Loose watercolor landscape technique

In this mini class, we’re joined by a guest artist: my friend, travel artist Shelly Perkins. She demonstrates her loose watercolor landscape technique, using watercolor washes and sketchy pen lines and working outdoors ‘en plein air’.

A new guest artist

Shelly and I have known each other for about 15 years. We first met when we both exhibited with the Nature In Art museum at the Art in Action festival in Oxfordshire. I was captivated by her art and have bought several prints for my own home. I think you’ll love her style of artwork – at the start of the video I introduce her and show more of you her artwork, so be sure to have a watch.

For this first mini class of Shelly’s, she transports us to a breathtaking beauty spot – a huge patch of bluebells near Ludlow in Shropshire, UK. We’ll join her in this special location and watch over her shoulder as she transforms the epic vista into a lively, sketchy landscape painting.

This loose watercolor landscape technique can be applied to your own landscapes.

You’ll see that she works quickly and freely, and this creates energy and excitement in the scene.

I think you’re going to enjoy watching her expressive approach and giving it a try yourself, especially if you’re experimenting with a looser style.

(And remember, it’s OK to work in more than one artistic style, just like it’s OK to speak more than one language or play more than one musical instrument). OK, let’s join Shelly in the bluebell meadow for the mini class:

I hope you’ve felt inspired by the loose watercolor landscape technique Shelly has shared in this mini class.

I’m so pleased to be able share her unique nature inspired artwork, and her relaxed and informative teaching style, with you here, and I really hope you’ve enjoyed it.

This mini class is a brief overview from a step-by-step tutorial Shelly created for us as part of a set of tutorials that guide Nature Studio members through different ways to interpret the scene onto paper.

Shelly’s also made more classes for us which will be out in the future, so watch this space.

Are you feeling inspired?

Has the sight of all those bluebells made you want to paint a close-up study of one? If so, you can find a mini class showing you how to paint a realistic bluebell flower.

If you’ve enjoyed this class and are feeling inspired to paint a landscape in this style, or head outdoors to make art in nature’s surroundings, please leave Shelly and I a comment below: we’d love to hear from you.