Hi it's Anna Mason.
In this watercolour tip video I wanted so show you how I created a vibrant Autumn leaf.
It's rich dark reds, browns and yellows sit alongside one another without muddying and
mixing into each other.
I worked from a reference photo and began with a drawing marking in the most prominent veins.
Then my first stage of painting was to paint a pale version of the pinky red vein colour
to the thickest veins, so that I wouldn't accidentally paint over these.
The key way to stop colours bleeding into one another is to make sure that each colour
is dry on the paper before applying the next.
So once this was dry, I painted in the yellow areas of the leaf, being careful not to paint
over the veins I'd just painted, and using this yellow to map out the yellow colour,
thinner veins, I could see.
Again I let this dry and I then created an orangy red mix and applied
it to all the gaps, as well as into the bigger yellow areas in a few places as a second layer.
Here the colour overlaps and appears more orange as it visually mixes on the paper - though
it stays vibrant and clear and doesn't muddy, because that layer underneath is dry.
With a layer of fairly pale paint down everywhere now, the different colour areas of the leaf
are mapped out.
Next I painted in the darkest parts of the leaves - the dark tips to the end with thick brown paint.
Having these darkest parts painted in, helps me to judge how dark I can take the midtones
as I begin with the darker midtones - the rich dark brown
- reds in these parts of the leaf.
I stippled with my brush to leave little gaps through to the layer underneath to create
a bit of the texture I could see to the leaf here, and again leaving gaps for the veins.
I watered the mix down a little where the leaf was lighter and then created a much more
vibrant red mix to work into the brighter areas of the leaf in the bottom right and
along some of the veins, again stippling to allow gaps through to the paler layer underneath.
With these midtones painted it was clear that the pale yellow layer underneath was too light
as the veins were standing out too much.
So once this layer had dried I used a bigger brush to apply a thicker,
so darker, yellow mix as a glaze over the top of most parts of the leaf, only holding
off from areas of the brown red colour that I didn't want to be made more orange by applying
this mix.
This had the effect of darkening the leaf but also making it feel much more solid.
Once this was dry I also darkened up the bigger veins a touch
and then began a round of tonal adjustments where I again darkened the darkest tips to
the leaves and the red parts of the leaves - stippling as before.
Next I used my tiny brushes to add in more line detail around the veins and once that
was dry, I darkened up some more with another round of tonal adjustments including a further
glaze to the yellows which again really darkened and unified the leaf.
Then I added more details again, neatening up some of the veins and darkening up any
other areas that seemed to need it, before the leaf felt solid and unified, yet still
retained clear, vibrant areas of reds and yellows along with plenty of realistic detail.
A full video class of this red leaf is available now in my online School and as a project in
my latest book 'Anna Mason's Watercolour World'.
If you've enjoyed this tip video, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and I'd love it if you'd
share this video with your friends.
And, if you'd like to take one of my tried and tested video classes FOR FREE, hop on
over to AnnaMasonArt.com where you'll find even more resources to help you pick up your
brush and paint the way you've always wanted to.
Remember, you won't improve your painting unless you MAKE the time to paint.
So be sure to schedule in some me-time this week and paint something YOU love.
Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon with another tip for creating watercolours with "wow".