Painting Trees in Watercolor

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So What's Your Favorite Tree.

The One You Climbed As A Kid

Trees are not as difficult to paint as they are to climb.
I can paint them but don't climb them.

SO PAINTING TREES COMES DOWN TO THIS:

Although trees are made up of many parts and endless textures don't let them become overwhelming, you cannot fall out of these painted trees.

I know you can paint good looking trees with a little help.
So lets see how you are going to do this without getting bent out of shape, irritated or what-ever you do when those Green Balls on sticks appear.......been there...done that.

This site will show you how.     Are you READY, pull up your chair and let's go.

Painting Trees In Watercolor

PAINTING OAKS IN WATERCOLOR

Painting Oaks in Watercolor. Imagine you are standing in front of a tree, how about an Oak Tree.

Now look at the silhouette and the general shape, this is most important when Painting Oaks in Watercolor. Viewers of your painting will know this artist has painted an oak tree,.....not a Fir tree.....not a Weeping Willow. This is Watercolor Painting of an Oak Tree.

Maybe in the past you painted a Green Lollipop on a stick. For you this is coming to an end. Do these things: 1 - Start seeing trees instead of just looking at them. 2 - Don't take them for granted. 3 - Stop and smell the roses.

Do this and your Painting Oaks In Watercolor will improve, you can't paint what you have not seen. You are going to paint. Get the paints out. Mix 4 puddles about 1.1/2" dia. of Yellow, Green, Blue and Burnt Sienna paint. Always mix ample for any project you may do. Never, never run out of mixed paint. Your tree is going to be 6" x 6" , draw 4 or 5 clumps of foliage don't let them touch one another, note: no trunk yet.

Use 1/2" flat brush, paint one clump at a time. Start with Yellow, brush should be fairly dry, not dripping wet. Stop, maybe you should add some more color to the puddles, they all look too weak, too much water. Now that you have fixed it - that's better. No more wishy-washy Painting Oaks in watercolor. This is a very common error and problem, too much water

Hold the brush in the palm of your hand horizontal to the paper. Push the brush away from your body with a low scrubbing action, you are painting the top edge of the first clump producing texture.

Start with Yellow paint - don't let it dry, now quickly add the other colors. Leave gaps in the foliage for the birds to fly through. In other words don't paint a solid mass of green foliage, look at the above two clumps painted.

We are now ready for the wooden parts of the tree (trunks, limbs etc.).

Mix up some greyish color, my favorite is Phthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson.

Notice I am using Alizarin Crimson Permanent PR206.  Alizarin Crimson PR 83 is a very bad fugitive pigment, don't ever use it in painting.  

You don't have to take my word for this look at Winsor Newtons color chart and you will see something strange They have two Alizarin Crimsons, they are not the only manufacturers that have two by any means.

Strange.......not really, they know the uneducated people buy and demand PR 83, the bad stuff. They also know the educated buy the good stuff, they call that in their catalogue Permanent Alizarin Crimson.

You demand the bad stuff - they supply it, they call that marketing.

If all the above is "news" to you, and you are really serious about painting in watercolor you should go directly to my Watercolor Club. You will thank me.

You will understand colors completely back to front. Maybe some of the colors you are using is not the very best choice. If you can make educated decisions on colors you may save a great deal of money.

You for sure will paint cleaner, brighter, more vibrant, glowing paintings than ever before. It's all there in the Watercolor Club.

Now with a liner (rigger, or script) brush, number 6 or 8, hold the brush , tip pointing toward your body, spread the hairs by pushing down then starting at the base of the trunk push the brush upward and away from you.

It would help to shake and wiggle the brush as you go upwards, I do this really well, something to do with getting old. You're trying to avoid a straight and vertical trunk.

Please don't forget the trunk width decreases as it goes skyward. Now put in the limbs and branches through the bird holes and gaps in the foliage. Don't paint limbs and branches across the foliage.

Now if you want to put in some details, bushes and fences, do so by all means.

You might not get it right the first time. The more you practice the better you become Painting Oaks In Watercolor..... isn't that strange.

I'm always asked "why and how " I paint trees fast. This is the "why" part, if you paint trees really slow it will look very contrived not in the least bit natural. This is the "how " part, I purchase several tree posters and copied and studied them many times over. Trust me you can't go wrong, it will work.

A viewer looking at a forest that I had painted remarked "I can feel the trees". I'm not sure how he managed that. I never asked, all I thought was thank-you posters. Keep painting, Painting Oaks In Watercolor

WATERCOLOR PAINTING FIR TREES

So lets tackle a Watercolor Painting Fir Trees.

WATECOLOR PAINTING-FIR-TREES

Mix up some dark greenish paint.  Take up a number 6 or 8 liner (rigger) and load it with fairly thick paint (not too much water).

The four key ingredients for painting a good looking fir tree are.............

1)   -   Start at the very top of the tree, make a short vertical thin brush stroke downward.  This will be the very start of the trunk although not very much will be visible in the finished painting.

2)   -    Place the brush on the lline then flick the brush outward and upward.  Just like you were brushing crumbs with the back of your hand.

3)    -    Repeat this procedure in a vertical manner all the way down the trunk of the tree.  Leaving some gaps showing the vertical trunk.

4)    -    If you mess-up, place another one close by join the two.

Watercolor-Painting-Fir-Trees.

Here's the real secret of painting these fir trees.  The brush must be damp with the paint not wet and when you flick it you will get a lot of texture.  You can see by adding more water you can get distance into some far trees.

PAINTING TREES WITH A STENCIL

Are you ready for another way to paint a tree?  Painting Trees with a Stencil.

Any species will work with this idea of Painting Trees with a Stencil.

But before we get into that idea, here are some things to think about.

The biggest mistake in painting trees in watercolor are:...........

1)   -   Trying to paint individual leaves.

2)   -   Painting leaves with a sponge.

3)   -   Hard painted edges, correct way texture on the edges.

4)   -   All one color (Green Lollipops).

5)   -   Trees painted flat, correct way three dimensional.

6)   -   Painting branches and limbs on top of foliage.

You won't do any of the above will you?

Why should you when you can paint great looking trees this fun way.  Painting Trees with a Stencil.

ARE YOU READY?

Go back to your kindergarten days and cut out a stencil in the form of a clump of foliage, you don't need to mess with the trunk, just foliage.

Mix up Yello, Green, Blue and burnt sienna, that will be 4 puddles of paint.  You need a number 12 round brush and a flat brush.

Place the stencil on the surface to be painted (let's see it had better be 140 lb. paper cold press, 100% cotton or rag).

Now take the number 12 brush loaded with paint, now with the other hand point an index finger, like you were pointing at somebody, now replace the pointed finger with flat handled brush.

Now tap number 12 brush (the one with the paint on it) onto the handle of the flat brush making dots of paint.

Stay in one area of the foliage until 25% to 40% of the paper is covered.  The dots must remain wet naturally you have changed the color several times,they must remain wet.

With a spray bottle, an old Windex spray bottle works fine.  They do manufacture special water spray bottles for this purpose.  The spray must produce droplets (spritzes) of water only, it must not spray mist, you must have droplets onto the paint.

You need to hold the nozzle of the spray bottle close within an inch of the colored dots and gently turn them into leaves, spraying very carefully.

Below is an example of the stencil removed.

It may seem a bit complicated with all the do's and don'ts, it will become second nature afte you try a few.  Painting Trees with a Stencil is fun and looks good.

Just follow the instructions regarding the trunk and limbs.

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