watercolour seal

Such a wonderful content pose. I couldn't resist painting this bliss ;-)

I really enjoy sketching animals. It's so much about observation, right from the pencil drawing through to the brush strokes. And in a sketch, rather than a painting, we're after capturing the character and pose with a minimal of fuss and detail.

In this lesson we play with the light against shadow, creating form with both hard and soft edges. We also look carefully at all the colours in that silky fur, so that the seal looks natural - it's not just one, single grey or brown.

You can find the full video tutorial on Patreon or Renee's Studio.

Happy painting!

Thanks to James Rathmell on Unsplash for the reference photo.

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
premixed greens for watercolours

premixed greens for watercolours

9 September 2026

I'm off to Italy next week for my last retreat of 2026 and I'm getting all sorts of things ready. One of them is, of course, my palettes. One of the questions I get asked a lot is how I decide which c...

Read more →

sketching retreat in spain : sept 2027

sketching retreat in spain : sept 2027

11 August 2026

My first watercolour retreat in Spain — Cabo de Gata, September 2027. Four years ago I moved to Spain. I've been painting here ever since — and quietly planning the day I could share it with you. ...

Read more →