Watercolour and Acrylics

Free watercolor art lesson

Step 7.

Almost a repeat of the previous step, another pale wash of French Ultramarine was applied, again saving the lights by blotting. However this time the walls of the ghats in the foreground were darkened more than in the previous steps. I let some of this wash bleed into the river, all the time blotting furiously to save the figures.

Step 8.

By this time I have made up my mind-the foreground ghats are going to be the darkest part of the work. Now it is time to begin to darken them but first I 'warm' them by applying a pale wash of Raw Sienna. This immediately makes the background buildings recede.

Step 9.

When the paper was almost dry, I darkened the foreground ghats by applying a wash of French Ultramarine. Again this wash bleeds into the river area and I have to save the figures by blotting.

Step 10.

The masking fluid on the figure of the tourist was removed. The process of darkening the foreground ghats continues. On drying, they received a wash of Burnt Sienna. Burnt Sienna over French Ultramarine not only darkens but also warms and varies the blue 'look' that has dominated so far. As before the color goes into river area and I blot out not only the figures but also some areas in the river to give an impression of reflections.

Step 11.

Now it's time to distinguish the areas within the foreground ghats. A wash of French Ultramarine tinged with a little Burnt Sienna is used to cover left side of the foreground ghats, with the wash getting darker towards the bottom. The dark wash at the bottom is again allowed to run to the bottom of the paper. Saving the figures by blotting has become very difficult and the edges of most of the figures are lost. I am confident that can be corrected in next few steps. Reflections are again lifted out using tissue paper.

Step 12.

After the paper is dry , I stand back and have a long look at the work. How are the things going? Do the values(tones) seem correct? What about the colors? Are they too pale? Several such doubts arise, many in an inarticulate way. Sometimes something seems not right but I cannot fathom what. This time I decide that foreground ghats are adequately dark but I am willing to risk another French Ultramarine wash to darken them just a little more. It's a risk now as after so many washes the chance of muddying the colors and therefore destroying the painting is great. But what the heck! I go ahead and risk it- on balance I would like to be as satisfied with my work as possible(100% satisfaction is never guaranteed except at the quack's who is selling cure to baldness!).

All this while

And all this while, from step 8 to step 12, I have been tinkering with the far buildings and the sky and the far bank of the river- minor playing around to get the right effect, while the major emphasis has been on the foreground elements.

Step 13 - Finishing the work, at last!

Progress, if one may call it that, so far has taken me about 4-5 days. Not that I have labored long, assiduous hours- I am too lazy for that- but that I have worked intermittently with several long breaks. At this point I was forced to take another long break of a few a days. When I got back to the painting, I kept looking at it for a few minutes thinking I don't know what. Then suddenly I knew that if I didn't finish it then in one go I wouldn't be able to finish it at all. So this next last step was one continuous session of a few hours without any break. I was thus unable(or unwilling) to pause to take any photos at any time in between. So I will describe what I did and refer to details of the final painting given here. For the final work go to the top of this page.

The figures had lost their edges. These were now established by lifting out color with a moist brush and then lightly outlined with a 4B pencil. The figures were then worked in with a combination of Yellow, Raw Sienna, French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and a little Scarlet Lake. I keep the figures understated and somewhat indistinct, not only as a metaphor but also because they are in the shadows.(See detail 1 below)

Chinese White was used to paint a band of white on the lower part of the walls.(See detail 2 below)

A mixture of French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna was used to accentuate some darks and give an impression of a relief pattern at the top edges of the walls and at some places below.(See detail 3 below)

The water was darkened with a mixture of French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna and the drawing board tilted almost vertically to make the washes run down and give a 'watery' impression. The reflections were blotted out and some were later lifted out with a moist brush. (See detail 4 below)

And now for the kill!- I work in the details of the tourist and her bag using French Ultramarine, Scarlet Lake, Yellow, Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna.(See detail 5 below)

And voilà, we are done! See the result.

If I have been a good boy (and artist) everything should fall in place and hold together as a whole.

If you have any questions or anything to say about this tutorial, do please let me know. All comments are welcome, and your honest opinion will help me make this page better.

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