Sunset Sand Dunes in Watercolor
Painting Wet on Wet Washes For Glowing Color
Painting A Beautiful Sunset At The Beach
Watercolor is at its very best is glowing wet on wet washes, yet working wet on wet is scary for beginners. Guided practice is excellent practice, and in this lesson, Deb Watson will take you through a simple sunset, step by step.
Included in the lesson are: outline page, written instructions, reference photo, finished painting pdf, video demonstration, and an introduction with tips on wet on wet washes.
Recommended Materials:
Good watercolor paper will 'take' a wash much better than student grade paper, so it's recommended for this lesson - Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper
A soft wash brush also helps a lot in laying down a wash without brushstrokes - a flat hake or large oval (I use 3/4" oval Silver Black Velvet)
Paint - test you paints on inexpensive scrap paper to see if you can make the blends needed for the sky and beach, yellow, orange, violet, blue gray, light and dark green.
Misc. Materials - masking tape, misting spray bottle, liner brush for liners, or you can use watercolor pencils or pen, paper towels.
If you've never done wet on wet washes, start small and repeat larger once you get your sea legs under you. See the Introduction for extra painting tips and student paintings.
Happy Painting!
Your Instructor
I'm a self taught artist and I love teaching!
My story is simple.
I showed a lot of talent as a child, but my parents discouraged art - a waste of time! I spent my adult life as a nurse and raised a family - pretty busy. I also kept painting.
I wanted my paintings to be realistic, but the watercolor teachers would roll their eyes and tell me, "That's not how you paint watercolors."
Despite the naysayers, I just kept going and taught myself how to paint realism, the way I wanted it, with watercolors. After years of practicing (and lots of bad paintings), I got really good.
I found that not only did I really enjoy teaching other people (and giving them the encouragement I never had), I continued to learn and improve my art through teaching others. It's a win-win!
And so, I set up this site (and my Patreon site) to encourage other people to give watercolor a try. I think it improves their life and that anyone lucky enough to be able to afford the materials and time to dabble in painting is blessed. Whether (or not) you ever turn into a master painter or just gain the admiration of your friends and family.
Watercolor is doable. The more people painting, the better the world will be. Give it a try today!
And yes, this cowboy is a watercolor painting. (Reference photo used with permission by Diana Robinson)