Fall Leaves Watercolor Art

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolors:
• Yellow Ochre
• Cadmium Orange Hue
• Cadmium Red Hue
• Burnt Sienna
• Turquoise
• Winsor & Newton Cotman #6 Round Brush
• 9"x 12" Cold Press Watercolor Paper
• Ceramic or Plastic Watercolor Palette Well (9 wells needed)
• Collected Leaf or Leaves of Choice (flatten under books or weight overnight, if needed)
• Pencil & Eraser
• Glass of Water
• Paper Towel

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cover your work surface with a disposable covering and fill a glass or cup with water.
2. Determine desired overall composition and where leaves will be placed. Take the flattened leaf and begin to trace it on various parts of the paper. Feel free to overlap the leaf shape on top of others in a few areas.
3. Squeeze out a small pea sized amount of each of the watercolors, one per well on the palette.
4. Wet the brush for a minute to saturate the hairs.
5. Start with the lighter value colors, like Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Orange Hue. Dip the wet brush into the paint and begin to fill in some of the leaf shapes.
6. Allow the colors to bleed and blend into each other.
7. Tip: For lighter colors, add more water. For darker colors, add less water.
8. Move to different areas of the paper as leaves are being filled in. This way some of the leaves will dry quicker and be ready for a glaze layer on top.
9. While moving to different areas of the paper filling in the leaves, add some of the darker value colors like Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Red Hue and Aqua Green as desired. Allow the colors to bleed and blend with each other.
10. For any leaf shapes that overlap, allow the first leaf to get touch dry first. Then apply some darker value colors on top of the leaf as needed to complete the overlapping leaf shape. This is what gives some abstracted leaf shapes and adds interest to the composition.
11. Once the leaf shapes are filled in, allow the surface to dry for several hours or overnight. Then use an eraser to remove any remaining pencil lines.