Mar 27, 20212 min read

Creative Art - Watercolour Painting

Updated: Jan 27, 2023

Gary Dutton—Creative Skills Tutor, Adult Skills & Community Learning 

"Learning to paint with watercolour can be fun let's have a look at some different projects to get going. These have been kindly shared by Gary Dutton Art Tutor from the classes attended in learning to paint" - Debbie

Painting A Pear - Layers of texture

Here’s a simple watercolour picture for you to attempt.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy doing this as it involves using different techniques other than simple flat washes.

As with all watercolour, make sure your washes are watering and flow easily over the paper. Don’t try putting the paint on too thickly, but build the dark tones up gradually in layers. 

As well as incorporating ’lifting out’, this painting also involves applying paint with a sponge and stippling with the tip of your brush to add texture to the subject. 

But remember that these techniques will also add tonal value, so don’t let your painting get too dark before using these techniques – you could use the sponge to apply the mid-tone and the stippling could add the darker areas.

If you don’t have the colours mentioned in the handout, simply improvise. 

Tone is more important than colour after all. Anyway the main thing is to enjoy yourself. 

Please see examples in attached  link

Heathers Creative Work

Here is a lovely example of the pear painting created by Heather.

Painting Glass Objects

Clear glass takes on the colours of objects surrounding it. When painting glass vases, bottles or other reflective objects in a still life, always indicate the background colour first, being careful to record any distortions of shape reflected in the object. The glass object can then be painted over the background.

Check the instructions and enjoy being creative link

Debbie's Creative Corner

In lockdown this gave me the opportunity to learn more about watercolor techniques for painting here are some of the pictures created during this time.

A year ago this was still a fairly new medium to me I started by learning to mix colours and paint simple background patterns before moving onto more detailed pictures.

It's all about having a go, giving yourself permission to learn and enjoy the journey looking back at how far you have come and in learning new skills and techniques.