watercolor for beginners doesn't have to be scary, it's easy

Watercolor on Aquabord

140# paper is good for beginning watercolor.

The paper should be stretched, so it won't buckle from the water. Watercolor paper in a block cannot buckle because the sides are fastened down.

Watercolors on paper must be matted and framed under glass.

Can we paint watercolor on canvas?

Yes, watercolor may be painted on canvas. specifically labeled for watercolor.

The paint tends to slide around unless you first brush the entire canvas with water. Let the water soak away before painting. When the painting is dry, it may be sealed with a fixative.

Watercolor for beginners is much easier, if the painting is done on paper or a prepared panel.

Split Compliment painting color scheme

It's great to read about watercolor, but doing is learning.

This demo is on an 8x10 Aquabord panel. It certainly may be painted on watercolor paper.

This painting uses a split compliment color scheme of only 3 colors.

• Use any blue of your choice.
• An orange like Quinacridone Sienna or Burnt Sienna
• Amy yellow like; Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow or New Gamboge

Using a limited number of colors automatically creates color harmony.

Selecting colors for a painting.

Keep your colors clean!

This is important when learning how to use watercolor.

Use a container of clean water to wash the brushes.

We want the colors in the wells to remain clean and pure. So, we do all the mixing in the center of the palette.

Never put a brush with one color on it into the well of a different color.

Clean the brush with water between colors.

Blot the excess water out of the clean brush on a paper towel, rag or sponge kept next to the water container.

Paint the throat

We will be painting the hummingbird with a #7 round watercolor brush. The background is done with a flat brush.

Using the round watercolor brush, prewet the throat area.

Paint 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 flowing together is one of the joys of painting watercolor.

Paint the hummingbird's body.

Wet the body with clean water from your brush. The wet area will have a sheen.

Do not wet the white throat area.

The paint will spread into the wet areas. This is a basic technique of watercolor for beginners.

Mix blue and orange to make brown to paint the areas on the shadow side. Add plenty of water to make it a light brown.

As we paint toward the light, keep adding more orange.

Leave the area between the throat and body white. The paint will not flow into this dry area.

Painting the wings

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

Use more water to make it a light color.

Paint the forward wing. Just paint over the pencil lines of the individual feathers.

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

So, the wing behind will be a tiny bit cooler to set it back.

Add a bit more blue to make the color greyer to make the back wing look farther away.

Paint the head with stippling strokes.

Paint 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.

Leaving the white paper is another technique of learning watercolor for beginners.

There is no white watercolor paint, so we use the white of the paper.

Get more information about saving the whites in watercolor.

Mix a dark color for the eye, beak and feet.

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

Color mixing is a big part of watercolor for beginners.

Paint the eye leaving a white highlight. Leave the white spot behind the eye.

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 little dark feet with the same mixture.

More about mixing paint colors.

Paint the flower petals.

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

I enjoy leaving some white spaces for a little spark.

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

Rinse the brush, then use the damp brush to pull the color toward the other end of the petal.

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

This is a great watercolor technique for beginners to master that adds more variety to our paintings.

Paint the green sepals and stem.

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 yellow-green parts first. Then paint the darker green areas.

Paint the center of the flower with a variety of brown, orange and yellow.

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

Contrast some of the yellow petals against a darker yellow or orange petal.

Values are an important aspect of painting.

Paint the background.

Paint the background dark or light according to your individual taste.

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 prewet 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 prewet right up next to them, it makes the color pool up against their dry edge.

You may make some marks behind the bird to simulate flight movement.

Pull the marks out with a clean, damp brush to take off some of the blue paint.

Painting watercolor is fun!

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

You may add a soft color to the wings and add a few lines to indicate separate feathers.

Keep the far wing a subdued color to set it behind.

Do any needed adjustment on the flower petals.

Where a petal is overlapped by a petal next-door, darken the petal behind.

This makes one petal look behind another petal.

Now it's your turn.