"Jim's Barn", available for a limited time in the $9 tier at patreon.com/rachelsstudio
I love the quote "values do all the hard work, but color steals the glory".
My newest watercolor landscape barn tutorial, inspired by a Jim Lagasse painting, (thank you Jim for your generous agreement to my painting this with my students) will help you digest that truth and put it to practice.
It is CHOCK full of not just the how but the why of watercolor which will empower you to take those lessons and apply them to what YOU want to paint. Let's look at a few lessons to be learned from this painting...
I think one of my favorite parts of this tutorial is that you get to practice wet in wet techniques with less pressure to make them look like a cat, or dog, or something that has the added pressure of looking like an animal or thing. But that's not all - you will also learn CRUCIAL fundamentals about painting.
I chose to depart from Jim's colors in the background a little because 1. I wanted to make mine a little different and 2. Illustrate that you don't have to use my exact colors. You DO need to pay attention to values. Many may find it hard to control values with wet in wet techniques, but you'll learn SO MANY good tricks to having more success with these crucial skills by watching this tutorial and practicing what you learn (preferably over and over to get those miles in on the brush!)
PS - In another one of my recent tutorials, I painted a cat with one tube of color to illustrate the point that values are more important than color, AND to give my students a break from color mixing so they could focus on values and textures, see the kitty painting below which is available in the $9 tier.
Jim makes the barn painting look so easy, but there is A LOT of good design in this piece, and much of it has to do with painting the right values in the right places. The middle part of the forest background is much lighter, and the edge trees are super dark but soft and grey, telling the viewer they are not important. They do have an important role to play though - they frame in the main subject, the red barn and keep the viewer’s eye from leaving the painting.
And back to the idea that color is not NEARLY as important as values - I could have made that barn hot pink, or hot green, or any bright color, as long as I had the values right. There are other components that add to the success and these include the basic design principles of how to tell the viewer where to look via having the smallest details with the hardest edges in the center of interest (the barn). High contrast and detail also plays a roll - observe the super white roof against super darks of the background, the tiny hard edged detail of the chimney, the small windows which all tell the viewer's eye that the barn is the center of interest. The bright red color is JUST the icing on the cake.
But the fun part of this landscape watercolor tutorial is having a low pressure way to practice wet in wet techniques in the forest background, which will help you develop the muscle memory and understanding of how to have more control in wet in wet techniques. When we first wet the background, the marks we make are soft, diffused and lighter because the paper is wetter and we keep our paint mix more watery. But as we do so often with wet in wet watercolor painting, we learn that as the paper goes from glistening to buckling/damp/less wet, we can go in with thicker paint and get the darker trees on the side that hold their shape but stay soft because we are still painting on some form of non dry paper.
Even if you don't care about painting a landscape, I encourage you to come try this tutorial and practice your wet in wet techniques - what you learn will translate well to any kind of dreamy, wet in wet subject you want to paint, like a cat with long fur, or a blurred out yet realistic background.
My tutorials are chock FULL of not only the “how” but also the “why” of watercolor techniques. This way, you can apply what you learn with me to any subject you want to paint! The other nice thing about this particular tutorial is that it is around an hour so you can fit it into an afternoon of painting easily.
In this tutorial you will learn:
🎨 How to have more control with wet in wet techniques
🎨How to balance your colors
🎨How to paint a soft, dreamy background
🎨The role of cools vs warms and bright colors vs greys
🎨Harnessing the power of the S shape in landscape design
🎨The importance and role of 'jewelry' in a painting
🎨And SO much more!
To celebrate the introduction of this tutorial, I have made it available to new members in the lowest $9 tier for a limited time before it moves to my $13 tier. Don't miss out! Join at www.patreon.com/rachelsstudio
Now go watercolor your world (preferably with me!) : )
Below is another new wet in wet tutorial that is new in 2025. When you join my Patreon you gain access to not just a few tutorials, but to a library of almost 200 tutorials to choose from. Join for a year and get 2 months free when you pay for ten months.
Be sure to enquire about originals or prints of any image you might be interested in!
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