We Whistle While We Work

Step 5: The finished product!

Step 4: I start painting the building, paying particular attention to the glass window, as it is the focal point of the painting.

Step 3: I begin with the sky, followed by the trees. In order to maintain the vibrance of the leaves I prefer to paint the green first, followed by painting around them with the colors for the building.

Step 2: The pencil transfer drawing, which I then paint over with just water to prepare the paper and set the graphite

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Step 1: I create the final drawing on a piece of copy paper. I then cover the back of the drawing with graphite, tape it to the watercolor paper, and trace over the drawing to transfer it.

I just finished this piece for Skidmore College and I took some photos while I was working on it so I could share a little about my process of watercolor painting. Of course, every painting is different - but this is the basic workflow pattern.