Painting has always been considered a relaxing activity, and this is certainly true with watercolours. As your brush sweeps over the paper, it’s impossible not to feel a sense of calm, and that’s what has drawn so many people to the medium. In Paint & Draw: Watercolours, it’s time to take this to the next level and improve your techniques. With tutorials on everything from colour theory to composing interesting scenes, it’s the perfect way to develop your skills while still having fun. Uncover how to create stunning fire effects, make the perfect harbour scene and fill in all of those minute details that will make your art really stand apart from the crowd. But the learning doesn’t stop there – explore how you can take yourself that one step further with ink, gouache, and line and wash. Finally, we reveal how you can mount, photograph and frame your own paintings. The next step of your watercolour journey is just a click away…
Welcome to Paint&Draw WATERCOLOURS
Mastering the basics of watercolours • Robert Brindley RSMA explains how to simplify a watercolour by using a limited palette and interpreting tonal value
Colour theory • Whether you have half an hour or an afternoon to spare, follow these quick, simple and fun tips to start experimenting with your art today!
Tips & techniques • Keep watercolours fresh and loose
Basics • Paint vibrant petals in watercolour
Petals & Foliage • Paint spring foliage using a dry brush watercolour technique
How to convey bright sunlight
Create more interesting compositions
Negative painting in watercolour
Create a sparkling night sky with watercolour
Mix greens from basic pigments for a more natural effect
Combine hard and soft edges for effective watercolour clouds
How to paint shadows in watercolour while maintaining transparency
Paint realistic copper effects
Create texture in watercolour with a plastic credit card
Tips to paint vibrant water • Jennifer Branch shows you the secrets behind painting energised water and realistic reflections in any situation
Simplify painting with a strong composition • Margaret Merry demonstrates how to use watercolour to capture the charm of a summer garden, with its ephemeral light, shade and colour
Working freely in watercolour • Jem Bowden used photos, plus a large helping of artistic licence and traditional techniques, to create a harmonious, impressionistic landscape
Capture spring light in watercolour • A visit to Derbyshire’s Peak District provides Robert Brindley with the chance to paint a rural springtime scene filled with crisp light and colour
Find beauty in a fading flower • Julia Trickey creates a translucent watercolour featuring minute detail
Depict a luminous harbour scene at dusk • Abigail McDougall shares her passion for using the fluidity of watercolour to describe an atmospheric waterscape at sunset
Create stunning fire effects • Olga Sternyk shows how to create the light, warmth and reflection of fire
Capture movement with loose brushstrokes • Alex Egan uses her watercolours with the lightest of touches, as she gives depth to a scene featuring koi carp
Capture light for a harmonious result • Margaret Merry demonstrates how to produce a simple architectural landscape using the clean, vibrant colours that give watercolour its charm
Paint your family in watercolours • Sue Sareen shares her methods for drawing and painting children using watercolour
Create a modern Impressionist scene • Tony Belobrajdic shows how he uses a loose and spontaneous method to paint a lively indoor scene
Simple tips for an English church in line and wash • Using his unique ‘5 C’s of painting’, Robert Newcombe...
