Fun with Fall Leaves--Wet-in-Wet on Dry Paper

More fall leaves!  In this post, I am showing a different approach to creating a leaf painting without wetting the paper first (to see the first demonstration click here).  I begin painting on dry paper and use the wet pigment to carry the color and moisture.  

Where ever I stop the edge is wet.  I can continue that edge either by applying a brush stroke of water or by adding a brush stroke of a different pigment.  Where water is used, the paint will flow into the water diluting the color to give a lighter range of that color.  This provides highlights and variation.

If I brush another color along that edge, the colors will flow together at that point and give a blended appearance where they mix.  Red and yellow become orange.  Green and yellow become yellow-green, and so on.  Letting wet paint flow into wet paint creates brilliant colors as two primaries (red, yellow or blue) mix to form secondary colors.  In this painting, I am using Da Vinci arylide yellow, WN phthalo blue, WN alizarin crimson, and WN Burnt Sienna.

Below I have looked at my leaf for reference and decided to drop some green into that yellow area on the right (above) to create more yellow-green for that part of the leaf.

Compare the leaf below with the one above.  You can see how the green spread into the wet yellow paint and produced that nice section of green with yellow highlights.  I also added some burnt sienna around the edges.

As I looked at the painting above, I decided I wanted to see some red in that light middle section, so I wet it lightly with my brush.  Then I picked up some Alizarin Crimson in my brush and added it.

 This gave the pale area a hint of red in the middle and brightened it.

Next, I mixed some sepia with burnt sienna to add a dark leaf edge and some dark spots to the leaf.  To do this, I created a very wet mixture, loaded it into the brush, and tapped the brush with my finger to make some splatter on the leaf.

Try painting several different leaves or use the same leaf and paint it several different ways!  There are endless possibilities for enjoying leaves in watercolor!

Next:  Enjoying color movement

Fun with Fall Leaves series

Why leaves change colors

Winsor Newton watercolors

Winsor Newton watercolor color chart