A Christmas painting step by step

I love to paint along with the seasons , this week I thought I would share a simpler piece , a little penguin in 7 easy steps. This really is something you can try if you are just beginning with watercolours. Let the paint do the work and see what happens......

1. Draw your penguin

2. Now paint the eye and the colours in the beak, 

3. Now the collar, I wet the area with clear water and then drop the colour in, I use bright yellow and cadmium orange and some red. I don't paint it as much as let the colour infuse into the puddle of water

4. Now wet the rest of the body that is white and add shading it give the penguin his rounded shape.I use blues and purple, I sometimes use some yellow ochre too. You can see here how bright the colours look, remember watercolour dries lighter.

5. Now once this has dried you can start on the wellington boots I do this with paynes grey and some cerulean blue. I like the penguin to be standing on the ice so I wet the paper underneath him so he melts a little into the snow.

6. I can start on the black of the penguin now. I under paint in cerulean blue the while it is still wet I paint in the black in paynes grey this adds the highlights on the shiny penguins skin. let some of the blue shine through.

7. Move down the body observing the details as you go ,the flippers only need a black edge, the more you look at what you are painting the more you see, try to let the paint do it's work , and try not to overwork the painting.

I do hope you give this a go, you can add your own touches, maybe a starry night or some seasonal snow, I would love to see any penguins that emerge from this blog.