, or a small bit of a small sponge.

 

OTHER MATERIALS:

• • Masking fluid, kitchen paper, a spray with clean water to keep your paper moist while painting wet on wet.

Let’s get started

STEP 1: In Step One, we make the drawing.

• • Copy and transfer the drawing into watercolour paper.
  • Mask the sheep and the woods of the fence. Let it dry.
  • Erase strong pencil lines if necessary.

 

 

STEP 2: In Step two, we paint the ground base of the painting that unifies it with the complete underneath washes.

• • Prepare your Cobalt Blue, Transparent Yellow and Viridian on your palette.
  • Wet now all the paper with clean water and start adding some Cobalt Blue for the sky and shadow areas, followed by yellow and then a light Viridian Green mixed with some yellow. Let’s blend the colours into each other, and spray the paper with a fog of water if you see the paper dries too quickly.
  • Let dry completely.

 

 

 

STEP 3: In Step three, we paint the background hills and the first trees in the distance. Before applying and colour, we are going to wet the area we want to paint with clean water.

• • Paint the background mountain with a light wash of Cobalt blue and Viridian, a bit more bluish on the left side and darker green on the right side.
  • Wet the area over the road (left side), keep your paper lightly elevated on the backside and start painting the suggested trees and vegetation with Transparent Yellow or Aureoline.
  • Add some New Gamboge and on the dark side of the sunny side (left), then add some vertical strokes of Viridian and Cobalt Blue on the base of the trees and Indigo with lots of care on the shadows side.  Allow drying.
  • While the “wet on wet” painted trees are getting dry, paint the rest of the trees dry on wet with a Viridian Green mixed with Cobalt Blue and a bit of Indigo.

 

 

STEP 4: On Step four, we repeat step four for all the middle and foreground trees and the right side of the painting.

• • Wet the area behind and right side of the farmhouse until the baseline of the trees.
  • Make the first wash with Aureoline, and then paint the first top of the trees raw with light green, using a number 6 round acrylic brush.
  • Add a second row of suggested trees with a darker green and let the colour fall.
  • When you see that the colour stops falling down, add a little green line on the base, letting between both an empty yellow space.
  • Add some Cobalt Blue on the base of the upper lines of the trees. Let the colours blend into each other.
  • When you see your paper starts not shining in some points but stills wet, paint with Aureoline pure some vertical strokes for to suggest long high trees.
  • Turn your paper upside down and let it dry. It’s time to drink a tee.

 

 

STEP 5: In step 6 we paint the right side solitaire trees and their shadows. Here I have used a foliage brush and painted the trees, always in small groups.

 

• • Wet the paper behind the trees and paint first the sunny side with Aeroline, then a little darker with New Gamboge and finally with a light green.
  • While the paper is still wet, paint the shadows side of the trees with a darker green and a very dark one on the trunks and base.
  • For the middle distant trees, use less green and work them up with from left to right side transparent yellow, Gamboge, a light orange (Gamboge + Alizarin Crimson) and green again.
  • Paint the shadows of the trees with the same colours that you have used for to paint the trees, then add a touch of Cobalt Blue “wet on wet”. Allow the colours to blend into each other, and don’t mix them with the brush.
  • Paint the shadows of the fields with Cobalt Blue.

 

 

STEP 6: In Step 6 we paint the trees from the left side the same way we did in Step 5, and we paint the big main shadows.

• • Wet the area of the trees on the left side down and up.
  • Paint alternating with small vertical strokes and your synthetic round brush, some suggested trees start with light colours on the left side and darker ones on the right side. (Aureoline, New Gamboge, Permanent Sap Green and Ultramarine Blue).
  • Before the trees are dry, give a touch of yellow on its upper corner with New Gamboge.
  • Wet the base of the trees if necessary and when the paper is not shining any more, paint the path with New Gamboge, letting this line go until the top of the road. (See photo).
  • Drop in some Alizarin Crimson before it dries.
  • Paint the upper part of the trees with Permanent Sap Green. Drop a bit of Indigo to add some dark shadows.
  • Paint the shadows of the trees with Cobalt Blue, following the contours of the landscape.
  • While the shadows are getting dry, paint the lines of the landscape with Permanent Sap Green and Cobalt Blue with the big flat brush in big circular round lines.  Turn up the paper upside down if necessary.
  • Paint the areas behind the fences with a bit of Cobalt Blue. Let all dry.
  • Once dried, with our spray bottle and clean water, lift some paint where the solitaire trees are. Let it all dry again.

 

 

 

STEP 7: In step 7 we paint the rest of the trees all “wet on wet” the same way as the other ones but with warmer tones and less green.

• • Wet first the area of the trees with clean water.
  • Then make a wash with Aureoline, drop in some New Gamboge and Alizarin Crimson. Paint the tree trunks with a brown made from Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson and New Gamboge.
  • Paint the shadows with a light cobalt blue and Perylene green.

STEP 8:  Here we paint the foreground with a graded wash, and suggest some big trees foliage. We paint it with a big sponge, alternating evergreens with leaves of trees “wet on wet” very loose.

• • Wet the right side corner foreground and paint some trees the same way you painted the small ones, but bigger and with a big size sponge or foliage brush. Let it dry.
  • Wet the left side, letting the tree’s foliage dry, and add a graded wash of blue and Alizarin Crimson. As soon as the paper starts getting dry and not shining any more, add some darker values on the left side. Make a prolongation suggesting some tree trunks and add some more colour to the trees if necessary. Let all dry.

 

 

STEP 9: Now is the moment to see the painting a bit better. We remove the masking fluid.

 

• • Once completely dry, remove all the masking fluid.

 

 

 

STEP 10: At that point, I decided to eliminate the two small houses and make the houses simpler.

• • Paint now the roof of the farmhouse with an orange (New Gamboge and Alizarin Crimson). Suggest some small points for the windows and door.
  • Paint the greens behind the house with very dark green.
  • Paint the sides of the sheep with light violet, taking care to let their back white. Paint also their shadows, once dry, add a darker value under their tummy.
  • Paint the shadows sides of the fence (brush number 1 or very fine pointed).
  • Paint some woods in positive painting as well as prolongation from them.
  • Paint the two missing trees under the house level.
  • Revise trees, fences, hard edges and shadows.
  • Make a small break and have a look at your painting again. Make the last check-up, and do not overwork. Finished!