rustic barn in an autumny Pineta Valley

Autumn in the Pineta Valley, Spanish Pyrenees. Pen & watercolour
Autumn in the Pineta Valley, Spanish Pyrenees. Pen & watercolour

We're back to the beautiful Pineta Valley in the Spanish Pyrenees for this autumn scene. A big stone barn nestled in a row of autumn trees, with the mountains and forest in the distance. In front are some trees that have already lost their leaves. Completing the scene are the long autumn shadows leading your eye from outside the painting right up to the barn.

Over the last few months we've been learning lots of skills for painting trees and autumn colour on Patreon. In this lesson we put many of those skills into practise.

Full video lesson, reference photo and drawing to trace here.

Paint a free watercolour online lesson

A free lesson for you!

One of my all-time favourite paintings of a stormy day in a ruined Roman town in Spain.

You can do this! Let me show you how. Join my community to receive this free video tutorial.

Join here
how versatile is potters pink?

how versatile is potters pink?

1 July 2026

Potters pink is very pretty, dusty pink with an old world feel. It granulates beautifully and is very lightfast. While pretty on its own, it’s a super versatile colour to use in all sorts of ways. J...

Read more →

a vase with white flowers

a vase with white flowers

24 June 2026

Here's a deceptively simple painting delivers maximum impact for minimal effort — a wet-in-wet background and a limited palette do most of the work, while the result glows with light and looks far m...

Read more →

summer flowers & an old fence post

summer flowers & an old fence post

16 June 2026

There's something irresistibly paintable about a weathered fence post half-swallowed by summer wildflowers. It's the contrast that does it — rough, sun-bleached wood against the soft, fleeting delic...

Read more →