Beginner Watercolor Landscape Painting Tips and Tutorial

Hello everyone. Welcome to my nature diaries. Today I want to share with you how I am putting together some watercolor landscapes as a background in my nature diary. So I'll be sharing some tips and just some things that I have learned along the way and how to get over that intimidation of painting landscapes and watercolor. So with that, let's get started with my first tip. That is intentional practice before you start. To do this, I'm going to recommend, if you're not doing this already, to use 100% cotton paper and in this case this is 140 pound or 300 gsm. Better paper means better results and that means confidence. Tip two is try painting tiny landscapes or better known as thumbnails. Scaling down your landscapes are a great way to create confidence again because it's less space to cover and less space to fill. Thumbnails were traditionally used by plein air artists when they wanted to capture a quick outdoor scene. They would capture these thumbnails either by painting them or by just using pencil or pen and inking in the contrast and values. As you can see, I'm taping off my thumbnails with washi tape but you could simply just hand draw yours in or use a straight edge to make whatever shapes you want. My next tip is to choose simple landscapes. This is key, at least it was for me, because I tend to want to paint a lot of woodland scenes because we hike in the woods a lot. However, those landscapes can feel really overwhelming because of the fact that there's so many details. This first reference photo that I took was from a meadow which is a perfect way to start practicing landscapes. The important thing is to focus really on the shapes as opposed to focusing on the details. Also, I'll be using my brush and other tools to create texture. I'm also going to be using masking fluid along with a soapy brush in order to block out some of these flowers like the yellow and the white flowers that are in the front and in the back. While this is an optional step, I do feel like it's going to be a little bit easier for me to lay down the paint, especially those first few layers. If you don't have masking fluid, you can always use white and yellow gouache or some kind of white paint to go back in and add those details. For my second reference photo, it looks really complicated, but I'm going to keep it simple. For this, I'm going to ignore the details in the front with the shrubs and the trees, and I'm going to just focus really on that mid-ground and the very far background. Doing that will help me to simplify the whole composition altogether. In this one, I'm really just going to focus again on that path and then the few horizon lines, as well as the tree in front. Remember, this is more about this idea of practice, and we are practicing not only painting and drawing, but also perspective and what we're seeing. This little scene might feel like the most complex of all, but again, I'm just going to block in some of those major shapes and work on that contrast when I go to paint them. One of the things I have learned from painting landscapes, not only in watercolor, but even in acrylic, is the power of simplifying. I never want to underestimate how important that concept is. I always have to remind myself that we can build up details later, but it's always great to start simple. Tip 4 is use a simple but varied color palette. Another good decision when you are choosing a reference photo, whether your own or if you find it online, is to just find something that doesn't have maybe too many colors. For this first layer, I'm creating a really bright springy kind of green, something that feels a little warm to be able to warm up the composition itself. I'm starting with a base of sap green and then I do use a little bit of cadmium yellow and ultramarine blue when I want to go cooler and darker. I'll also be introducing some Payne's gray for those really dark darks. Normally, I like to use an ultramarine or cerulean blue for the skies, but I did introduce a little bit of Payne's gray, like I mentioned before, so I can show that it was a rainy, even a bit of a stormy day. Limiting your color palette is another way to simplify your composition. Of course, this is no hard and fast rule, but if you want to help take away some of that intimidation, then try simplifying again that color palette by sticking to these greens, yellows, blues, a little bit of gray, and even a few dark browns. It's going to just take away, again, the pressure of making decisions on what colors to use. On the other hand, thumbnails or these little tiny landscapes are really a great place to even experiment with different kinds of colors. Adding your magentas, your reds, your purples into the landscape and just maybe experimenting to see if you think it would work for a larger composition. When I first started painting, I remember that clouds were so intimidating for me to try to make, but with these tiny landscapes, I'm able to just experiment using my brush, trying to lay down color and pull it up as well. I guess the point here is that this is the place to really explore and experiment without having to think that you're trying to make some kind of masterpiece. If you also notice, I'm using a pretty large paintbrush for this. These tiny landscapes are another great place to explore brush control, brush technique, just really, again, having fun and exploring different types or styles of painting. I know it has helped me to be able to get over that fear of, oh, I'm going to mess up the paper, I'm going to ruin the paper. By dividing it up in these small compositions, I'm giving myself that freedom to explore, play, and learn how to paint. Another advantage to these little thumbnails is the fact that you can work on one, let it dry, and then keep working on several at a time. My first layers are mostly wet on wet or just wet on dry, but with a very loose and watery watercolor paint. Before the use of cameras, this was the way to kind of take a snapshot of a scene that you saw in front of you that wasn't going to make you stand in a hot sun for a long time, trying to paint the whole scene in. I haven't tried using thumbnails for plein air, but I'm definitely going to give it a try this summer. Once these first layers have dried, I'm going to go back to the first painting and just start working on a second layer. How many layers you choose to use in your paintings, once again, is entirely up to you. I'm switching over to a finer, a number three detail brush for just adding these flowers and a few little details. The biggest reason I'm going back with a second layer is now to just go ahead and put in those values or the strong contrast that I didn't put in the first layer of the paintings. When painting outside, you could just put in those strong values to begin with, but because I have time, I'm going to just go ahead and put these in layers. One of the biggest reasons I'm painting this way as well is because it's something I want to learn and replicate in my nature diary. Again, the reason I'm making these little thumbnail paintings is a way for me to be able to kind of work out any problems or difficulties or just seeing if there's something that I like and I want to include in my main painting. Another thing to remember is that I'm using these reference photos as just that, references. There are definitely going to be details that I'm going to leave out or just not pay attention to. When you see me work in my sketchbook next, you'll understand maybe more of the reasons why I chose to do that. I also love the idea of these thumbnails as a way to help me practice to paint a little bit more loosely. As a nature journaler, I do focus on details. However, I do also love the idea of being able to paint loosely and quickly. I would love to hear from you if you enjoy painting these little mini landscapes as well and what you've learned from them and maybe even what you use them for. You definitely can leave these mini landscapes or thumbnails in your sketchbook, but you can also cut them out and use them as bookmarks too. Another option for you is if you like how any of them turn out, you could put these into your nature diary or nature journal as well. I really appreciate you watching, especially to this part of the video, and if you are and haven't subscribed, please consider subscribing right now. Also, if you like, comment, and share the video, that helps me out so very much. Make sure to follow me on Instagram at my underscore nature diaries if you want to see more nature art and nature journaling. Once you have your thumbnails complete, you can use those now as a reference. After painting those thumbnails, I decided to use this scene with the bird and the meadow with the flowers in my nature diary layout. Because I've already painted these same scenes, now I'm able to just jump in, dive into my layout, and just start painting and doing the things that I like the most from each of those little compositions. I loved adding that little bit of Payne's gray into my skies, and because this was a bigger composition, instead of using my brush, I did use a clean tissue to pull out some of that color to create clouds. The intentional practice that we made with those thumbnails gives us that confidence to move forward and just paint everything step by step, kind of like what we did before. It helps to ease the anxiety from the decision process, and helps us to jump right in into the painting. As you can see, I also drew in some of the really basic things that I was going to paint, but I also, in detail, drew the items in the foreground. Because I do like to showcase certain plants and flowers, I knew I wanted to create a space for all of these to include them in this layout. Using a very large angled brush, I'm now just putting in these large swaths of color in order to, again, create an idea of a field and just creating some texture as well. Because I've already worked, again, on my color palette, I know what I'm going to do with that, and so there's no mystery with how I want to get started with that either. While you don't technically need to add landscapes, of course, into your nature journal, because this is a nature diary, I feel like including them adds so much more to the journal itself. This whole process of painting these little thumbnails and even this layout has helped me to realize how much I really enjoy the idea of painting these open landscapes. I've seen them a lot on Instagram and YouTube, of course, so I want to be a little bit more intentional about finding these types of trails and not underestimating the sweeping vistas of especially a meadow. Because we live in such a wooded area, it isn't as common to find these types of landscapes or hikes or trails, and usually they are pretty warm in the summertime to try to stand there and paint them. But they have created a really fun way to incorporate landscape, again, into my nature diary. Painting now the mid-ground trees, I've moved away from those really light colors, and I'm trying to make it now a little bit brighter, a little greener, and definitely darker. I don't want to go too dark for this particular type of scene, though, mostly because of the fact that I am going to be adding writing. I'm also now adding a little bit more brighter green to the front, which you'll see here. I'm going to add some layers of that, and I'm also wanting now to add some horizontal lines just to show the fact that this is indeed a field. I also decided that the scene needs a little bit more texture, and so I'm just going to use these splatters to try to help create that on both sides of the page. You could also lay down salt as well and create some really fun textures with that if you would rather try that technique. Because I felt like some of these splatters are a little bit too prominent, I went ahead and just dabbed off some of the paint before it dried. My next tip, or tip number six, is to go ahead now and work on that foreground by adding details. For the foreground, I'm going to make sure that I am adding the darkest of colors, and also this is the main point or the main subject of the layout or painting. I wanted to include this red-winged blackbird that I caught some footage of on a tree, a small tree, and then he decided that in this rain he was going to take off, and I love that idea of adding movement to my journal. After removing the masking fluid, I'm just going to go ahead again and add those yellow flowers, also leaving white space for the daisy fleabane that was also in the field that day. Even though these colors and details are very subtle, it's a way to kind of create interest for your viewer. Finishing up the composition, I was able to work around all of the painting and add my own text boxes or lines for text. Whenever I'm laying lines out for text, I do try to make sure that I have lines that will indicate what each plant is with its common name and it's also its Latin name. I also like to create little paragraphs where I can write something about a particular plant or scene. Putting the lines in ahead of time is a great way for me to be able to not stress out about where to write and what to do. It also, of course, helps me to write in a straight line, which is not something that is easy for me. I know a few of you have said that you can write in a straight line without putting down lines first and I am so amazed by that. That's definitely not me. I would love to hear from you if there's anything that inspired you or encouraged you about the video and something that maybe you would like to try in your own nature diary or sketchbook. Also, I would love to hear from you if making little thumbnails is something that you would like to do or if you've done it, how has it helped? As always, remember that you are so amazing and creative and I hope you have a great week. Until next time, bye!