This painting’s composition has three main elements: the sailboat, the house and the dinghy. The composition holds the viewer’s interest because it has no elements placed directly in the center. This makes the composition seem random, though the placement of elements is actually well planned.
Draw, trace or transfer the image onto watercolor paper.
Wet the sky and any other area that you want to be blue with clear water and a 3-inch (76mm) hake brush. Add Prussian Blue to the wet areas with a 1-inch (25mm) flat. Paint the building, boat and dinghy’s shadow areas with no. 6 and no. 10 round brushes and Prussian Blue. The paint will spread to any area where the paper is wet, so don’t wet any area you don’t want to be blue.
Paint the shoreline with Yellow Ochre and Brown Madder and a no. 10 round. Add the trees with mixtures of Yellow Ochre, Brown Madder, Hooker’s Green and Prussian Blue.
Paint the water with Prussian Blue and a no. 10 round. Use a wet-on-dry technique and work quickly. Keep the edges active. Don’t let the edge of a stroke dry before adding more paint and continuing to cover the water area. Start at the upper left, painting around the boat first. Then paint around the dinghy. Switch to a large bamboo brush and work across the picture from top to bottom. The point where you started painting the water probably will have started to dry, leaving a hard edge. In this part of the painting process, that’s OK. It will look like wake from the sailboat, a little detail that indicates movement and makes the painting more interesting. If you accept watercolors for the way they behave, you’ll come to appreciate the effects they produce and the creativity they allow.
Paint the building and the roof with a no. 6 round and a mixture of Brown Madder and Prussian Blue, leaving the trim white.
Paint shadows in the trees and on the shore with a no. 10 round and mixtures of Prussian Blue, Brown Madder, Hooker’s Green and Yellow Ochre. Indicate tree trunks with negative painting using a darker mixture than the trees in step 3.
EASY GOING
watercolor on 140-lb. (300gsm) cold-pressed watercolor paper
10" × 8" (25cm × 20cm)
Paint the waves with a no. 10 round and a mixture of Prussian Blue and Brown Madder. Start with small horizontal lines at the shore and use progressively longer, more spread out strokes as you get closer to the bottom of the picture.
Paint the windows on the building and boat with a no. 2 round and Prussian Blue. Emphasize the shadow and add some accents to the roof with Brown Madder and the same brush. Add some accents to the dinghy. Add accents to the sailboat and sail with Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre and Brown Madder, using a straight edge and a no. 2 round to paint the straight lines. Paint the curved lines on the hull with a fluid motion by moving your arm at the elbow rather than at the wrist or fingers. Add some vague shadows on the sail with a light value of Prussian Blue to indicate some wind. Sign and date the painting and you’re done!