Painting with a COZY Fall Trio of Watercolors, by Denise Soden on YouTube. 12 min 55 s.
- Video length
- 12 min 55 s
- Time to do it
- 45 minutes
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Steps
- 7
What you need
Steps
Swatch each paint on scrap watercolor paper, one beside the other, so you can see its strength and transparency before mixing.
Mix pairs to find the range: gold plus Venetian red for orange, red plus cobalt blue for violet and brown, and blue plus gold for green.
Lightly sketch the elk, then block in its body with pale washes of gold and Venetian red, leaving the antlers and light areas bare.
Test earth tones by changing the ratio of the three colors on scrap paper, aiming for warm browns and muted olive greens.
Build dark values in the shadows with stronger red and blue mixes, adding layers only after the paper is dry.
Paint a background wash around the elk and use negative painting to shape the antlers by painting the space behind them.
Add final details with a fine liner or opaque white, and stop before the paper starts to pill.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep a scrap sheet beside you and label your best mixes so you can repeat them.
Let each wash dry fully before adding another to avoid muddy edges.
Cobalt blue and Venetian red make browns quickly, so add them a little at a time.
Use clean water for each mix; dirty water dulls the autumn colors.
Questions
Do I need exactly these three paints?
No. A warm yellow, an earthy red, and a cool blue will give a similar limited palette, but the mixed colors will change.
How do I stop the colors turning muddy?
Rinse your brush between mixes, use clean water, and let each layer dry before glazing over it.
What paper should I use?
Use watercolor paper or a watercolor sketchbook, ideally 140 lb or 300 gsm cold press, so the washes can take several layers.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
