Winter Stream Watercolor

Start with these reference images:

Begin painting the background sky area with a light value. Continue into the foliage area, watching your negative shapes (the sky) as well as your positive shapes (the trees). Make interesting shapes. Show where the bridge will go by leaving white for the snow on top of the railings. While the pigment is still wet use a credit card and scratch out some trees in the background. Indicate the area of the stream using a similar palette as the background. Start to show snow drifts.

We will now be using our middle values, similar colors but darker values. Show a shadow side of the left snow area in the foreground. Develop the bridge area. Break up the background by adding some darker shapes.

Using our darkest values on the value scale, go over the water area with darks, doing some line work on top to show some movement in the water. Put some dark trees in the background. Using a rigger brush show some branches on the trees. Soften edges where the water meets the snow.