A set of watercolor cakes.
Watercolor paints are great for making landscape paintings. Watercolors are diluted with water to make washes. Many layers of washes are laid on the paper to create a landscape image. The initial washes put down are highly diluted and very light in color. As the painting progresses, the colors become less diluted and darker opaque washes are laid on top of the initial light washes.
Instructions
1. Tape the edges of the watercolor paper to a drawing board or another flat surface with masking tape. The tape should completely surround the papers edges, with no edges popping up.
2. Squeeze small amounts of watercolor paint onto the palette or open your set of watercolor cakes. Reference your landscape photo or on-site landscape to determine what colors to use. Common landscape colors include cadmium red, quinacridone red, raw sienna, burnt umber, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, permanent green light, sap green and ivory black.
3. Sketch the landscape lightly with a pencil, putting more detail in the foreground and less in the background. Plan what areas will stay white, such as reflections in water, a white rock or house.
4. Chose a color for the sky and mix water into the paint until the color appears very light on the paper. This is called a wash. Test on a practice sheet of paper before applying the wash.
5. Run the brush across the top of the paper, then dip the brush in the paint and run the top brush edge along the bottom edge of the first stroke. Continue this step until you reach your horizon line where the sky meets the earth. Avoid painting areas that should remain white.
6. Blot the wet sky wash with a paper towel to form clouds.
7. Use the same technique used to apply sky to form the ground wash. Preserve any white areas.
8. Allow the applied watercolor paint to dry. Mix slightly less water into the paints to make darker washes to define mountains, rocks, trees, shadows or other objects. Use a medium sized round sable brush to apply these washes.
9. Gradually make the washes darker to define the details in the landscape. Use various sizes of sable brushes to make different marks, such as a small round brush for grass and a medium flat for trees and rocks.
