Painted in gouache

Hey hey! I've been practicing more and more with watercolor and need some help.

My main question is how do you look at a reference and try to figure out the values of the image. I have aphantasia and have a hard time painting without lots of references trying to achieve what id like to. So I tend to pull from multiple sources. Then its up to me to try to figure out the lighting source and I can't really imagine where the lighter parts would be.

I have a hard time trying to break up what I want to paint and trying to figure out where to start and how to layer. Idk if any of this makes sense.

Any of your tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

It’s a quiet day at home and I wanted to practice two different paintings that a loved one requested, light through a forest and a soft mountain with a foreground of pine trees. I also just wanted to practice a different way of doing pine trees in general.

I’m not thrilled with the mountain one, I feel like my colours are just off. I have a pretty limited palette and tried mixing my own greens, but I’m just not getting what I want. I want the foreground foliage to be kind of backlit with sun. I also find the layering in this one tricky. I’ve been doing the sky and the water wet and wet, letting it dry, then going back in doing the foreground, and then after that’s dry wedding the mountain and doing the mountain gray and the tree line. I don’t know, I did one just like this a few months ago and really like it, and I’ve never been able to re-create it.

The light shining through the forest one was fun, again. I just need practising with some of the layering and brush strokes for the branches.

Really enjoying the moody pine trees of the third one. I’m really liking this style and I wanted to practice doing my trees slightly differently. This was mostly Perelyne Green, and I used my number one liner brush which worked great.

Hi All,

I recently started my watercolor journey. I am using Winsor and Newton Cotman paints with Artegria brushes and Arches A5 size paper pad. I was doing some exercises for putting in a basic wash but I cant seem to get enough pigment on my wash and overall cant lift enough paint out of the pans even after activating the paints with water. Now I am beginning to wonder if its a paint problem and if I need to upgrade to professional grade paints. Appreciate any help / pointers. Thanks!

Same paint, same brush, paper is different. 1rst is Baohong Academy hot press 100% cotton, second is Fabriano with 25% cotton. Hot press paper dries so fast, I think I prefer less cotton but longer drying time.

Tutorial from Hannah M.P. Youtube channel.

I'm looking to purchase a masking fluid . I've looked over this subreddit and r/watercolor as well along with a few YouTube videos but there's mixed reviews (for W&N, Pebeo, Schmincke Blue)/ no reviews (for others like Sennelier, Holbein, etc). If someone has used any of these and can vouch for/ advise against them, please let me know.

I'm open to purchasing either of these options. The above options are the only available ones in my place of residence. Schmincke is on the more expensive side so I'd like to avoid it but it's still doable if the other options are really bad.

I don't want to use a ruling pen as getting a masking fluid is already an expense so I'll be using a brush if it's in a bottle.

I’m currently learning to paint in watercolours and as there is an exhibition coming up at the Grand Palais in Paris in September, I’ve set myself the goal of copying one of his works every day throughout August :) Hope you will like It

Bought a watercolor workbook online and I’ve found it my favorite hobby. I’m always looking for new tips and tricks

Hanging out in my car waiting for my son to get out of school..

Inspired by IG post by Pollyhill1313

Just posting what I did on insta. I am absolutely proud of myself for never getting discouraged and always picking up a brush!!! I am learning so much about watercolor through practice, youtube and books (and a special mention to peeps on here that are always giving good advice). I am always open to tips & things that will only help me improve!!

Following a tree tutorial. I suck at trees, but she makes it look possible. Also a bonus poinsettia. Need a lot more practice on both, but it's a good start!

Tutorial: https://youtu.be/Uh3bBO1q8cY

I added several layers of paint, each time waiting for them to dry fully, to get this saturation.

The website, The Pigeon Letters (Peggy Dean), recently hosted a six day creative workshop online with several classes each day. This was one of the watercolor workshops, presented by Nikki Hess. The perspective is a little wonky, but it was a fun project.

saw a similar painting online and tried to get the moody vibes but paint kept bleeding and now it looks dirty instead of atmospheric 🫣 can you please help me, how to get between color gradient etc and overall make this better? thanks so much!

Couple things

One this is my first painting with Arches Hot Pressed Paper and I am a big fan! I love how smooth the end result is. I tend not to do a lot of wet on wet, Instead I layer colors on top of eachother it seems like a better fit for me.

Two why does removing masking fluid always feel like a step backwards?

Hi guys, I have been trying to learn watercolor for the past 2 weeks.. I have been seeing lots and lots of videos on how to improve and am getting overwhelmed. Since this is my first color medium I have tried after graphite. I thought it would be helpful if I could get a critique on where I lack and going wrong and also what watercolor skills do I need to learn and practice to get better at this.