Down the Road Watercolor

Start with these reference images:

Start at the top of the page and work your way down from one color to another, working background to foreground, light values to dark values. Start to indicate the local hues of the different areas of the painting, watching your value study to keep your light shapes. Let dry.

Our second wash will consist of mid-tone values. Start to paint positively (the tree) and negatively. See our center of interest in the lower right corner, that tree was painted negatively. Show shadows on the road with a light color, keeping your strokes horizontally as to keep the road smooth. Show brush on the sides of the road with some vertical strokes, making sure your shapes are interesting and different. Let dry.

As we work our way down the value scale we are now going in with our darkest darks (look at your value study to see where these shapes are). Make your dark shapes interesting and different from each other. On the evergreen trees, your darks will be placed on the underside of the branches. Indicate some tree trunks also with the darks. Where your lightest light and darkest dark meet, this will be where you are telling the viewer that you want them to focus on that area (center of interest). Go over your shadows once again on the road with a cool color. Using a rigger brush, indicate some dead branches and some grasses along the road.