Practicing My Watercolor Color Mixing

I'm struggling with getting my watercolors to mix and blend together smoothly, so I decided to practice. The leaves started to come along nicely with a few washes. The bottom squares, however, did not go very well. I tried a new wet-on-wet technique of painting a strip of the top color, a strip of the bottom color, and then a middle strip of clear water to blend the two together.

Blue Green Landscape

We painted another landscape in our class this past weekend, but this time we got to use more than one color. We were able to choose four analogous colors, so I went with greens and blues. 

This time my initial mountain washes weren't too bad and I liked how some of the trees turned out. However, the grass in the front is a disaster! Not a total disaster, but not really what I was going for. But at least I went for it.

Love Lemon Painting

For a watercolor homework assignment, I painted one of our love lemons on a 4"x6" piece of paper. I call them "love lemons"because the lemon tree they grow on was part of our wedding ceremony. We're both horticulturists, what can I say.

The lemon didn't turn out too bad, but for some reason my brain cannot wrap itself around the concept of a smooth wash for the background. I feel that the big splotch above the lemon just stands out and I don't even know how I did it. Maybe too much water there?

Watercolor: Painting White Objects

We practiced painting white objects in watercolor. Since the white of the paper serves as any white color in a watercolor painting, the trick is to paint the background to get the white object to stand out. I don't quite have the background wash technique down yet. I think it's a combinations of working too slowly and not having enough paint mixed up ready to go.

Watercolor: Pink Landscape

This week in my watercolor class, we made a larger landscape using our favorite color, which is why mine is pink. We first created a light sketch of the scene and then started working from the top to bottom. I like the detail of my trees, but the rest needs some work. The bottom of the reference image had dark spots, but I wasn't able to control my water to paint ratio to get a more refined effect.

Beginning Watercolor Class

I just started taking a beginning watercolor class at a local community college. It's every Saturday for an entire quarter and each class is six hours long. I've been attempting to teach myself, but it was definitely time for some professional help. This is the first little 4"x6" landscape painting I made using just Paynes Gray. Fortunately, the reference image, a black and white photocopy, was difficult to make out, so accuracy wasn't a huge factor.

Watercolor Leaves

Being a horticulturalist, I love leaves of all shapes and sizes! So to practice my watercolor mixing, I decided to paint a few. I watched a YouTube video (How to Paint a Watercolor) for some inspiration. While the results aren't exactly the same, I'm slowly getting the hang of mixing colors with a wet-on-wet technique and splattering clear water.

My Desk Plant's Leaf

My poor desk plant lost a leaf today, so instead of just throwing it away, I attempted to paint it with my watercolors. The end result wasn't an exact replica, but it has the general essence.