Winter Landscapes

There's something magical about winter.  The soft calm that follows gentle-falling snowflakes on their silent ride down to earth.  The fluffy blanket of white on an undisturbed landscape that feels so cozy even when your nose hairs are freezing...
Besides all the cold, running noses and frozen toes, winter makes me feel safe, tucked up in bed with a hot chocolate and a good book... like a sketchbook...!

Even though I no longer live in an area that has winter's like I remember growing up, it still makes me smile and sigh in serenity.

I love winter!

More than any other time of year, winter just makes me feel like a kid again.  I never suffer from cabin fever during this time.  You can most often find me wondering about outside stuffed inside layers of warm clothing and coats.  Because as soon as my feet start to numb, I know it's time to head inside and get something warm to drink.

Anyway, it's a good time of year to do artwork.


From Sketch to Painting

I always like to start off with a sketch.  It helps me tackle composition, contrast and light direction.  While sketching, it even helps with choosing colors. My go-to pencil is either a B or 2B, a kneedable eraser and another good eraser with harder edges.  It can be an electric eraser or a prismacolor magic rub.  Whichever you fancy.

After determining paper size for the watercolor (I chose my 7"x11" Saunder's Waterford watercolor paper), to sketch out my drawing very lightly.  It's not a critical issue if you have pencil marks, but if you personally find them annoying, sketch lightly!

Colors used:
Quinachridone Red
Yellow Ochre
Hooker's Green
French Ultramarine

Note with yellows: Be aware that there is something about using yellows over pencil marks that makes it extremely and near impossible to erase once you've let your paint dry.  Just an FYI! 

Step One:
I usually always begin my landscapes with the sky.  Wetting the paper first with clear water, I drop in my colors, making sure to leave areas of white (lifted off with a paper towel or kleenix).

Step Two:
While my paper is still wet, I drop in a mix of Hooker's Green and F. Ultra for evergreens and let the paint spread softly outwards.  This gives my evergreens some fluff.   I make sure my evergreens don't go below my fence line!

Step Three:
When my evergreens are dry, I paint in my fence with a mix of Quin. Red, Yellow Ochre and F. Ultra.  When that dried, I painted in the evergreen mix between the fence.

Step Four:
Next, the barn.  With a semi-dry brush, paint in the red (I used my fence color, but added in more Quin. Red), leaving areas of white.  The dark, almost black color, came from mixing all the colors listed above, and painted in my doors and windows.

Note about black: Now, I've read that most watercolor artists don't use the pre-mixed black in the tube, preferring to mix their own.  It's totally up you.  It does save space in your palette, however.  As for me, it gives some life to the darker areas, instead of just a flat wash of black.

Step Six:
Trees were added to the right of the barn, details to the barn itself, and some shadows on the foreground rounded everything off.

Step Seven:
After everything was completely dry, I added a wash of quin red and yellow ochre to the whole thing.  It gave it a nice glow reminiscent of morning or evening.

And Finally:
When that dried, I speckled some white gouache for falling snowflakes.

Just a random thought to end on,

It's a lonely beauty
to be a quiet soul
with a mysterious smile
when the snow starts to fall

Continue following Rebecca's artistic adventures on any of these sites:
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And for a selection of photography and watercolor prints, visit her website Rebecca Davis