I’m still learning watercolor painting now, but I think I’ll be learning this technique for the rest of my life. I couldn’t sleep last night - maybe because of the bright light from the upcoming full moon - so I painted a small-sized (A/5) autumn picture. Nothing special, just a rusty fence with some wild grape leaves and berries, based on a photo I took during the day. I could barely stop, the colors, shapes and textures were so captivating. By the way, texture! I also collect textures on my daily exploration tour, all I need is a cell phone. I keep the most beautiful pictures and collect them in a separate album, organized. That way I can pick it up at any time. If I don’t seem to have any more inspiration, my photos will help.
Realistic representation requires a lot of attention and patience. You have to go from layer to layer, line to line, often you have to paint quickly if you need it on a wet surface, other times you have to wait for it to dry or dry it with a hair dryer.
I’ll show you in a few steps how I went about painting.
I sketched some lines of the fence and leaves, then added a pale yellow base. Then began to fill the background with dark tones.
I strenghtened the contours:
Forming the horizontal part of the fence, with dots:
Berries, leaves and the rusty fence with paint chips
More details
The original image is an uncharacteristic photo from which I tend to delete hundreds from my phone. This also fulfilled its mission! I set the seemingly sloping irons of the fence parallel and vertical, and washed the background behind the fence. I only drew a few leaves and berries so as not to confuse the picture.
Final touches:
I added some white gel pen lines to highlight the edges and veins of leaves: