Still life painting of fruit and vase

What to paint - finding a subject

Many artists find it difficult to be inspired by the ordinary everyday things. However, true artists can turn the very ordinary object into something special by simply looking at it creatively. You do not have to travel to find the perfect view or the ideal image Í simply look around and decide what you want to paint and PAINT it.

It may be a landscape, a building, an interior scene such as a kitchen, or a still life such as vases or bottles. If you feel really confident you might want to try portrait, botanical painting or even an abstract. The options are endless, but the key thing is making the decision, staying with it and bringing your vision to reality in the form of a watercolour painting. It doesn't have to be accurate or perfect, remember art is in the eye of the painter not the critic.

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Watercolour painted church and trees scene

Painting a watercolour landscape
          
Landscapes are arguably the easiest for beginners and the following basic technique can be applied. Four general principles apply when painting a landscape.
 

Still life painting of fruit and vase

Your view - As an artist you are looking to create a visual representation of your chosen scene, it is not a copy but an illusion of what you are painting. Remember it is how you see it and paint it that makes it a unique work of art.

Aeriel perspective - Take time to look at the scene you want to paint and you will see four aspects emerge. Firstly the objects in the distance will appear smaller. Secondly the distant objects will be less detailed. Thirdly colours become less vivid the further away they are. Fourthly, as objects recede their tones become paler and less contrasted.

Watercolour landscape of lake and hills

Composition - Using your pencil lightly sketch the outline of the landscape.

Composition diagram

Ensure you set out a horizon, middle and foreground within your landscape. Normally this follows as the horizon being the background of the painting, with the horizon line being about a third from the bottom of the page. Most beginners start drawing the horizon half way up the page - but our eye line only sees 30-40% of the 'surface matter' in any given scene and the rest is sky. The diagram outlines this perspective of landscape.

Once you have drawn the basic outline of your landscape you are now ready to apply the colour into your picture.

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Don't fiddle around with the painting; once it is complete don't add more touches thinking you will improve it. Let the colour dry between stages of application unless you are using the wet-into-wet technique. A hairdryer will speed up the drying process. Constantly refer to the subject you are painting and to your work of art. Start painting from the top of the paper. Don't let your palette become too wet. Always clean your materials with soap and water. Paint loose; don't get hung up on accuracy. Remember it's a painting not a photocopy.

Squeeze a pea sized amount from your watercolour tubes or dab a wet brush into your watercolour pan - best to start with three primary colours a red, blue and yellow.

Use the large brush Size 12 series 111 and start putting some blue on the sky dabbing the colour with a wet tissue to create cloud shapes by lifting out the colour.

Then work onto the distant horizon line using muted colours (i.e. thinned blues, greys and yellows with water) then onto the middle-ground area using more blues-greens and then onto the foreground using yellowy-greens and stronger more vivid colours - not diluted with too much water.

Once you have built these colours you can then build up a series of layers to suit your style. If you are really adventurous you might wish to try the wet-into-wet technique. This is where the colours blend while they are still wet. This creates beautiful subtle tones and is excellent for moody, atmospheric paintings.

Another technique is creating a watercolour wash which gives many special effects such as gradation, granulation and variegated. Without being overly technical, a wash is really where one colour changes because of the water content mixed with the raw colour. To create such an effect, start at the top of a dry sheet of paper and paint a band of dark colour (ultramarine blue), then add more water to the brush and make a second band under the first. Continue doing this until you have a graded wash. i.e. the colour shifts from dark to light and in some cases transparent.

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