Watercolor Christmas

 We're spending the weekend in Stockbridge, MA - home of the world famous Alice's Restaurant.Thinking I would likely be able to find a few moments or hours to myself, I packed my new Kuretaki Gansai Tambi water colors. 

It's the beginning of January and everything is still decorated for Christmas, so I decided to give my new paint a try, inspired by the beautiful tree outside our room. I thought I would share a picture tutorial as I'm intending to leave the small painting behind on this shelf we found in our room: 

Here's my process:

I started with the lights... Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Veridian and Cobalt Blue. 

Next, I sketched in the trunk and branches...wash in Ultramarine Pale along the bottom. 

Fill in the branches with Turquoise Deep Green. Darker at the bottom on the branch and diluted above to fill between the branches. 

Add a little splatter diluted Indigo and White Gold

 

Use the White Gold to add snow to the top of the branches and leftover Indigo to add a shadow in the snow beneath the tree. Happy Birthday to my husband Rick: