Happy Painting!
Watercolor Painting a Green Tree Watercolor Painting Lesson
Green trees in watercolor painting look so easy until you try painting them the first time!
Painting Lesson Level
Mixing Greens
Glazing Washes
Fixing Mistakes
VividColors
Green trees, huh? Sounds easy. all you have to do is slap on some green paint and you’re there. You look at the forest you’re painting. The only colors you see are green and brown. So you paint the painting green and brown and you end up with a muddy, blotchy mess that has no depth and looks nothing like a forest scene.
First mistake – you may only see green and brown, but there have got to be some other colors in there – red, blue, black are safe bets – and trees generally have yellowish highlights somewhere. Tree trunks are often more gray or purple than brown. So paint these colors, not just greens.
Artist’s Tips
Use lots of texture at the visible edges of the tree. Contours define it as a tree!
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You can’t see the forest if you can’t see the trees. The trick is, not every tree, just a few. Paint in layers, blurring an individual tree in and out of focus, merging it with its neighbors. Use negative painting (outline the object you’re painting with a wash).
Use these only as possibilities – don’t let your imagination have boundaries! Trees vary as much as any landscape, and again in the light. Your green trees are probably completely completely different colors.
If you’re having some trouble mixing greens, this painting lesson YouTube video shows you how!
There are some quick tree studies to get you started too!
Related Art Lessons
Happy Painting!
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How to Draw and Paint Watercolor Folk Art Trees
I posted a photo of these easy watercolor and line trees last year on Instagram and so many of you requested a handout. It took me this long, but I finally created a handout (for this lesson) and a video too!
This is just the perfect type of lesson: easy, technique rich and beautiful. To create this project, give each student a piece of watercolor paper (not essential but the watercolor paint will look more vibrant on watercolor paper than sulphite paper), a black waterproof marker and access to watercolor paints.
The October Freebie pack is chock full of Fall themed lessons, drawing guides, technique tips and video tutorials. Download this handy drawing guide before you get started on your folk art trees:
HOW TO DRAW AND PAINT FOLK ART TREES
Draw tree trunks with a Sharpie or waterproof black marker.
Draw larger trees near the bottom of the paper and smaller trees behind the larger ones OR draw a row of trees like I did in the video.
Draw various lines to create the branches of the trees (refer to handout for ideas).
Use watercolor paints to create a halo of color around the tree branches. If you don’t want the colors of paint to bleed, make sure to allow for space between each halo OR paint a few and then add in more after the first trees dry. This approach takes longer.
If you create this lesson in your art room, I’d love to see it!
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