Watercolour Handbook

These practical techniques are what I teach on my retreats and in my Patreon lessons. I've organised them here to help you master the essential skills and methods of watercolour painting.

Additionally you'll see that the subjects here are cross-referenced to my online lessons, so you'll be able to follow the full practical demonstration if you wish.

1. Materials & Setup

   Paper quality, palette wells, board angle, and workspace layout.

2. Pencil & Drawing

   Shadow planning, ellipses, perspective, and composition thumbnails.

3. Painting Order

   Light to dark, background to foreground, and when shadows come last.

4. Pen & Ink Finishing

   Shadow-side pen work, white gel pen, splatter decisions, and when to stop.

5. Colour Mixing

   Shadow pairs, mixing greens, granulation, and warm vs cool temperature in a scene.

6. Wet into Wet

   Reading paper wetness, controlling timing, dropping in colours, and working on large areas.

7. Shadows

   Complementary colours, reflected light, snow shadows, and common mistakes to avoid.

8. Negative Painting

   Define light shapes by painting the dark around them — white flowers, foam, layered foliage.

9. White Subjects

   Preserving the white of the paper, creating form and dimensions, and shadow colours.

10. Texture Effects

    Salt, scoring, blooms, dry brush, splatter, credit card, and bokeh lifting.

11. Skies

    Summer skies, clouds, stormy skies, and sunsets.

12. Trees & Foliage

    Observing trees, autumn colour, winter bare trees, and figures for scale.

13. Water & Reflections

    Still water, waves, reflections, rigging, wet surfaces, and sky-as-water washes.

14. Buildings & Architecture

    Stonework, brickwork, old wood, corrugated iron, and shadows on buildings.

15. Animals

    Lost edges, animal eyes, feathers, fur, backlighting, and white subjects.