Hi everyone! We meet again in a watercolor landscape painting tutorial. In today’s watercolor content, we will learn to paint a landscape painting: The fishing boat moored at the embankment and the boat is the main subject which I would like to focus your attention. Now let’s see how I do it!
Materials Necessary
Paper: Saunder Waterford cold-pressed 300gsm watercolor paper.
Pigments: Here is a list of the pigments I used:
Phthalo Blue; Light Red; Permanent Violet; Ultramarine Blue, Raw Umber, Permanent Yellow, Permanent Green Light, Sap Green, Burn Umber, Titanium White
Brushes: Small goat hair brush; cat’s tongue brush, rigger brush, Large Flat Brush.
Other: Graphite pencil, Pallette, Water bucket, Drawing boat.
Read More about Watercolor Landscape Paintings:
Drawing an initial sketch
To make the process of landscape painting in watercolors easier, always start with a good-quality sketch, so try to edit your sketch carefully with a pencil before you apply any application of watercolor. As usual, I make a small watercolor sketch on Saunder Waterford watercolor paper, which I love to use.
Paint the Sky of Watercolor Landscape Painting
I created a loose sky base using the wet-on-wet technique. This means I have to moisten the paper before I do it. I paint a mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Permanent Violet on the upper parts of the sky in a random pattern with a small flat brush.
Next, by using Phthalo Blue, I paint the lower part and let them blend naturally. While the paper was still wet, I reuse a mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Permanent Violet, moving the brush back and forth to create a clear and light sky as you can see.
Paint the Loose Base of Water and Embankment.
In this step, I created the loose base of the water surface and the embankment. Using Raw Umber to paint the embankment. Use the following colors: Phthalo Blue, Permanent Yellow, Permanent Green Light, and a touch of Light Red to paint the Water. Carefully keep the white paper area where the boat is.
Start Painting the Fishing Boat of Your Watercolor Painting
I start working with the fishing boat. The hull is painted with a mixture of Permanent Violet and Ultramarine Blue. Use Burn Umber at the upper edges of the boat’s hull ( gunwales). Leave white paper for the wheelhouse, add Permanent Violet to suggest its dark side. Use Light Red to paint the roof of the wheelhouse. Besides, I suggest adding some bricks to the embankment.
Painting the Ripples
Moving downwards I work into the ripples. While the paper dries, let us focus on the water in the foreground. To paint the Effect of ripples and reflections in water, I used a lance-shaped brush to paint from right to left, from the shore to the water. Water ripples are always bigger and darker in the foreground, they are thinner and lighter as they fade into the background.
By using a slight layer of a mixture of Ultramarine Blue, Raw Umber, and Permanent Green Light, I suggest the mountains on the horizon. Other details on the mountain in the background are done loosely, in as few brushstrokes as possible.
Of course, the house on the right in the middle-ground is also suggested by a slight layer of color.
Adding Details to Your Fishing Boat
Paint the dark areas of the hull to create a sense of depth in the space. Let’s use a darker version of the previous color layer by adding a touch of Violet. Notice, shouldn’t use black, as the mixture will be dirty. For example, Blue + Violet = Blue darker. Blue + Black = Blue darker but dirty and not transparent. Use the same way to work on other parts of the fishing boat.
Adding a layer of ripples on the reflections.
I add a layer of ripples on the reflection area by using a brush loaded with a mixture of Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Violet, and a touch of Sap Green. Using free, fast, and random brushwork to create their form.
Refine some small details to make your watercolor painting look more attractive
The painting at this point can be considered finished. However, I have a great suggestion that you can always add a few small details to make the painting stand out after you have completed the main parts. For example, Using Titanium white to highlight the mooring lines on the hull, this small detail can make the painting look more attractive and interesting.
Suggest some slight details of the roof, window details, and shadows of the house. You can freely choose the color you want, but the color shouldn’t be too outstanding.
Finished watercolor painting landscape
Did you find this tutorial helpful? If you have any questions about watercolor landscape painting. Let me know by leaving your comments in the comment section below. This will give me more joy and motivation to continue my creative work, see you in the next tutorial.
