If you’re in the northern hemisphere, zone 5 – 7, you may have noticed violets starting to emerge in March; their leaves first, followed by pale blue or purple flowers in the coming weeks. While some lawn enthusiasts may think of violets as weeds, it is important to note that these amazing plants host Fritillary butterflies. The beauty and ecological function of native violets always make them a welcome guest in my yard. They’re edible too!
Viola sororia – The Common Blue Violet
Inspired by violets, I’ve put together a watercolor tutorial on how to paint them! I hope you enjoy!
We are off to a rocky start! Which is a good thing if you want to learn to paint rocks in watercolor. I posted a YouTube video tutorial about this subject and the video was very well received (video embedded down below). Some people struggle with painting rocks and one of the main reasons is because we tend to overwork the rocks, thinking that the more paint we add, the better the result. It is quite the contrary.
A Long, Jagged Rock
One of the things that make a successful rock painting is accurate representation of direction of light. For example, if the light is coming from the top left, that means that the shadows or darkest part of the rock will be underneath the rock and on the right side of the rock. A good way to practice this concept is to simply sketch rocks and the light and dark areas, using a regular HB pencil. If there are any rocks in your garden, a natural area, or down the street – go out and observe the rocks and how the light falls on them during different times of the day. Doing so should really help improve your rock paintings.
Smooth(ish) Granite Rocks
Rocks come in various shapes and sizes. In the video below, I will demonstrate how to paint two types of rocks: smooth(ish) granite rocks and long jagged rocks. The shape and texture of these rocks will dictate which techniques work best for each type of rock! I hope you enjoy the video.
Usually, around February – I start dreaming of things that bloom! Which is why I thought it would be fitting to do a watercolor video tutorial about painting some of the most colorful members of the Viola family – the Garden Pansies!
This tutorial is all about staying loose…
So many people, myself included, tend to tighten up when we attempt to paint the most beautiful flowers. But, it seems the more we try to be perfect, the less appealing a painting turns out. I don’t know why, but perhaps what’s missing are the rogue and random brush strokes; they make no apologies, even though they don’t follow any specific rules or principles. Though the eye seems more attracted to the expressive and wild than the perfect, but boring.
So come join me and swing that brush around as you wish, as we try to create a free, airy, yet attractive floral watercolor painting in anticipation of early spring bloomers!
I haven’t given up on the salt watercolor technique tutorials yet, although I probably should, since the first salt video that I put on social media was a bit of a flop (so far). But, I’ve got high hopes for this one because it did turn out to be a solid winter landscape painting! The idea of the painting hit me as I was driving the kids to school. The sky at sunrise was beautiful but subtle, as the sun remained hidden behind thick winter clouds, but there was just enough luminosity to have something special to enjoy on our ride to school. On my way back home, I snapped a quick photo on the side of the road and thought; the sky would look even more interesting with a salt effect if were to paint this scene in watercolor.
We have not gotten much snow over the past couple of years so I was excited to actually have snow to include in this winter landscape! The entire play by play for this painting is now available on YouTube (link below). I hope you enjoy!
However you spell watercolo(u)r, 🤓 I made a video for those interested in learning how to paint trees. These are simple techniques and each one takes under 5 minutes (some under 2 minutes). The first technique is a WOW – wet on wet technique, which is perfect for painting evergreen trees that are far off in the distance because the effect is uniquely blurry (example below).
WOW (wet on wet) trees in the distance
To create this effect, dab the brush on wet paper, side to side, slightly tilting the paper downward so that the paint can bleed into the desired tree shape (more detail on that in the video).
The next 2 examples are WOD techniques – wet on dry paper. The first example is an evergreen with a conical shape, which is effective for middle distance. To achieve this effect, paint the stem first to establish where the tree will be painted. Then, use a 1/4 inch flat brush to paint in the branches, brushing out from the center stem, loosely and haphazardly. The more irregular the better – to make the tree more interesting.
Evergreen using WOD – wet on dry technique
For the final example, I wanted to demonstrate a tree with a bit more dimension. This is probably the most difficult example, but the greater the difficulty- oftentimes, the greater the reward. In this example, we determine direction of light (from the right) and paint the shadow side (left) to add greater dimension. This effect works well for short distance and middle distance trees. The shape of this tree is one that fits both evergreens, such as, yews and deciduous trees, during the growing season.
Tree with direction of light (wet on dry)
The full video is available on YouTube!
3 Simple Techniques – Trees in Watercolor
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Always Wandering Art 