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Autumnal Tree Scene

 STAGE BY STAGE

Essential Supplies

The items you will need to complete this scene are as follows:-

Watercolour Paint
 
Burnt Sienna
Yellow Ochre
Raw Umber
Cobalt Blue
Light Red
Ultramarine Blue
 Alizarin Crimson		 Brushes
 
1.5" Wash brush
3/4" Wash brush
No.8 Round
No.3 Rigger

1
Now to make use of the autumnal tree that we have already painted, by putting it into a landscape. As you can see I have done my outline drawing, just a few trees and a little bit of distance. Now I've put on my sky wash which is done in the usual format, loads of water, this time whilst still soaking wet I add a little bit of yellow ochre followed by burnt sienna using my 3/4" wash brush. Whilst this is still wet, add cerulean blue mixed with light red, firstly fairly weak, and then a little bit stronger for the darker cloud coming in from the dark right, and still with my 3/4" wash brush, wash out the brush, squeeze between my fingers and suck out some clouds in the top right hand area. Give it 2 minutes to dry.
Now switching to my No.8 round brush and a well watered mix of cerulean blue and light red, the same colour as in the sky, just add a few daubs in the bottom right of the landscape and there we have some very distant trees.

Now an even lighter version of the same colour still with my No.8 round brush, and there is our distant hillsides.

2

3
Now switching back to my 3/4" wash brush, a little stroke of well watered yellow ochre into the distance areas. You will notice that already we are starting to build up the feeling of autumnal colours.
Now to make use of our trees. For the further away group I'm changing to my rigger brush and a well watered mix of cerulean blue and light red, simply filling in my pencil marks. At this stage you don't need to be too careful about detail, in other words don't paint thousands of trees. Simply draw the outline of the tree, and then for the canopy of twigs using the same colour but changing to my 3/4" wash brush, simply tap on picking up the surface of the paper to give the impression of a canopy of twigs.

4

5
To get this effect, when you are tapping on the paper with the brush, if you make sure the metal of the brush taps on the paper then you can ensure that the full length of the hair is tapping on the paper.

Slightly more detail in the foreground trees, but still using my rigger brush, firstly using yellow ochre to the left-hand side of each tree, then raw umber to the right of the yellow ochre, then a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna to the right of the raw umber so that I have a light mid tone and a dark side. Now rest the full length of the rigger brush on the side of the tree with a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and simply stroke outwards in a flicking motion to get those rough edges at the sides of the trees.

 

 

For the foliage I am again swapping to my 3/4" wash brush and using the same tapping on motion, firstly with yellow ochre, then whilst still wet on top of this with burnt sienna then whilst still wet on top of this a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

Then at the base of the trees using my 3/4" wash brush with the side of the brush, flick upwards to create a little bit of rough growth at the base of the trees.

6

7


Now for foreground. People tend to worry that you have to mess around with lots of detail - quite the reverse. The less you put in, the better it will be. And as you can see here using my 3/4" wash brush I've just stroked across the whole of the bottom area with yellow ochre, fairly light strokes so that I am picking up the surface of the paper and leaving some white sparkly bits showing through.
Now using the same strokes but this time not going across the pathway, using my 3/4" wash brush using raw umber and burnt sienna.

 

 

8

9
Now be brave, and with my No.8 round brush and a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna draw across some shadows.

And that's how to make use of the autumnal tree that you have already painted, simply stick a few more of them in a clump. Next we'll do a winter tree and you can guess what will be coming after that.