Spring lake with clouds

Removing paint with a paper towel

spring-lake

Materials

Paper: Fabriano 300gms watercolour paper

Colours: Van Gogh watercolour tubes in ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, madder lake deep, raw sienna

  1. Paint the sky with a mixture of ultramarine and cerulean. Allow the colours to mix on the paper. Paint so that there is only clean water above the horizon and add in a very very light wash of raw sienna.
  2. Whilst the paint is still wet remove paint on cloud forms with a paper towel. It is a light movement, be careful not to rub too hard you will destroy the surface of the paper.
  3. Paint in the far mountains with Madder lake + ultra marine - this should not be a dark colour(colours get lighter the further away they are. (click for aeriel perspective)
  4. Wash out in some places so that there is not a strong purple horizontal line.
  5. Continue with ultramarine + raw sienna while mountains are still wet
  6. Add in the lake. Water reflects the sky colour but add more cerulean that ultramarine. Leave a thin white line on the far shoreline to denote reflections. Don't worry if the paint runs over the foreground (this will be a dark colour anyway)
  7. Paint in the foreground with raw sienna + ultramarine. Avoid painting the same colour across the whole of the foreground.
  8. Add splatter with a toothbrush and some grasses with a very fine brush
  9. If your bush has no "birdholes" add a very thick white gouache in "V" shapes