Cardiff Bay | Artist

Cardiff Bay, South Wales.

I have developed below a simple step-by-step demonstration based on my painting shown in the watercolour section of this web page. These are free and you may print them off if you wish.

I suggest you read all the instructions before attempting the watercolour painting to familiarise yourself with each instruction, because watercolour painting is all about timing (If you see a clock face image; timing is essential here)

Click on the image for enlarged picture.

Where you see the clock symbol, read the instructions carefully, it’s all about the time?

Good luck with your painting and I hope these inspire you ?

Suggested colours and materials

Suggested colours, as follows:

To produce this watercolour painting I have used the following colours: - : Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine, Colbolt blue, Burnt sienna, burnt umber, Cerulean , Cadmium orange, Alizarin crimson, yellow ochre.

To enable the artist to retain the white of the paper, we use the method of masking out. I used a ruling pen and masking fluid.

Sketch the painting

Step 1

Sketch the image onto watercolour paper. Mask out the white areas, with masking fluid. Leave to dry.(See image)

Step 3

The distance hills and buildings are painted with a mix of Ultramarine, burnt umber and Alizarin. Leave to dry.

Step 5

Next are the fronts of the café, shops and carousel. These are painted into two stages, blocks of colours firs,t then add the detail once the paint is dry. The colours use is Yellow ochre, Lemon yellow and Burnt sienna. Think of basic shapes, not detail at this time. (See image) Leave to dry.

Step 7

The harbour wall is painted with a small flat brush, using combinations of Ultramarine, Burnt umber with touches of Burnt sienna. Leave to dry (see image)

Step 9

Add shadows to the boats, using Ultramarine and Alizarin crimson. (See image)

Step 11

Finally we are going to paint the boats. Using colours Burnt umber, yellow ochre and ultramarine.

Brushes

Suggested brushes:

To produce this watercolour painting I used the following watercolour brushes: Medium flat brush, small flat brush, small detail brush and small round brush.

Step 2

Wet the sky area with clean water, leave to go slightly damp then add Cerulean blue, Alizarin crimson to the sky and then add the clouds with a mix of , Alizarin crimson , Burnt umber and Ultramarine. Timing here is important to get the colours to merge together. Please see the image for further details. Leave to dry.

Step 4

Now we are going to paint the Pier head building. For this we are going to use a small detail brush with combinations of Burnt sienna, Alizarin and Yellow ochre. The roof of the building is painted also with a small detail brush but using the colours Ultramarine, Alizarin with a touch of Burnt sienna. This colour can also be used for the windows and the door. Leave to dry (see image)

Step 6

Once the under colours have dried, we are going to add some of the detail, using the same colours before but also I used Cadmium orange the vertical lights and colbolt for the blue horaizon light. (See image) Leave to dry.

Step 8

The water is painted by wetting the paper first, then add the colours you have used in the building and the sky to produce colour reflections. Use a large flat brush and down wards movement to create the water pattern. (See image) - (In my painting, the water has been over worked and I feel a light too light for an evening setting – learning curve, not to fiddle when the paint is drying)

Step 10

Once all the paint is dry you can now rub off all the masking fluid. Then using a mix of Ultramarine and Burnt umber paint in all the lamp post.

Using a damp brush rub around the lights, then dab off with a clean tissue, add Lemon yellow to each of the lights and also the clock face on the Pier head building.

Step 12

Your painting is now finished, I hope you have enjoyed this exercise and can use some of the techniques in other paintings?