Best known for her botanical art, Anna Masonturns her attention to this wildlife subject to show you a simple way to build watercolour in clean layers
ANNA’S MATERIALS
Watercolours
Scarlet Lake, Opera Rose, Winsor Lemon, Winsor Green (Yellow Shade), Permanent Sap Green, Winsor Blue Green Shade, Cobalt Turquoise Light, Burnt Sienna and Payne’s Gray, all Winsor & Newton Professional Water Colour; Transparent Orange, Schmincke Horadam Aquarelle; Quinacridone Purple, Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolour
Paper
Hot-pressed (smooth) Arches 100% cotton paper
Brushes
Golden synthetic pointer spotters, sizes 000, 0, 1, 3 and 5 (available as the Anna Mason Set from Rosemary & Co.)
Support
Pencil
Eraser
Kitchen Roll
1 DRAW YOUR SUBJECT
I like to work from photos, especially when the subject is tiny and might move. Photos also have the benefit of capturing exactly how light was falling on a subject in a given moment.
To make the painting process as easy as possible, the drawing needed to be a ‘contour’ drawing, mapping out the outside edges of the frog and bamboo but also any clear edges to shapes of colour within the frog and bamboo. These included the eyes, the main areas of highlight on the skin, and dots and lines on the legs and between toes.
2 MAP OUT COLOURS
I began mapping out the different colour areas, beginning with the palest: the slightly grey-green areas around the highlights on the frog’s skin. The brightest parts of the highlights were so light that I wanted to avoid painting them at all, but this colour was the next lightest I could see.
I kept my mix really pale and used a combination of Permanent Sap Green and a touch of Payne’s Grey with lots of water. I applied it with a size 1 brush and stippled the paint a little to recreate the rough texture of the frog’s skin.
3 BUILD THE HIGHLIGHTS
When the previous layer had dried, I used a size 5 brush to apply a very pale and watery mix of Permanent Sap Green with Winsor Lemon to the yellow-green areas within the bamboo.
I painted the frog’s skin using the size 3 brush and the brighter Winsor Green (Yellow Shade) with lots of water and a little Winsor Lemon. I stippled the colour, leaving gaps wherever there were highlights and adding more Winsor Lemon for the yellower parts of the frog’s skin.
4 DEEPEN TONES
I created a mix of Permanent Sap Green with
