Progressive Watercolor Art Tutorial

Ok, are you ready for another watercolor painting tutorial?!  I am having fun with these.  I love that I get to share some art skills I've picked up over the years with all of you.  It's the art educator in me that gets excited :)

So, today you get to learn how to make, what I call a Progressive Watercolor Painting.  It's something I learned in high school and it's pretty simple to make.  The painting above is the one I painted especially for this tutorial.  The one below is my very first progressive painting and to tell you the truth, I like this one the very best.  It reminds me of the ocean.

So here's how you make it:

Materials:
watercolor paints & brush
watercolor paper
a stiff board to tape your paper too
masking tape
pencil
blow dryer


Step 1:  Make a few sketches.

Take some time to plan how you want your painting to look.  It really pays off in the end. You can google images of cool looking plants to get some ideas.  Anything organic looking tends to turn out really well.

Here are a few sketches I made, just playing around to see what different shapes would look like.

Step 2:  Tape your paper down.

Lay your paper on a stiff board of some kind and tape it down with masking tape.  This secures your paper while you work and makes a nice border.

Step 3:  Draw the center of your design.

Locate the center of the paper and lightly draw the center of your design.  You only need to draw the very center at first.  I chose a flower design.  So I started with a basic flower shape in the middle.

Step 4:  Paint a light wash over the entire area of the paper.

Yes, you paint over the center drawing you made.  To make a wash, mix up your color of choice with some water and spread it as evenly as possible over the surface. The point of a wash is to create a smooth colored area.  Mine certainly wasn't perfect, so don't worry to much about it.

Dry the paper completely using a blow dryer.

Step 5: Paint another wash around the center design.

Paint over the entire surface except the center design you drew.  Then let it dry again.  The more washes you paint on, the darker and more saturated the color will be.  The object is to create a gradation of color from the center out.

Step 6:  Draw the next layer of your design.

I added more petals to my flower in between the spaces created by the center petals.

Step 7:  Paint another wash around the second layer and dry.

 Step 8:  Continue the process of drawing in more layers around and then painting a wash around each layer.

Make sure to dry each wash before starting another layer.  Keep going until you fill the frame of your paper.  I ended up doing about 5 layers on my 8 x 10 inch piece of paper.  I just kept adding more petals in the spaces.

Here's a look at the progression of the layers- it's pretty fun to look at!  Now you get why it's called a progressive painting, right?

Step 9:  Carefully remove the masking tape from the sides of your paper.

Ok, all done! All that's left to do is to frame it, hang it up, or do whatever the heck you want to do with it!  Whatever you do, remember to feel proud of yourself for putting in the work and creative a beautiful work of art!