How To Paint A Golden Coastal Sunset In Watercolour
We had the most beautiful golden sunset in Tofino the other day. The sea was calm, and the silhouettes of islands reflected amongst the blue rippling water. I was inspired to pull out my watercolours and get painting- and I put together a tutorial and some tips to help you paint your own golden ocean sunset with reflections!
You’ll need-
watercolour paper (I used Bao Hong cold-pressed paper cut to 6” x 8”)
masking tape or artists tape
a large brush for washes and a smaller brush for details
a sunset photo (you are welcome to paint my photo below for personal use)!
I used the following Daniel Smith watercolours (feel free to substitute with your preferred brand)!
cobalt blue
quinacridone gold
transparent pyrrol orange
ultramarine blue
burnt umber
Mask the edges of your paper with artist’s masking tape if you want a crisp edge to your painting. I used ProArt masking tape, which has a neutral colour and peels off cold-press paper easily.
Using a large brush, lay a wash of clean water over the paper. Tilt the paper slightly and use a dry ‘thirsty’ brush to pick up any excess water that beads along the bottom.
Mix a light wash of quinacridone gold. Use your large brush to paint a horizontal stripe down the centre of your paper.
Mix a light wash of cobalt blue. Using your large brush, begin painting at the top of your paper. Use horizontal strokes to draw the paint down the damp paper. The blue will gently fade, creating a gradated sky. Try not to put your brush back into the paint, and don’t add any extra water as this may create blooms or uneven colour. Stop painting when you near the gold wash (you may get green tones if the colours touch).
Repeat, starting at the bottom of your page. You may find it easiest to rotate your paper.
Let the wash dry. Then mix slightly stronger washes of quinacridone gold and cobalt blue. Use a thin brush to paint ripples. I painted some blue ripples over the gold wash to begin creating the reflective feeling, and I added a few gold ripples over the blue wash. Use a slightly thicker wash of cobalt for the ripples in the foreground. This will give them a deeper colour and help give a sense of depth.
Mix a thicker wash of quinacridone gold and begin to paint the clouds. I deepened the colour of the sky just above the horizon by adding a glaze of gold, then painted some clouds above. I’ve made my clouds slightly tilted- this gives them a sense of movement.
Mix a wash of pyrrol orange and cobalt blue and use this to paint the distant hills. You just need a little blue to help neutralise the orange slightly.
Use some of the orange/ cobalt mix to paint shadows on the lower clouds. If your gold paint is still wet, drop the mixture onto the bottom of the cloud and let the colours blend so you get soft edges to your shadows. If your gold has dried, you can paint the clouds with a little water first. Add the orange/ cobalt when the water dries to a sheen.
Mix black using a thick mix of ultramarine and burnt umber or burnt sienna. You don’t need to add much water- the consistency should be like yoghurt.
Paint the silhouettes of the islands, then add a little water to your black so it shifts to dark grey. Add some dark ripples to the water to give broken reflections.
Keeping some of the blue and gold ripples beneath the island helps maintain the sense of light and movement.
Your sunset is finished!
Some tips for painting sunsets:
It’s fun to use really bright saturated colours when painting sunsets, but for a more realistic picture, use slightly neutralised colours.
Reflections of really dark silhouettes are usually slightly lighter than the actual object. Reflections of really light objects are usually slightly darker.
If you want to include the sun, use masking fluid or a circle of masking tape to keep the paper white.
Happy painting!
If you use this tutorial and share your creations on social media, use the hashtag #worldwatercolormonth during July! You can tag me @AndreaEnglandArt so I can see what you create. And if you’ve got a question, ask it in the comments below!