Gum Trees, painting their foliage with watercolor

Painting gum trees, their foliage

I start the foliage by loading my brush with the lightest watercolor.

Using the side of my round brush (the point does not touch the paper) and lightly touching the paper in a random circular fashion I paint my foliage. I keep in mind to leave lots of gaps in my pattern of mostly connected foliage shapes. I also make the foliage look like a random pattern along the bottom rather than looking like it has been cut off in a straight line.

Gum tree adding light tone foliage watercolor

Gum tree adding light tone foliage watercolor

Mid tone green watercolor for gum tree leaves added after light tone

Mid tone greens for gum tree leaves

While the first (light tone) wash is still wet, and again using a similar technique, place the mid tones over sections of the light tone, and some areas of untouched paper.  Remember to leave the area towards the light with more light tone showing than the other side of the tree.

Gum tree foliage adding the dark tone green

Gum tree foliage adding the dark tone green

Repeat the steps as in Figure 12 only now use the dark toned green. Your foliage should be made up mostly of a mid tone, with some light tones and some dark tones.

Continue to: Finished Watercolor Gum Tree Painting