Capturing Warmth and Light in your Watercolor Paintings

In this watercolor lesson we’ll use a plein air sketch done in winter to create a warm summer evening landcape. Creating a sense of warmth in a painting is as simple as using the right set of colors. In this case we’ll create this painting using an Analogous Warm Color Scheme with Complement.

We’ll also paint towering summer clouds and work on getting good darks in the shade and shadow areas.

Drawing Layout For Any Painting

One note on the drawing layout. The downloadable layouts are done with heavy lines to make it easy to see and copy onto your watercolor paper. It is best not to draw the lines too heavy on your paper, especially in the sky, since there is a good chance the lines will show through the paint. It’s not a deal-breaker, but those heavy pencil lines are sometimes a distraction.

What you’ll need

• Brushes – 1 1/2″ Flat, 1″ Flat1″ Flat, 1/4″ Flat, Medium Round, Small Round, and Cotman #3 Rigger .
• Colors – Cadmium Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Deep Gold, Raw Sienna, DaVinci Cadmium Red Light, Winsor Newton French Ultramarine Blue , WN Cerulean Blue
• Watercolor paper – preferably Arches 140lb Cold Press cut to about 8″ x 10″ or so

Get ready, turn on the video and let’s jump in!