Simple Landscape, watercolour, 4x5in (10x12.5cm)

Follow this step-by-step tutorial and learn how to paint a simple watercolour landscape, including advice on watercolour mixing.

You will need

• Bockingford NOT paper, 140lb on a block (already stretched) or watercolour pad (not stretched)
• Brushes: square 1/2in, rounds nos 8 and 4, nylon rigger no 1
• Plus: 4B pencil, putty rubber, sharpener, palette, kitchen paper, ruler, jam jar with water, small water container for painting, small wooden block or glasses case
• Paints: permanent yellow lemon, ultramarine deep, light red

Here are the mixes you’ll need to make for the demonstration. Always use the No. 8 round to mix paint (not your smaller brushes). Below is the layout of the palette with the mixes shown.



Sky - ultramarine

Fence posts - ultramarine + light red = brown

Hill - Take out a couple of brushfuls of ultramarine from the sky mix and dilute with water. Add a little light red to make purple. Test your colour on scrap paper.

Foliage green

• Squeeze out a pea size amount of permanent yellow and put four brushfuls of water into the well next to it
• Mix some of the yellow into this then add a small amount of neat ultramarine to make green
• Using the tip of your brush, add a little light red
• Test the green on scrap paper
• Stir and take out one brushful into an adjoining slant well and darken it by adding more neat ultramarine and light red. This will be your darker green

Top Tip - Make sure you mix all the colours before you start painting the image.

Simple watercolour landscape tutorial

Step 1

Using a ruler, draw a small area that measures 4x5in (10x12.5cm) on a large sheet of paper. Draw the simple image. If this is your first attempt at drawing, just have a go and, as long as it's approximately what you see here, it'll be fine. Draw lightly and if you need to rub out, bounce the putty rubber onto the paper rather than scrubbing it, as scrubbing will damage the surface of the paper.

Step 2

With the pad of paper flat on the surface, wet the sky area down to the ground below the fence with clean water. Paint the sky with ultramarine. Leave to dry.

Step 3

Prop the pad up on a block. Stir the weak purple/blue mix and paint the hill. Leave to dry.

If you're new to watercolour, don't stop here! Explore our other beginner-friendly guides to learn all you need to progress and develop your watercolour skills.

Step 4

Take the No. 8 round brush and stir the lighter green. Take excess paint off on the side of the well and paint the grass using the side of the brush in more or less horizontal strokes.

Step 5

Take up the brown fence post mix with the square 1⁄2in brush and paint the posts. Leave to dry. Add the barbed wire with the same mix and the rigger.

Step 6

Use the same mix and the rigger to paint the birds.

Step 7

Use the darker green mix and the rigger to paint the small grasses at the bottom of the posts.

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