This week’s video is a bit peculiar. This theme is not seasonable, but it was chosen by my student from my watercolor workshop : painting birch tree.
It’s always a bit weird to talk about my watercolor workshop, because i don’t feel like a teacher. I just want to share my passion for watercolor in the same way as i do on Youtube. I’ve started this workshop a year and a half ago and it’s a wonderful experience !
But let’s got back to today’s subject : Birch tree. I’ve chosen this fall scenery just because i add a lovely reference picture. It’s a very simple image regarding composition : a background and a foreground very well defined. The colors are a perfect mix of fall colors with so much richness in the gold hues. Few months after this picture was taken, i sketched this scenery in my sketchbook very quickly. Not a perfect nice sketch, but a really good base for a futur work.
And my video is just about going from my sketch to a more finished painting. The composition was already good and the colors were very interesting so there’s nothing to change drastically. I’ve worked the background a little bit more and i put a lot of details in the foreground. At the end it’s in fact quite an easy picture to paint. Even if you have the impression that the trunks of the birch tree have needed a lot of work, it’s in fact just some texture. Which is very easy to paint with a dry brush charged with pigments.
Watercolor birch tree in video
Supplies :
Brushes : Escoda aquario nº18, Raphaël le “803” nº2, Rosemary & Co serie 39 1/2″.
Paper : Canson héritage rough.
Colors : Indanthrene blue (Sennelier), Quinacridone gold (Daniel Smith), Quinacridone burnt scarlet (Daniel Smith), Burnt sienna (Schmincke).
And here you have the finished painting (click to enlarge) :
