Watercolour demo Ullswater

 Sunday Sail, Ullswater painted in watercolours

Here is as promised a watercolour inspired by the scene in the last blog.

I've not changed it too much, brought in more light and colour and sunk a few boats.

 Stage one

My original idea was to have mountains in  the background and a thin stretch of water in the foreground.

A little candle wax was applied before applying paint  to give more texture

Warm ochres with added Rose madder are painted in swift strokes showing the direction of the fells.Cobalt Blue with Rose madder gave a subtle shadow colour, then the waterspray helped to merge the colours together softly.

Stage two

With the background nearly dry stronger shades of Cobalt Blue and Rose Madder was used for distant tree shapes. Using the side of a brush to create the foliage. Gamboge yellow helped to give a complementary colour to some of the closer trees.These are all softened with the waterspray.Note the use of masking tape torn into shapes to preserve the white on the boats and shoreline.

 Stage three

By now I had decided to crop the top section of the background and concentrate on the trees and lake.

Very strong tones of yellow and orange are used in the front trees, cadmium red was added to Gamboge to create the rich shades. Whilst Rose madder with a little Cobalt Blue mixed together to create a strong dark that helped to negatively shape the trees and boats. Keeping plenty of light showing between the foliage is a key point.

I decided that the boats should be a complementary Blue and used neat Cobalt and shades of Ultramarine for these lovely little boats. Reflections are painted with a dry brush using the colours of the trees in the background.Finally a couple of swift strokes of white pastel for the masts.

For more watercolour courses

www.watercolourcourses.co.uk