The Fog Horn
This free lesson provided by Mary Churchill
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Begin painting

For this painting, I started painting the background first, using a #12 watercolor brush.

Remember that your White is the absence of pigment, you will leave the white paper showing.

I painted the strong colors first. I especially like Payne‚s Gray because it can be exceptionally dark as well as very light. Soft edges with the white paper showing create the mood of fog on the water: Here I used Payne‚s Gray, Violet, Prussian blue, and Ultra Marine Blue.

Test your paints from the darkest to lightest values with more and less water.

Be aware of "soft" and "Hard" edges. If you find hard edges in the "wrong" places, gently wet the edges only, to create soft and faded areas.

While painting, your paper may swell or bubble up, this is OK and the reason we need to tape the paper down. It will dry fairly flat. (More on this later.)