Watercolour poppies landscape painting by Maria Balcells
WATERCOLOUR LANDSCAPES & MARITIMES

POPPY FIELDS ON THE WAY TO PEDRERA: Watercolour spring flowers tutorial

Posted on by Maria Balcells

I painted this picture a couple of years ago I wouldn’t say I liked it and painted it once again. Well maybe because these white country houses and the poppies flowers bring so many nice memories to me from the times I was living with my family in Ibiza. These white houses you find all around the Mediterranean. They used to have very bright stone walls and painted with white chalk. In Spain, they are many of them, not only on the coast but also inside the country. This one nearby Pedrera is a good example.

TIPP: Before starting painting, read how I painted it, and maybe you decide to paint your version of it with a field or a house you saw once similar to this one. Explore Watercolour: you will enjoy it!

 

 

Let's get started

 

MATERIALS:

PAPER:

  • 300 grams Cold-pressed paper 43 x 58  cm (22,75 x  16,92“) approx.

COLOURS:

  • Winsor Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Raw Sienna,  Burnt Sienna,  Raw Umber, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Opera Rose, Winsor Red, Winsor Orange, Cerulean Blue,  Permanent Sap Green, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Winsor Green (Blue Shade).

BRUSHES:

  • Synthetic round No.6 good pointed for detailed work.
  • Synthetic round No.24 good pointed for washes.
  • Big 100 mm to wet the paper and apply the first washes.

OTHER MATERIALS:

Saral transfer paper and transparent paper.

STEP 1:

  1. Copy and transfer the drawing onto your watercolour paper.
  2. Protect the sides with a tape 1 cm more or less. If necessary, add a second layer of tape.

 

Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 1.
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 1.

 

 

 

STEP 2:

  1. Mask the poppies and house edges. Let it dry.
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 2
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 2

 

STEP 3:

  1. Wet the paper on the sky area and paint the sky with Cobalt Blue. While wet, lift some colour with a bit of kitchen paper or a tissue to suggest a few clouds.
  2. Paint the shadows side of the house with Cobalt Blue and while the paper stills wet drop in a little Burnt Sienna. Let it dry. NOTE: You may add some variations here. See the final painting.
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 3
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 3

 

 

STEP 4:

  1. Turn the paper upside down and wet the hills and fields behind the house. Then while the paper dries mix a  little Ultramarine Blue with Winsor Yellow and paint the hills behind the house, drop in some points of Ultramarine Blue suggesting small distant trees. Allow drying.
  2. Turn now the paper again and paint with a medium to light Winsor Yellow the lower side of the hills.
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 4
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 4

 

 

STEP 5:

  1. Place in the side of your palette a lithe Permanent Sap Green and the other one some Cadmium Yellow. Mix now both colours in the middle Green to get a light May Green in the middle, a nice creamy consistency.
  2. Protect the roof of the house with a paper and fill a sponge or foliage brush with some May Green and add a little of the yellow. Sponge now the foliage of the trees (you may also use a foliage brush instead of a sponge for it). Allow to dry a little and then do the same with may green and add a little more green and sponge the crown of the trees again.
  3. Now use the same colour combination for the raw trees on the left side of the house.
  4. Mix now Winsor Green (Blue shade) with Winsor Yellow and paint the small raw of cypress left side of the house. While wet, drop in here and there some Ultramarine Blue.
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 5
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 5

STEP 6:

  1. Paint now the roofs. Apply first a wash of Raw Sienna and drop in some Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber. Let it dry.
  2. Paint the roof tiles with a good pointed round brush No. 6 or less with Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna and Sepia alternating the colours irregularly. Let it dry again.
  3. Now, with a spray lift, a little colour here and there. Dry with a tissue to avoid getting all the colours running out. Then while the paper still moist but not shining draw some erased tiles with Raw Sienna again.
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 6
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 6

 

 

STEP 7 :

  1. Paint with Winsor Yellow all the foreground and sides. Add a couple of brush strokes on the right side of the house with Burnt Sienna.

 

Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 7
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 7

 

STEP 8:

  1. Paint with may Green some of the grasses in front of the house sides and distant fields. Use a small No 1 brush or a nice pointed one. Just a few blades of grass will be OK.
  2. Start painting the small distant line of flowers with Winsor Red, leave a space and paint second brighter lines as well.
  3. Change now the colour to Winsor Orange and paint the flowers on the middle field. Smaller in the distance as in the foreground. Alternate Reds and Oranges taking care to leave some free spaces in between them. You may also drop into the orange ones some red while wet. Allow drying completely.
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 8
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 8

 

 

STEP 9:

 

  1.  Paint now the small empty spaces between the flowers on the middle field (in front of the houses) with May Green or a mixture of Cadmium Yellow light and Permanent Sap Green.  Try to alternate the green and add more yellow in some areas and more green in other ones. Allow drying.
  2. Mask the additional poppies you may have painted on the foreground if necessary. Mask also some suggested leaves here and there. Let it dry.

 

Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 8
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 8

 

STEP 10:

  1. Wet now the paper in the foreground completely. The paper must shine. Now take an acrylic Rigger  No.2  Now if you are using paint from a pan, fill your brush with plenty of colour and paint all over the paper with wiping up and down movement grasses. If you are using colours from a tube, fill your brush directly from the tube, The colour must have a creamy consistency. Paint on this way the complete foreground area with brush strokes.
  2. Once the surface is full of thin brush strokes, change the brush to a Round No.6 good pointed and paint some brighter leaves and grasses randomizing all over the paper. Allow drying completely again. Do not use the hairdryer to dry the paper; you could have problems removing the masking fluid.

 

Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 10
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 10

 

 

STEP 11:

  1. Moist the paper now (not wet) with a spray.
  2. Continue now painting grasses and foliage alternating May Green, Permanent Sap Green and Cerulean Blue.
  3. Spatter some greens and reds over the painting and break the drops with a finger touch or brush.
  4. Allow drying.
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 11
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera.  Step 11

 

 

STEP 12:

  1. Evaluate the number of greens if you feel you need some more now is the moment. Repeat step 11 if necessary.
  2. While the foreground dries fill a sponge with Permanent Sap Green and sponge some darker foliage over the trees crown lower side. Allow drying again.

 

Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 12
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 12

STEP 13:

  1. Remove the masking fluid.

 

Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 13
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 13

 

STEP 14:

  1. Paint the grasses at the house lower side alternating Cerulean Blue and Permanent Sap Green.
  2. Paint now with Cerulean Blue, some lines on the hill left side of the house suggesting some terraces. Take care, not to overwork. Some light brush strokes with the side of the brush will be fine.
  3. Paint now the empty flowers with Opera Rose, then while wet, drop in Winsor Red or Cadmium Red. Add a Violet point on their lower side in some of them and allow them to dry.
  4. Once dry, add a glaze of a light Cerulean Blue under some flowers.
  5. Make the last revision of details and values.
  6. FINISHED!
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Watercolour tutorial. Step 14
Poppy fields on the way to Pedrera. Step 14.
Maria Balcells

I am a self-taught artist with loving art for a long. In 2010, I began working seriously with watercolours, although I started and discovered this wonderful medium some years before. Occasionally, I paint with oils.