Thank you for joining us! In this class, you completed your lighthouse painting by adding the lighthouse, lantern room, cottage, fence, shadows, highlights, texture, and final landscape details.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Painting the Lighthouse

The lighthouse may be white, but it still needs shadows and changes in value to give it shape. Instead of filling the entire lighthouse with color, leave areas of the white paper showing and add gray where the light would not hit as strongly.

Keep one side darker and the other lighter.
Leave some white space to create highlights.
Build darker areas gradually rather than starting too dark.
You can use Payne's gray or mix your own gray from colors already on your palette.

Use Light and Shadow Consistently

Think about where the light is coming from throughout the entire painting. Shadows generally appear underneath objects and on the side facing away from the light.

Use this same idea on the lighthouse, cottage, windows, roof, chimney, fence, and other details so the whole scene feels connected.

Adding Detail to the Cottage

Start with a light wash on the cottage, then let it dry before adding darker shadows and smaller details.

Keep window panes lighter while adding shadows around them.
Add shadows beneath roof edges, windows, and other overhanging areas.
Use a smaller brush when you need more control.
If a shadow looks too dark, dilute your paint with more water.

It is okay if your washes are not perfectly flat. Small variations can become part of your painting style.

Painting the Fence

Build the wooden fence from light to dark using several shades of brown. The class used colors such as yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and darker browns, but you can use the colors you already have. The important part is having a light, medium, and dark value.

Add darker areas for shadows and use a small brush to suggest wood grain and texture. Remember that wood is natural, so every post and rail does not need to look exactly the same.

Finish with Layers and Texture

Throughout the painting, you practiced adding a layer, allowing it to dry or become damp, and then deciding whether another layer was needed. This gradual approach helps you create depth without overworking the watercolor.

You can work wet-on-wet, wet-on-damp, or wet-on-dry, depending on whether you want soft blends or sharper details.

Know When to Stop

Watercolor can change as it dries, so give areas time before deciding they need more paint. If you keep working while everything is wet, colors can become muddy or details can disappear.

You can always return later to add:

Darker shadows
Small texture marks
Wood grain
Landscape details
Final outlines or accents

Keep Practicing These Techniques

The techniques from this three-part project can be used for other subjects too. Try using perspective, watercolor washes, shadows, highlights, and texture to paint a house, building, or another scene that is meaningful to you.

Next: Finish any remaining small details at your own pace, let the painting dry completely, and keep your class handouts as a reference for future watercolor projects.