Painting a simple watercolour with Tony Paul

Equipment

Bockingford 140lb watercolour paper

Size 1 ABS Kolinsky flat

Size 3 ABS Kolinsky round

Size 12 ABS Kolinsky round

2B pencil

This article was originally published in the October 2000 issue of Leisure Painter

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Colours

Permanent rose

Indian red

Gamboge

Vermilion

Ultramarine

A sunset over Poole Harbour is demonstrated by Tony Paul in six easy-to-follow stages

More than any other medium watercolour needs to be planned meticulously. Things need to be done in a certain order with a fair bit of pre-mixing of washes. Then, having applied the washes, waiting for them to dry, while resisting the urge to fiddle with them.

The subject of the watercolour is a sunset over Poole Harbour in Dorset. You can see from the photo that the colours are subtle and rather beautiful. The sky colours are laid on as separate washes, wet-on-dry, rather than being mixed and then applied. When mixed into one another, transparent colours often have a muddy character, while the same colours laid wet-on-dry over one another achieve the target colour but with a cleaner, brighter hue.

I took an 11 x 15in (28 x 38cm) sheet of Bockingford 140lb watercolour paper and clipped it to my board, before setting it on my sketching easel at an angle of approximately 30 degrees.

Limited palette

Looking at the subject I felt that I could use a fairly limited palette so decided to squeeze the colours from the tubes and mix them as I needed them. The brushes I used were a 1” ABS Kolinsky one stroke flat, a size 12 and a size 3 ABS Kolinsky round.

I first established an approximate size within the paper for the painting and outlined it softly with a 2B pencil. I established the horizon with a line drawn parallel to the paper’s edge and placed the sun in the sky, taking care not to make it too large. This is all the drawing I felt was necessary. However, if you prefer to make a more comprehensive drawing at this stage, that is fine.

Squeezing out a blob of permanent rose into a well in my watercolour box, I diluted it with water using the one stroke brush, making sure that there were no undissolved lumps of paint clinging to the hairs, since a dense streak of undiluted colour in the middle of a soft wash is undesirable.

Reference photo - Poole Harbour at sunset

With a loaded brush I began a fairly fluid, flat wash. This was applied quickly, making the paint slightly stronger at the horizon line.

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When the permanent rose wash was dry, I brushed on a graduated wash of orange, made from gamboge hue and vermilion hue – both transparent colours. This was applied fairly strongly at the top, fading in intensity towards the horizon of the painting. I then added a further band of colour at the bottom of the painting and faded this up towards the horizon.

When the washes were dry I masked out the sun and its reflections with masking fluid which I applied with an old nylon brush. Don’t use your best sables for this as it’ll ruin them! This was allowed to dry completely and the painting was turned upside down before a further wash of ultramarine was applied in a graduated wash. I made this wash strongest just above the horizon and faded it towards the top of the painting.

Once dry I turned the painting the right way up and, leaving a narrow band of undercolour exposed, I put in another graduated wash just below the horizon, which I faded towards the bottom of the painting. As it dried, I gently softened the wash’s upper edge with a barely damp size 3 sable.

When the washes were dry I rubbed off the masking fluid with my finger to reveal the sun and its reflections. I diffused the edges of these with a pencil rubber and then, using the size 3 sable, painted in the line of buildings on the horizon with a mix of ultramarine and permanent rose. With a weak blend of ultramarine and Indian red I put in the horizon. Don’t make these too dark or they will jump forwards, out of plane. I was also careful not to space them too regularly – more in clumps, as in the photo.

Taking the size 12 sable I quickly blocked in the dark foreground areas, making the wash darker in tone as it came forward. I was careful to create the ragged saltmarsh grass edges and the gently lapping ripples on the water.

Only five colours were used in all, which has helped give a unity to the painting. Have a go at the painting and see how you get on.