Painting Snow in Watercolor for R.

HI !! This is for Renee, she asked me how to paint snow. I hope it helps you. It's a really simple demo. The second photo is just a little snow scene I've used for Christmas cards. I draw the horizon line then wet the sky area and paint thalo blue and ultramarine blue in almost a flat wash using the tip of my brush or a smaller brush I dab dab dab Viridian green with some sepia to create a very loose tree shape. the water will cause it to bleed so it's fuzzy and perfect for a little tree. I add a few loose grains of kosher salt , individually for snowflakes.  I come back into the white "snow" foreground and add two lines of water and touch them with my blues and greens.. and that is it. When it dryes take off the salt, snowflakes. If it's for Christmas I add a yellow dot at the top of the tree.

The next photo is a branch with snow on it, I just pencil in a branch then draw a lump of snow going down the branch. Put the dark sepia with burnt umber for the branch and then paint the wet wash around the area minus the snow lump. Go right up to the snow with the blue. It must be dark enough to show a difference for the snow to pop out. Add snow flakes from kosher salt while wet. Then add a grey blue shadow on the side of the snowy lump to give it depth and a little definition. Hope you get to paint some snow tomorrow. Bring it to class if you do or send it to me.

I love snow. I know here on the ES we don't get much so it's usually not a big problem and leaves quickly but when we do get it, the kids get off from school and it's almost a celebration. well for my family. ha ha..

I'm happy to help with questions
hope this helps! love to each of you,Diana

The first photo is one I did last year. Lots of Thalo and lots of water to create the back washes..