Tutorial: Watercolor Painting

I have a tutorial for you this week! I love watercolors so I thought I'd do a tutorial on using them to color in your images.

*Using the Noir (or black craft ink) ink stamp the lighthouse onto Cold Press watercolor paper. Be sure to apply good pressure since the Cold Press has some texture to it. Allow the ink to dry completely.
*Dip a #2 Flat brush into clean water and apply water to the sky areas around the lighthouse. (you may need a different size brush depending on the size of the image you are using!)
*Dip the paint brush back into clean water and then put it into the light blue paint. After picking up some of the paint onto your brush put the paint onto a paint tray or styrofoam plate so that it can be mixed. Dip the brush back into the water and then into the gray paint. Mix the gray and light blue paint together to form a cloudy sky gray. Apply this mixture onto the wet areas of the picture. Start in the areas along the shoreline and along the lighthouse. Spread the paint outward into the sky. This gives you a darker color along the areas where you first apply the paint. Allow the paint to dry completely. You can speed the drying process up with a heat gun, but hold it a little farther away so you don't blow the color to a different spot!
*Now apply clean water to the lower portion of the sky. Dip the paint brush back into clean water and then put it into the cobalt blue paint. After picking up some of the paint onto your brush apply this sparingly onto the wet areas of the picture. Start in the areas along the shoreline and along the lighthouse. Spread the paint outward into the sky. Use random curvy strokes to achieve a more cloud-like appearance. Allow this to dry somewhat- but not all of the way. Using a facial tissue blot the paint. This will lift some of the paint off and create a more cloud-like appearance. Allow the paint to dry completely.
*Apply clean water along the shoreline and just a little ways up the lighthouse (mostly at the edges of these spots and not out into the sky much at all). Dip the paint brush back into clean water and then put it into the marine blue paint. After picking up some of the paint onto your brush put the paint onto the paint tray. Dip the brush back into the water and then into the gray paint. Mix the gray and marine blue paint together, the gray will tone the marine blue down just slightly. Dip the brush into clean water and then into the burnt umber. Mix a small amount of the burnt umber into the blue/gray mix. This will darken it somewhat. Apply this mixture onto the wet areas of the picture. Use the brush to run along those shoreline edges and the lower portions of the lighthouse. Allow the paint to blend into the cobalt blue to blend. Use a little more water if necessary to create the blended effect. If the color is too dark use a tissue to lightly blot until you like the color. Allow the paint to dry completely.
*Apply clean water to the grassy areas and the shaded areas on the lighthouse. Dip the paint brush back into clean water and then put it into the raw umber paint. After picking up some of the paint onto your brush apply this to the wet areas of the picture. Follow the curves of the hills on the grass. On the lighthouse begin with the paint in the shadows and blend downward. Apply just a bit to the bottom steps of the lighthouse. Allow the paint to dry completely.
*Apply clean water to the grassy areas. Pick up some lime green paint onto your brush. Apply this paint to the grass going right over the raw umber. Blot with a tissue randomly and very lightly.
*Using a #00 Round Brush apply clean water to the birds in the shaded areas. Pick up a small amount of gray paint and apply to those areas. Repeat this with a touch of yellow ochre to add highlighted areas around the gray.
*Using the round brush re-wet the marine blue mixture if you had some left (if not just get more!). Very lightly run the brush along the two center lines on the lighthouse and under the railing in the shadows to create a little shading and depth. If it is too dark- add more water to thin it and blot with a tissue if necessary.
*Apply water to the shaded sides of the lighthouse using the flat brush. Apply yellow ochre paint to those areas.
*Apply a touch of navy paint to the rooftop, left side of the lighthouse and under the railing in the shadows.
*Rewet the upper sky. Mix gray, white and light blue together and apply the mixture to the wet areas of the sky. Blot with a tissue randomly to create cloud shapes if desired. Using the round brush and a touch of black paint (very diluted with water) apply black paint to the shadowed and shaded areas of the image (under the railing, the left side of the lighthouse and the rooftop).