Painting Guide: Mushroom

Here's a step-by-step guide on painting a Mushroom with watercolor.

First step is to prepare your materials: Printed line art on Arches Watercolor Paper, LifeAfterBreakfast Handmade Watercolors, Paint brush, Water in a cup, and Tissue.

Wet your brush and take some Burnt Sienna pigment. 

 Apply pigment only on 1/4 of the underside of the mushroom, then dilute it with water to create a gradient.

While the surface is still wet, add more burnt sienna pigment, and some black on certain areas of the shadow part. You'll want to see tonal values: shadows, midtones, highlights.

Clean your brush, wet it, then take some Buff pigment, and color the top of the mushroom. Apply water to spread out the pigment. Deepen some shadows with a darker pigment.

Allow the layers to dry, ten apply a milky mixture of the brown pigment. Color also the stem of the mushroom, applying pigment with a loose brush. Tip: hold your brush slightly higher on the handle so that your strokes look less controlled.

Let the layers dry again, the apply a creamy mixture of the vine black or burnt sienna pigment, and add the details of the mushroom. Try not to outline the entire mushroom (it might look like a coloring book!). Instead, graze your brush with some dry pigment only over certain lines and strokes. The messier and more imperfect it is, the more natural it will look!