Paint the Throat

Using a round watercolor brush wet the throat area.

Use a pale yellow on the side toward the light.

While the yellow is still wet, put orange on the opposite side.

Allow the two colors to mingle together.

Watching the beautiful colors mingle together is the joy of learning how to watercolor paint.

Paint the Body

Wet the body with water. The wet area will have sheen.

The paint will spread into the wet areas.

Mix blue and orange to make brown to paint the areas on the shadow side.

Add orange, as you go toward the light.

Leave the area below the throat white.

Painting the wings

Mix a very light grey-brown with the orange and blue.

Use more water to make it a light color.

Apply to the forward wing.

Colors get lighter and cooler, as they go into the distance.

Add a bit more blue to make it greyer for the wing farther away.

Painting the Head

Mix an orange-brown.

Touch the top of the hummer's head with the brush tip.

This leaves stippling marks to simulate the short feathers.

Leave the eye, around and behind the eye white.

White paper makes the whites in watercolor paintings.

Leaving the whites is basic in learning how to watercolor paint.

Paint the Eye and Beak

Add more blue to your blue and orange mixture to make a black.

Color mixing is a big part of how to watercolor paint.

Paint the eye leaving a white highlight.

Paint the beak with one dark line down the center.

Then put a lighter dark on the outside edges that catch the light.

Paint the Flower Petals

Freely paint the flower petals. Use a variety of oranges and yellow.

Leave some white spaces for a little spark.

On some petals put the paint on one end of the petal.

Then pull it toward the other end with water.

This makes the petal color go from full color to lighter and lighter.

Mix a variety of greens from your blue and yellow. How to mix paint colors

Paint the Green Flower Parts

Add more yellow for the green toward the light.

More blue makes a darker green for the underside of the stem and other areas away from the light.

Paint The Flower Center

Use a variety of brown, orange and yellow to paint the center of the flower.

Stipple with the end of the brush to portray the stamens in the center of the daisy.

Paint the Background

Using a flat brush dampen the background area with clean water.

Do one area at a time, so the forward painting edge stays damp to prevent a hard edge.

It seems to work the best to not pre-wet right up to the edge of the bird or flower.

Paint right next to the bird and flower when you are painting on the background color.

If you pre-wet right up next to them, it makes the color pool up against their dry edge.

Make some marks behind the bird to simulate flight movement.

Final Touch-ups

This is a lesson on how to watercolor a hummingbird, so we aren't focusing on the leaves or foliage.

Go over the hummingbird again and darken and brighten colors where you think it needs it.

Do this to increase the value contrast.

Do any needed adjustment on the flower petals.

Where the petals were overlapped by a petal next-door darkened the overlapped petals.