How to paint trees in Watercolour by Paul Clark

[Music] hi there my name is Paul Clarke and welcome to my studio today we're going to be looking at some fantastic techniques for painting trees in watercolor so let's get started keeping a sketchbook of things you paint a lot is really important now I'm no arborist but I do like to have a basic understanding of how trees work and these sketches and photos are invaluable first and most important is the paper I'm using some bucking for the rough but you can use any decent quality watercolor paper as long as it's a cold press or a rough paper as we're going to use it's tooth or texture to create some stunning effects now for our brushes I'm just going to be using two a number twelve round and my favorite brush for painting those spindly branches and number three rigor but you could also use a number two four or six round student grade watercolor paints such as cockman made by Windsor Newton are perfect for beginners and are ideal for practicing demos just like these but please feel free to use whatever paints you have I only use three colors in most of my paintings as I love to mix Cadman yellow cobalt blue and alizarin crimson all the colors shown here are mixed from just the three I'll be producing a video on color mixing at a later date but for now please use whatever colors you have [Music] for this technique I've sharpened the opposite end of my brush handle with an ordinary pencil sharpener and then soften the end with a little sandpaper but it does need to be a wooden handle using my number 12 brush I've painted in a very wet dark brown mix and formed the main trunk section of the tree adding to it plenty of paint now here's the magic using the opposite end of the brush that I've just sharpened I dragged out the wet paint giving me this natural tapered effect oops a dollop drag them up and sideways I can drop more of the wet paint into the trunk area and continue dragging out the branches as you can see as the paint runs out on the paper you get these wonderful broken ends to the branches using my rigger I'm painting in a few of the finer branches keeping the brushstrokes moving quickly with lots of movement just a bit of shaping to the trunk and a few little quirky branch shapes for the next stage we're going to learn the dry brush technique hold the brush between your finger and thumb making sure your hand is totally above the brush this will allow you to place flat onto the paper now drag your brush slowly across the surface so the bristles just paint the hills of the paper leaving the valleys unpainted so I'm using it here to give the suggestion of twigs and dry leaves you can drop in a few dollops of clean water just to soften some of the edges I'm doing the same with a vibrant yellowy green to suggest leaves just coming into bud again making sure that I keep the brush flat onto the paper as before i soften some of the edges with some clean water a quick wash of color for the grass then drop in a darker green into the wet wash to create a soft shadow okay so now we're going to learn how to splatter not to be confused with Sepp Blatter simply fill your brush with paint and whack it against your finger to create some lovely random texture practice first on some scrap paper which is better than a fresh white tablecloth so here we go splatting in some dark brown on this side and over on this side some green using my rigor I'm going to finish off with a few little dark shadows on the branches and trunk just a few little twigs a few little dots and dashes here and there there we go there's even a little birdsong for effect there we have it voila [Music] for our next spring tree we're going to use a piece of sponge don't be silly a piece of natural sponge I've dipped my sponge into a wet pink mix and formed the basic shape of a tree keeping the bottom fairly flat and twisting the sponge as ago before it dries I'm sponging in a darker mix to create a shadow side then with my brush a few darker tones on the same side and underneath now for the trunk I paint in a very wet mix of dark brown then as before use the wooden end of the brush to push out the wash to form the branches as they merge into the canopy above I also use this technique to shape the trunk a little and add any extra branches needed a quick swoosh of green for the grass loved the way the wet trunk bleeds into this wash and a little bit of dark green for the shadow a few splats into the canopy I've used some kitchen paper to mask out the sky area but you can always Dev out any unwanted dots before they have chance to dry as before with my rigger I'm adding in a few shadow areas especially under the canopy here then adding in a few details a few little branches and twigs here and there poking out through the leaves like so and there we have it a simple cherry blossom [Music] you [Music] there's nothing worse than running out of your wash so always mix more than you think you're gonna need within reason our English oak we start with a very wet yellowy green wash using our dry brush technique to create nice crusty edges to our tree then while still wet I quickly drop in a darker tone to get a good wet in wet shadow our trunk again is painted with a wet brown wash letting this color blend into the canopy above straightaway I use the wooden end of my brush to give some finer detail and better shape to the trunk and detail on the canopy a quick swash for the grass and shadow my first wash is still wet but I'm splatting in some darker tones to get some nice wetting wet texture when totally dry I splat again this time getting some harder edge texture as it hits the dry paper and finally a little bit of detail using my rigger the usual shadows on the branches the limbs and the trunk here and a little bit of twig here and there there we go should we have a bit more birdsong [Music] okay for our next demo we're going to be using my unique manky brush technique now that's manky not to be confused with mankini as you can see I've given this cheap old brush of mine a very bad haircut but it's perfect for painting gorse and grasses I start with a wet mid green wash and then dropped some darker green and brown tones into it end of the brush again I score into the paper to give the impression of some long grasses a little touch of dark shadow here and there and then some red blobs and as it's still wet you get some good blending with the colors next I'm using a little touch of clean water spray just to keep the paint moving a few more details in red with my monkey brush a little more shadow here and there and a little more scoring a little dab more green up there now with my rigger I'm just gonna paint in a few little individual grasses a few little stems and stalks here and there just flick them out now as this is still wet I'm just sprinkling in a few little granules of table salt into the wet areas there which creates and lovely effects when it dries and of course I've got to put a few splats in there which just well I can't resist it gives it just a bit of life there we have it done [Music] you [Music] change that water often dirty water give some muddy washes okay for our autumn beach tree we're going to use our sponge cake again and dab in a bright orange tree shape twisting as we go while it's still wet dab in a darker red tone to give the shadow side this time with your number 12 brush drop into the wet some even darker tones remembering that all washes will dry at least 15% lighter is gonna flick around here a little bit more with my brush just to get a little bit more detail another really wet wash of dark brown for the trunk and again pull out with the wooden end of the brush the branches into the wet canopy above quicks wash of wet orange for the ground cover and of course a nice little dollop of brown to create the shadow and of course you know by now I'm using my rigger just to create some of those shadows under the canopy and those little bit of Twiggy branches here and there it's still wet up there so I've just got time to drop in a little bit of table salt to give me some of that lovely texture now I'm gonna put in a few little wispy leaves here and there which have been blown away by the wind but a smudge with the finger I think we're out there ready couple of birds maybe there we go we're done [Music] you [Music] okay for our douglas-fir use a blueish green and paint in a center line with foliage shapes either side with the end of your brush pull out a few details without trying to overwork it dry your brush off with a piece of tissue then lift out some of the highlights on the left-hand side of the tree and on the right-hand side drop in a darker tone to create a shadow side for a tree further in the distance I'm painting it in exactly the same way but lightening the value in giving the color much more of a blue tone shadows in the snow quick strokes in blue add a little clean water some darker tones at the base of the tree a little bit more here and there we have it [Music] this next tree I'm going to use a gardeners spray bottle this is ideal as it sprays thousands of tiny droplets rather than a fine mist which you get with some smaller spray bottles start by lightly spraying your paper making sure you don't completely saturate it two or three squirts should be enough then with a dark brown paint in the main trunk and as before use the wooden end and start pulling out some of the branches adding more paint if needed as you can see the water droplets have started to fuzz out some of the edges creating a lovely soft focus effect you of course a little bit of splattering into the wet for some extra random texture just a few little bits of extra detail using my rigger quick swoosh of orange for the ground cover and then drop into the wash a little darker shadow let it dry and there we have it some lovely soft edges to give the impression of a tree in the mist so cue the rain [Music] well I hope you've enjoyed today's tutorial if you have please press the like button and subscribe somewhere down here and if you'd like some further tips and advice you can always purchase my book watercolor by paul watercolor by paul clark available online from amazon or from any good bookshop so it's goodbye from me and i'm going to leave you with a few paintings that have done using the techniques we've learned today Cheers [Music] [Music]

Channel: Paul Clark

Views: 191,155

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Keywords: Watercolour tutorial, painting trees in watercolour, painting trees, painting lesson in trees, Watercolour lesson, painting with Paul Clark, Paul Clark Artist, A guide to painting Tree, how to paint trees, how to paint trees in watercolour

Id: ygV5PuvzjE4

Length: 17min 28sec (1048 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 25 2020