I wanted to do this watercolor painting as a video demonstration, but it didn’t work out, so I’m putting it in as a step-by-step lesson.  Let me know if you think it’s understandable.

This is my drawing.  The grey is Pebeo masking fluid and I applied it on the beach with a toothbrush, trying for a random pattern.   (I got the shadow of my head in the middle, but the rest of the photos I did right…..)

Okay, it seems like I did a lot, but it’s really just a first watercolor wash.  Using a big brush, I did a wash of cobalt blue and  burnt sienna to the sky and the water.

I used cobalt, sienna, quinacridone red and aureolin yellow on the beach, and spattered it with water while it was wet, to make the blotches.  When it was completely dry, I spattered the beach again with  a toothbrush and misket.

I painted the rocks and the beach again, using the same colors, but I added some ultramarine blue to go a little darker, and switched from aureolin yellow to quinacridone gold to jazz it up, spattering the golds into the purpley mix I had going.  I added salt while the watercolor was still wet for more texture.  Now I’ll take off the masking…

Now I start adjusting values.  I put in some dark values in the hair and blue jeans, and a dark shadow on the lower left.  I softened up some the white edges and smudged up some of the far-away rocks.  I start painting the seaweed, or whatever it is, with the quinacridone gold, burnt sienna and other colors.  I lifted out the hard line between the shore and the water.

I decided the rock on the right of the couple was too distracting, so I lifted most of that up, kept softening edges and painting seaweed.

I keep painting the detail.  I am using a smaller brush now.  I think the sky is boring, so I add a wimpy looking storm on the left and put some soft streaks in the water.  I put slightly darker streaks in the water and lift out a few lighter streaks.

Here is the finished painting.  I put some greys in the wave and shadows under the wave.  I added a faraway land on the right and felt that improved the painting’s composition.  I added some crashing waves to the rocks in the left of the ocean, so your eye has a lot to look at.

This is a detail from a watercolor painting I’m currently working on.  The white ice box has had four coats of paint so far, and I’m not done yet.

I usually paint dark areas in one intense watercolor wash, but I carefully inch up on the white areas.  I make puddles of aureolin yellow, quinacridone red and cobalt blue with just the barest hint of color in the water.

I put each color on my paper separately, but let the colors touch one another.  Then I tilt the paper so the colors flow together on the paper and blend a bit.  Hints of warm and cool in your whites will make them come alive  … or turn them into a dingy ice machine on a cold winter day.

What watercolors do you use?

I use a limited palette (three to five colors per watercolor painting) of mostly transparent colors.

Blues:  cobalt blue, Thalo blue (often called by other names, such as Windsor blue or Joe’s blue), Ultramarine blue and opaque cerulean blue

Yellows:  Aureolin yellow, New Gamboge yellow, raw sienna and Quinacridone gold

Reds:  Quinacridone red, Alizarin crimson and Napthol red

Others:  Burnt sienna, raw umber violet (a Daniel Smith color), Perylene green, and opaque olive green gouache

My watercolor palette is rarely “cleaned up,” and I try to never let my watercolor paints dry out.  For black, I mix raw umber violet with thalo or ultramarine blue. For most greens, I use perylene green or mix my own.