ottawa valley art studio...light house, watercolour and india ink ottawa valley art studio this is a...

Light House, Watercolour and India ink Ottawa Valley Art Studio

This is a step by step instruction for watercolour and India ink painting of a Light house and Boat. For reference we are going to use one of watercolour painting by a Russian artist.

This painting is a more like a quick sketch, where we are not going to pay attention to details and small subjects. The most important aspect of this exercise is to keep the colours light and do not over complicate the painting itself.

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Iya Carson, 2018


Materials: Watercolour paper 5.5 x 8.5 in, Strathmore, cold press, 300 g/m2; Graphite pencil Derwent 3H; Kneading eraser Derwent; Watercolour paint Cotman, Winsor & Newton; Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Raw Sienna, Sap Green, Cerulean Blue, Turquoise, Ultramarine, Payne’s Gray. Sable or synthetic brush, round, #10; Water jar; India ink, black; Nib pen; Brush pen Pentel, Japan.

The first step is transferring the image to your paper.

As we discussed at the “Transferring Images” class there are a few ways to transfer the image to your drawing surface. Please refer to this class to see step by step instruction.

In this exercise we are going to use a very simple and easy way of transferring the image. We need only a big sunny window.

if you have a digital device to view the image in the process of painting, then it will be enough to print the image using a home printer using a black and white scale.

F i r s t I p r i n t e d t h e image. There is no need to do it in colour. Then I hang the printed image on a big sunny window, tape the watercolour paper over the printed image, then I trace the image.


Iya Carson, 2018


Make sure you use hard pencil (3H and harder) to trace the image. I added a few more details to make the drawing look better.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


Add to the palette a little bit of Turquoise paint. Wet the sky area with a clean brush and water.

Add a little bit the pigment to the sky area and let the water-colour “work”. Just observe how it mix with water and create the sky and clouds illusion.

Please refer to the full colour palette on the last page.

You need to work quite fast to not let the covered areas dry.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


Add Cerulean Blue paint to the pallet. Add a little bit water to make a “juice”.

Using the “blue juice” start to work on the water area. Keep the buildings, ground and a boat uncovered.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


Continue working on the water area . Make sure you are leaving enough uncovered spaces on the water surface. These will be areas where reflections are.


Iya Carson, 2018


Add Raw Sienna to the leftovers of Cerulean Blue “ juice” . It wil l g ive us greenish tone.

Add some water to make “juice”.

Using this “greenish juice” cover the area of the ground and a boat. Leave a few spots of pathway stones uncovered.

Let it dry completely. To speed it up you can use hair drawer or heat gun.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


Add Ultramarine paint to the palette. Apply quite strong amount of paint to the area of the water under the boat and next to the bank.

Then cover the boat sails.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


Add to the palette Cadmium Red colour. Use it to cover the top of the cupola of the Light House. Then mix Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow in the palette. Use this colour to cover the roofs of the buildings.

Next step is to work on the walls of the buildings. Mix Cadmium Yellow and Payne’s Gray to create the greyish tone. Using this mix cover the walls. If you are not comfortable to use a big round brush, then please use a small round brush for detail work.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


At the same time add some Payne’s Gray to the shadowed areas; under the boat, under the roofs and on the left sides of both sails.

Add some Sap Green paint to the palette to the leftovers of Payne’s Gray/Yellow mix. Add some water to made a “juice”. Using this “ greyish/greenish juice” start to paint the ground around the pathway on the foreground area.

A d d i n g m o r e Yellowish to the left bank grounds and more Greyish to the right bank grounds.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


Using Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange cover the areas of sunny pathways and stones.

At this moment we are finished working with water-colour and we need to dry the painting completely before we are going to do the next step.


Iya Carson, 2018


When the painting is dry we can start to process of drawing with India Ink. I used the Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen. You can purchase it on amazon.ca.

The detail level of your drawing depends only up to your taste and sense of lines.

I started to work on details of the buildings, then continue to work on the pathway, grass, stones. Then I add a few details to the boat.


Iya Carson, 2018

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Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


The next step is adding more details using a nib pen and India ink.

Work on the details on the buildings.


Iya Carson, 2018



Iya Carson, 2018


The next step is to working on details of the pathway. Then add shadow reflections on the bay area on the right side of the bank.


Iya Carson, 2018


Then draw free hand cloud reflections on the water surface.

Add some clouds on the sky.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


Using a few light strokes draw the boat and sails.

Using vertical strokes add boat reflection on the water surface.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


If you feel there is not enough clouds on the sky, you can draw a few more.

Then add a few cross hatching strokes to create the water reflection under the left side bank.


Iya Carson, 2018

Iya Carson, 2018


Observe your painting from a distance to see if there is anything missing. Add any details that you feel you may need.

Ta da! You are done!


Iya Carson, 2018


Colour Palette


ottawa valley art studio...light house, watercolour and india ink ottawa valley art studio this is a...

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