Storm a Brewin'

today's watercolor lesson, landscape study

This small landscape study was my student's focus lesson yesterday. The primary objective was to create strong and dynamic clouds. Onto a very wet page, the dark prussian blue color was laid down first, with a touch of cobalt in the upper right corner. The paper was held upright, allowing the paint to streak down into the white space. Then the tool of the day - a crumpled, dry paper towel - was applied with very firm pressure against the paper's surface, blotting up the paint. Suddenly the white of the paper emerged. The hills and trees were added last. It was a quick little lesson and we all had a great deal of fun "playing" with the landscape.  [I must put a disclaimer here that this was not an original design. I borrowed it from another online artist, Mary Nolan.]