A Piece Of Rainbow

creative home & garden DIY, beautiful crafts for happiness

Watercolor Tree Painting – Fall Colors!

Pin
Yum
Reddit
Flip
Email
Share
Tweet
44K Shares

It’s fall again, time to marvel at those magnificent trees!  Today I want to share a really fun and quick way to paint a fall watercolor tree easily!

Even if you never painted before, this step by step tutorial will show you how to paint a beautiful fall watercolor tree in just 10 minutes!

How to paint a beautiful watercolor tree easily. Learn some fun & unusual techniques in this step by step tutorial. No art experience needed! - A Piece of Rainbow

I remember one of the first paintings I made in art school : I walked by these trees with such magnificent fall colors, and ran to the classroom to tell my teacher that I simply can’t stay inside to paint the model for now! ( that now turned into ever) I had very open and supportive teachers.

MY LATEST VIDEOS

I was very lucky! 🙂

Easy and fun tutorial on how to paint a beautiful spring tree watercolor painting using crumbled paper! Follow the video tutorial. No art experience needed! A Piece of Rainbow Blog

By the way, if you love trees in all seasons, these spring trees are just as easy, using a totally different technique! Materials and tools to paint a watercolor tree:

apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (1)apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (2)

  • watercolor paper : there are many kinds of watercolor papers, some have a warm ivory tone to them, others are more white, you can compare the first and last image to see the difference. If you just want to play and practice, even this inexpensive paper will work!
  • brushes: these brushes are great for all kinds of painting . I like using those with a nice pointed tip for watercolors, they are great for washes, and for finer details
  • a tooth brush : this is a lot of fun to use, you will see!
  • watercolor paint : they often come with a lid that can be used to mix colors. A white plastic plate is also great for mixing colors
  • a dish to hold water for wetting and rinsing brushes

apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (3)apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (4)

Step 1: Paint the watercolor tree canopy with a very thin wash of orange or yellow.

Let the brush soak up a lot of water, then touch the tip with a little bit of color, now place your brush on the mixing surface, you will have a very diluted wash.

Imagine the watercolor tree canopy as clusters of clouds, and don’t worry if you “mess up”, every tree is different, and these shapes will guide us in the next step.

apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (5)apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (6)

Step 2: Add deeper color washes in the canopy

While the first thin watercolor washes are still wet, add more watercolor to your paint brush, and paint on top of the first layer. Have a second brush handy, dip it in water and wet the paper a bit more if it feels too dry.

This watercolor painting technique is called wet on wet. It creates a nice colored area with soft edges.

I used some yellow, orange, and olive green. You can see all these colors flow into each other because they all have soft edges.

apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (7)

Tips: How to mix watercolors to create a natural green

A lot of times the ready made green are too saturated, as you can see that neon green up here.

By mixing it with a touch of yellow and red (opposite of green), it becomes a natural olive green on the left. There are infinite variations of green, and that’s the beauty of it – you don’t need to mix the same shade of green every time!

apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (8)apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (10)

Step 3: Paint the watercolor tree trunk and branches

Mix a little brown and black to get a grey-brown color, start with a pale wash( like in step 1) of the trunk form and a few branches in the canopy,then paint a deeper color over it, like in step 2.

If you are unsure, always stay with the lighter washes, it’s easy to go darker later.

apieceofrainbow_watercolor-tree (11)

Now the really fun part starts: splatters! Continue to next page –

Pin
Yum
Reddit
Flip
Email
Share
Tweet
44K Shares

Reader Interactions

Get our weekly newsletter! Join 50,000+ members!

Related Posts:

Comments

  1. It, s so nice an idea very simple. Many times the simple is de most beautiful, so we don,t have to strive to do expensive and dificult things for feel satisfied. I don,t know if I Had expressed well. My English isn’t that good… 🙁

    Reply

  14. Okay this is awesome! I am not good at painting at all and you made it really simple but still looks like a pro! Its just a great way to add a touch of fall to the home without breaking the pocket too!

    Reply

  17. Ananda, you’ve really inspired me to paint. I used to love to paint, but I’m not very good at it 🙂 that’s why I have a cooking blog! Because I’m no painter. Hahahaha! But, this looks relatively simple to do, and I love the toothbrush trick! Pinned!

    Reply

    • you ARE a great artist kristi! great cooks are great artists, i always felt they might even be better because no one cares which museum displays your dish if it doesn’t taste good! =)

      Reply

  19. I have always admired people who can draw and paint as it is something that I don’t feel I can do, HOWEVER, this post is so amazing to the extent that you make it look SO easy that I think I might actually be able to pull it off! Thank you so much for providing such detail information on how you do it!

    Reply

  22. Fantastic creative tutorial!!! The layering that you create with watercolors is lovely (the few times I’ve done it, I’ve been too impatient to let one layer dry enough to add additional depth and color intensity) and the end result is charming. Great piece for fall. I’m inspired!

    xo,
    lauriel
    EyeForElegance.com

    Reply

  24. That is beautiful. I took my first ever watercolour class a few weeks go and was instantly hooked. What a lovely medium to work with. I have bookmarked you and will have a go at painting a tree just like yours.

    Reply

  27. I have a clump birch tree I’d like to try this simple technique with, however, not sure what tones to use to achieve the trunks and larger branches. My water color paper is white. Can you make some suggestions please.

    Reply

    • great question kate! =) but no easy answer, as white is the hardest thing to paint in water color, such as birch trunk, snow, clouds, all of which are my fav!!
      one easier way might be to use a thin outline in light grey or brown, and leave the trunk white. i will play with some ideas and get back to you when i find a good solution! =)

      Reply

  28. I have been doing some watercolor and have used some of these techniques. Did learn some new techniques. Thanks for giving me a few more tips.

    Reply

  29. That’s a very easy and lovely way to get tree painted. I will give it a try and let you know the result

    Reply

  32. What causes that mottled look when you applied the second layer of color? It appears smooth with the first light wash, then speckly with the next. Is that just from the texture of the paper?

    Thanks,

    Elizabeth

    Reply

  33. You are fantastic! You make me feel like I can actually do this. I have ALWAYS wished I knew how to paint. After seeing this, I am going to give it a try.

    Reply

  34. Just an awesome one
    I made it and it was such a pretty tree
    Just can’t believe so simple
    Thanks for your guidance

    Reply

  35. I love this piece of art! This is so amazing! It did make me believe that I can turn into a good artist ?

    Reply

  36. I am so very happy to have found your website! I want to learn how to paint and had no clue really where to start. I’ve looked at both of your tree tutorials, and the cherry tree at night, and the bubble hydrangeas, and the other flowers, and now I am excited to get started.

    Thank you for such an inspiring site!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *