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My Weekend Creative Project: Painting Watercolor Sunsets
The other day as I was on Google looking for inspiration and ideas of watercolor art, I stumbled upon this interesting class on Skillshare: Learn to Paint 10 Easy Watercolor Sunsets. I was immediately intrigued and I clicked on the link.
I started watching the introduction and class project overview. I was hooked and I wanted to get started right away. I pulled out all my watercolor supplies and started to paint along with the instructor, Zaneena Nabeel as she went through each lesson.
I really appreciated Zaneena’s teaching style. Each sunset lesson was about 10 minutes long. In each lesson, she showed the sunset style that we would be painting, she went over the paint colors that we would need and suggested alternative colors in case you didn’t have the exact ones she was using. She then proceeded to teach how to paint the background, allow it time to dry and then get into painting the details. The structure was the same for each sunset painting, which made it easy to follow.
I thought I would be done painting in half a day, but it took me a lot longer and I spent the whole day on a Saturday painting each sunset until I completed all 10.
But I’m glad I dedicated the time to this project as it was very satisfying and I love looking at the final outcome of each sunset.
The three new techniques I learned from this class are:
- It is possible to paint nice artwork on a small canvas. For this class, I cut down my watercolor paper to 4.5 inches x 4.5 inches. This way it is easy to finish a project within a short period of time and you feel like you accomplished something!
- Paint the background first, let it completely dry before painting in the details.
- Use a dry brush to add the sun reflection in the water.
After taking this class, I feel more confident in painting sunsets and I’m inspired to continue down the path of painting landscapes.
If you are interested in taking this class, sign up here (if you are new to Skillshare, you’ll get 1 month free).
Sunrise, Sunset
An endless source of inspiration for poets, painters, and romantics of all stripes, sunrises and sunsets have known positive psychological effects on observers. The six paintings showcased here provide a welcome excuse to hit the pause button on our day and relish the sun’s glorious effects as it rises or descends over the landscape.
“I painted Alliance, Early Morning (watercolor, 10 x 14 in.) on a boat at anchor with my back to the sunrise,” says Poppy Balser. “I was attracted to this boat that caught and reflected the brilliant warm light of the rising sun, which was sliding in under a layer of clouds. The clouds made a dark and dramatic background, shading the distant hills and further emphasizing the sense of light on the boat and shoreline.”
Balser painted We Set Out at Dawn (watercolor, 7 x 11 in.) on her boat as she was crossing the Bay of Fundy. “Another sailboat was making the crossing with us. We set out before the sun came up to catch a push out of the harbor from the falling tide. As the sun came up, it reflected brightly off the sail of the other boat and it gave the mist and fog on the water ahead of us a warm glow. This was a very quickly executed sketch so that I could capture the look of the light before it changed (as it does so rapidly in the early hours).”
“Made to catch herring, this weir includes 30-foot-plus sheets of netting, which are mostly under water at high tide,” says Balser. “I like painting weirs because the sheer netting and poles offer intriguing compositions. The building of weirs is also a vanishing practice, and I want to document them while I still can. I painted Sunset Glow at the Weir (watercolor, 12 x 16 in.) at low tide during the 2019 Parrsboro International Plein Air Festival, where it received the Best in Show award.”
Sunrise, Sunset Watercolor Paintings by Catherine Hillis
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- watercolor
- watercolor landscape
- watercolor painting
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