Today you will learn a more advanced way of how you can paint the northern lights with watercolors. But don't worry, it will be super fun and relaxing and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!!
For today's painting tutorial you need:
- watercolor paper
- tape (if you use a watercolor block, you won't need the tape)
- 2 jars of water (one to rinse your brush, one for clean water)
- flat watercolor brushes
- watercolors (I used pthalogreen, cerulean blue and indigo blue in tubes)
- paper towel
The first thing we want to do is preparing the watercolor paper.
Let's start by taping our watercolor paper to a canvas or board to prevent it from buckling. If you use a watercolor block there is obviously no need for this step!
Now you want to distribute clean water all over your paper. Use a flat brush to brush over the paper multiple times. This can take a while but it is important to give us additional time to paint! (You could even apply water to the backside of the paper! The hotter it is where you are the more water you should use. If you paint close to a radiator your paper might dry faster than you like!
Before I start applying the paint I tilted the board on the buttom side using my tape, so that the paint will flow downwards. This will help us paint the northern lights!
Are you all set up for painting and ready to go?
Good! Watch my video below to learn how to paint northern lights!
Do you want to get started with watercolors and need a little more support than my YouTube channel? Pre-order my new watercolor book “No-Fail Watercolor” right here. You'll also find some additional fun painting ideas in it! 😍
Not interested in my book? That's okay too. You can just click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel to learn more about watercolors and get some inspiration, tips and tricks every week!