Beginner’s watercolour

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

■ Understand the need for timing when painting with watercolour

■ Paint a simple overcast sky using just one colour mix

■ Practise negative painting to complete a more complicated effect

You will need

• Cotman watercolour tubes: ultramarine, raw sienna & burnt sienna

• Stephen Coates Mini Hake by Pro Arte

• Stephen Coates Spearhead No. 8 Round brush

• Pro Arte Prolene No. 2 Round brush

• Bockingford NOT 140lb (300gsm) watercolour paper

• Palette or tray for mixing

• Soft pencil and eraser

This month we will turn our attention to painting skies. Creating a successful sky with watercolour paint needn’t be difficult. I have just written a book, The Easy Guide to Painting Skies in Watercolour, which has 112 pages and took a year to compile. It just isn’t possible to cover everything in the few pages of this article so I’m going to give you some important ground rules and exercises to follow, which should give you a good start.

Nature’s time limit

Let me share with you what I consider to be the most important ideas to understand before embarking on a watercolour sky. It’s all about timing!

The whole area of a watercolour sky should be alive with active water which forms, mixes and blends the colours you introduce. High water levels may