I Didn’t Sketch This Autumn Landscape… I Let It Happen/Autumn Watercolor Landscape Tutorial, by Dream Painting studio on YouTube. 9 min 45 s.
- Video length
- 9 min 45 s
- Time to do it
- 40 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Tape a sheet of Canson watercolor paper to a board and fill a jar with water. Keep a spray bottle and paper towel nearby.
Spray the paper until the surface looks damp and slightly shiny, with no standing puddles. This wet base lets the colors flow on their own.
Load round brush #7 with yellow, orange and red and touch the paint to the wet paper in loose patches. Let the colors bleed into each other.
Add burnt sienna and a little purple near the bottom for depth. Tilt the board gently and spray again to push the paint sideways.
Sprinkle a few grains of salt onto the damp paint where you want texture. Leave it until the paper is completely dry, then brush the salt away.
Once dry, mix a dark brown or grey and use brush #5 to paint tree trunks and branches into the colored areas.
Paint a soft line of distant trees with a pale wash, keeping them lighter than the foreground so the landscape looks deep.
Switch to the liner brush for thin branches, grass and small details. Let everything dry fully before you peel off the tape.
Tips and common mistakes
Test each color on scrap paper first, because watercolor looks lighter when dry.
Stop touching a wet wash once it starts to blend, or the colors turn muddy.
Only add salt to paint that is damp and shiny, not to a dry or soaking surface.
Keep some paper white for light, since you cannot paint white back in later.
Questions
Do I need to sketch the landscape first?
No. You can start with color and find the scene as you go, then add trees and detail after the first layer dries.
What paper works best for this?
Use cold press watercolor paper such as Canson that can take plenty of water without buckling.
Can I use ordinary table salt?
Yes, plain table salt works. Coarse salt gives bigger marks and fine salt gives small speckles.
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.
