Flat washes

På Svenska

This exercise is about Flat washes, it is a basic technique in watercolor. I may return to at a later time how to do a flat wash. But the principle is: Tilt the paper, paint with a lot of paint in a brush from top to bottom so that the surface is gradually covered. A correctly executed technique should result in a completely even (perhaps dull) surface.

Step 1
Paint the blue sky completely flat (Not the clouds though, they should be white). Paint some shadows in the clouds but leave a little white between the sky and the cloud shadow. Then start painting any light surface in the houses, it is always a good idea to start with the light surfaces and finish with the dark ones. I chose the yellow house (Flat wash, always).

Step 2
Continue to paint different surfaces, I have painted some gray and brown parts of the painting.

Step 3

The green tree and bush are painted with gradually darker green color in three different flat washes. For the first time, the entire green surface is painted flat. When the first surface has dried, layer two is painted, also completely flat, but I save a little here and there for highlights. Windows, traffic signs and more are also painted.

Step 4
Here I paint the third layer on the tree and the bush, completely flat but I save a little for highlights. All really dark details are also painted.

Step 5
Shadows are very important, they make the light in the painting. The shadows are painted completely flat over the yellow house and the large gable at the top left, keep in mind that the shadow over the yellow house is also on the sidewalk in front of the house.