How to Paint a Winter Scene with a Hiking Family in Watercolour

Good morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you are. I'm Paul Clarke and welcome to my studio. Now, because it's the first video of the year, I'd like to start by wishing everybody a very, very happy new year. Let's make it a good one. So, what have I got for you lovely lot today? Well, I think we've got time to squeeze in just one more winter scene. So, we're gonna be having a go at painting this lovely little moody snow scene. But before we start, somebody asked me last week in the Q&A session we had, and I didn't get a chance to put it in the video, is who taught me or where did I learn to paint in watercolour? Now, of course, back in the day, we didn't have the luxury of the internet and things like YouTube. So, if you were lucky enough, you could go along to your local college and perhaps enrol on an evening class, which I did do. Or, like most people, we learnt from books. I certainly had a load of those. Now, there was one particular artist that really stood out for me and I had learnt the most from. So, come and join me and I will reveal all. So, here is my little tribute to Elwyn Crawshaw, who sadly passed away in November last year. Now, he produced hundreds of teaching books in both oils and watercolour, in which I have many, as well as a successful TV series. Now, these two paper packs were the first watercolour books that I bought, and they taught me loads. Simplifying scenes, layering washes, in a whole host of subjects, including all the basic techniques needed to get started. Just so much great information and inspirational loose style paintings. Now, this one in Limestone in Devon really caught my eye. So, I painted my own version and I did film this one while I painted it. So, let me know in the comments below if you would like to see a tutorial. Now, I particularly like this book, The Half Hour Painter. Some fantastic snow scenes, loose pencil sketches, and beautiful impressionistic landscapes. Funny enough, it was this simple landscape on the contents page that I really loved. All that big open space, lovely muted colours, all creating mood and atmosphere. So, this is the painting I've based today's video on. Today's materials. My paper is some Winsor & Newton Professional. It's 100% cotton, cold press finish, 140 pound, and it's on a block, so it won't need stretching. But of course, any decent watercolour paper will do. My colours today, and there's only five. I'm going to be using some Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, a little Mars Black, Payne's Grey, and some French Ultramarine Blue. And for my brushes, I'm using a large hake, and from my range, three-quarter inch flat, number 12 and number six round, and my trusty number three rigger. And here's the pencil sketch, which as always is free of charge to download from my website, link in the description below. Off we go. And I'm starting by wetting the complete sheet with clean water using my hake brush. Next, using my flat brush, I'm basically tinting the whole sheet of paper using this mix of Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umber. This is a very watery mix, and it's important that you don't start off too dark. And just adding a touch of Burnt Umber up here in the corner. Now, it's important to note that this isn't necessarily the way Alwin Croshaw would have done his paintings. It's just my interpretation of one of his works. Isn't it incredible how much lighter your washes are once they've dried? Next, my flat brush again, and I'm just painting up here in the sky a watery mix of Burnt Umber. If you have a Van Dyke Brown or Sepia, it'll work just as well. And while that's still wet, I'm just lifting out the colour from the trunks here with my number 12 brush. Then my flat brush again, and dropping in wet and wet this mix of Payne's Grey with a touch of French Ultramarine. And just a little touch of Mars Black here in the corner. Then I'm letting that totally dry, and I'm coming back in with my number 12 brush and just painting in some really loose tree shapes. Picking up a bit of dry brush texture here by painting the brush strip really quick and just skimming the top of the paper. And I'm using some clean water here to force a few back runs, hopefully to get some interesting effects. And as I move over to the right, I'm adding more water into the mix to create that misty transparent feel. And I'm dropping into the wet here some Mars Black, which is a really granulating colour. And here I've switched to my number six brush for some smaller branch details, and everything is still very wet. Same colour here, but a darker value on top. Some of it's still wet though, so I'm getting a soft edge here and there, which is great. And here to create a subtle motley effect, I'm just tapping in some clean water with my smaller six brush. And here for these little shadows and indents into the snow, I'm using this mixture of Payne's Grey and French Ultramarine, and just putting in a few quick washy strokes. And softening a few of the tops here with some clean water. So letting that dry again, then taking my clean water spray and just lightly spraying in this wooded area in the corner. Then taking that same dark brown mix made up of Mars Black and Burnt Umber, my number six brush, and just painting in these more detailed trees. And you can see that the light spray that I applied is giving some nice, soft, fuzzy edges to some of these brush strokes. And with these two large trunks here, you can see I'm painting a dark shadow side, but leaving the other side as if it's been sprayed by the snow. I always think that trees are one of the most forgiving things to paint, because you can't really put a limb in the wrong place, unlike human figures, which we'll come to later. And it's always worth remembering that the branches, as well as going in an upward direction, also come downwards. Now it's time for my trusty number three rigger. Cute. The perfect brush for these spindly branches. It just goes where it wants. ♪ I see you through windows ♪ ♪ My soul's just an echo who sings on ♪ ♪ But it's for a change in no steady ground ♪ ♪ Echoes just drifting through the endless silence ♪ So easy to overwork these trees, so let's leave it there. Using the same colour again and my number six brush, I'm painting in the fence here and the gate. I know I say this a lot on my channel, but always try and paint these things with as few brush strokes as possible. Always looks more natural. And as Alvin Crawshaw does in a lot of his paintings, don't worry about leaving plenty of gaps and unpainted areas. ♪ Leads me where I shouldn't ♪ ♪ It's a place where we'll see it grow ♪ And just doubling up with a wash here to get some darker areas and more contrast. ♪ I see you through windows ♪ Next, it's time to paint in the family and I'm starting with a sort of pinky flesh colour. This is made up of yellow ochre and alizarin crimson. Now, I didn't give you the colours at the start for the family because you can paint them in any colours you like, but it is important to keep them in context to the rest of the painting. So, nice subtle and subdued colours to relate to the mood. Again, one brush stroke if you can. Keep these shapes nice and simple. Blue jeans here, but I'm also letting all the colours run into each other. Now, I don't think I've quite got the looseness and spontaneity of his figures, but I'm doing my best. Now, I always find that feet can look clumsy when you're painting small figures. So, just as well, they're all disappearing into the snow. I think it's amazing how you can get possible gestures in people just by simple brush strokes. Now, it looks to me as if this child on the right is indignant and is explaining to his mum that it wasn't him that threw the snowball on the back of her head, while the other kid further back is saying it wasn't him either. Dad, of course, is oblivious to it all and is just wondering if they'll get back in time for the halftime football results. It wasn't me, mum. Final details time now, and I'm just using this white Posca ink pen to put in a few white highlights. And here, just smudging the wet ink with my finger. Again, you really don't want to overdo this stage. Less is more. A few little details on the family. Now, I'm just thinking to help with that sense of scale and distance, perhaps a little line of trees way here in the distance. And I'm just putting in some clean water along the top edge to blend it into the sky. Just want this to be very subtle. Next, I'm using a pastel pencil just to add a little more green colour into mum's coat here. There we go, all done, and this one in just under two hours. And it's the first time I've put in 26. And a big shout out must go to Alwyn Crawshaw for his incredible teaching over the years. Well, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did, and you'll give it a go. And as I always say, make it your own. You can even add in your own family. But of course, always try to enjoy the experience. One moment. Yep. Yep, no, don't worry. I won't. Okay, yeah. Bye for now. Just being reminded there's still a few spaces left on our wonderful painting retreat in Austria in July this year. So full details of that in the description below. But in the meantime, please don't forget to like, subscribe if you haven't already. It is free. Leave a comment. I do read every single one. Can't always reply to them all. And of course, I look forward to seeing you all again next week for another Watercolor Wednesday. Have a great week, everyone. Bye for now.