Hummingbird on Verbena
Watercolor Painting Tutorial

Painting Demonstration 1

Painting Demonstration 2

Always sketch very lightly for a watercolor painting. You don’t want graphite muddying your pretty colors. All you need is a loose sketch. Don’t draw every feather. I use a regular 2B pencil.

Painting Demonstration 3

I started with an Azo Yellow and Pthalo Green wash. A few dabs of Quinacridone Gold. Let the colors loosely float in, keeping everything wet and flowing. Don’t forget to reserve whites! Notice I always pull color into shadows on my subject from the start. This connects my subject with the background.

Painting Demonstration 4

While everything is still soaking wet, I add color.

Some strong darks in Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue. Some Ultramarine Pink for the lovely verbena bonariensis. I keep moving these colors into my hummingbird. Watercolors need to flow, not be cutouts!

Painting Demonstration 5

Some Quinacridone Gold makes for lovely sparks under the feathers on my hummingbird. I add a little detail to the verbena bonariensis with Ultramarine Pink and Cobalt Teal. I add some strong Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna darks. I move all the colors around the painting.

Around here is when my toddler woke up from his nap.

In case you wondered where I’ve been, he’s reduced his nap to 30 minutes or none. That’s not much time to paint every day! I usually do try to finish what I’m working on though since watercolors are never quite the same when you leave them. (Not that you don’t have to sometimes! If I’d been a little less close to finishing when he stuck his fingers in my palette I’d have quit for the day.) Anyhow, on with the painting…

Painting Demonstration 6

The same symphony of colors repeated around the painting. Lots of darks, but leaving whites. Always leave whites!

I left the painting under a fan for 5 minutes while I hosed the toddler down and changed my water. Just long enough to dry a little bit so I could add details to the hummingbird. I always get a little fussy with hummingbird details. They’re little jewels of birds, the colors iridescent in the sun. So many, many layers with drybrush as well as the underwash of golds and yellows.

Notice how much lighter the colors are when even partially dried. What looked a bit dark and almost muddy on the previous wash when wet, dried out to a nice dark green with interesting dabs of other colors. Always put your paints on boldly, they will lighten up!

Thanks for seeing this watercolor painting tutorial of a hummingbird!

Happy Painting!