How to paint a Lighthouse using watercolors

 Lighthouse Landing Resort on Kentucky Lake in KY is a beautiful spot to take pictures and paint! The light, shadows and colors on the lighthouse were perfect and as if on cue M/V American Queen motored by as my lens clicked.

On this particularly beautiful day, I had the pleasure of taking inspirational photos for future paintings. Inspiration for the many paintings that will be part of the classes that I teach. In this blog , I will be sharing the photos and steps used, in a recent class, to create a painting of this lighthouse vista. Read on and enjoy ....

For every painting that I begin, I start with a plan! I pick my photos. I create a black and white print so that I am better able to see the values (lights to darks) in my original photo. 
Finally, I need to prepare my watercolor paper.
Firstly, I coat my wc paper with a very diluted wash of acrylic gesso and water spread evenly on wet paper.
When the paper is dry, I draft out a simple line drawing, using a 3B pencil. This drawing is based upon the light and dark shapes I see in my photo. This is my "road map" and it allows me to make further decisions in the process of creating what I call "creative realism."

First wash of Hansa & New gamboge yel, pthalo blue, organic vermillion

Second layer : Another wash of yellows, reds and blues.

The painting process begins by working wet into wet. I spritz clean water all over my paper and than begin dropping very light washes of my primary colors across the page.
Success using watercolors is frequently a matter of painting one layer and than just letting it dry.
When the paper has dried, I can move on to the next step and paint mixtures of pigment and water. But, now I am mixing puddles of more intense and saturated colors on my palette.

Wash layer #3

By my third application of watercolor paint, I can see the start of developing values. My use of Pthalo blue mixed with New gamboge yellow and a bit of permanent alizarin crimson is creating some lovely cool nuetral- greens, lending themselves to creating my background trees and other shapes.

Layer 4 - Creating patterns

Time to give this painting some pizzazz. Let's break out the tools that create patterns. I like to use natural spongees and paper towels to print. Old tooth brushes are great to splatter with.
At  this point in time, I am mixing some batches of paint that are dark, rich colors.
I am using more paint and less water in the mixing of paint on my palette.
I keep my paper drier, too.
Remember : Dry paper creates hard edges and wet paper creates soft edges!
So, if you want soft patterns print on damp paper, but if you want a hard edge appearance to your printed pattern than print on damp paper.

Since, I am creating patterns over the tree shapes in order to create the illusion of  leaf texture, I can push/ than lift my paint laden spongee freely across the background. My dark mixture of pthalo blue, alizarin and a bit of new gamboge leave  beautiful dark shape patterns behind.

If I put too much paint down and my painting becomes too dark, I remember that I can lift/remove paint simply by wetting my brush and than softly scrubbing the spot and blotting with a paper towel cleans up and lightens an area very nicely. Becuase I gesso my wc paper, I can lift alot of paint!

Black and white photo of my painting

Periodically in my painting process, I take a black and white photo of my artwork. I do this in order to see if I have create a full range of values and my subject matter is taking shape through the chosen placement of lights to building darks.

In studying my photo, I feel like I want to do a little more work! I have more to say about this landscape. I want to push my darks in the shadow regions of the trees, increase the intensity of the blue in my sky and add some brilliant white lights across my water. 
But how do I bring back the white of the paper? 
I don't!
I use a mixture of 1/3 acrylic gesso, 1/3 water and 1/3 acrylic matte medium, instead. This recipe creates a slightly opaque mixture of white that I can now use to paint highlights throughout the painting.

close up of water where I used opaque paint

On a paper plate, I place a small amount "gesso juice" as I like to refer to it. I do not want to contaminate my wc palette with the acrylics, so I find a spare plates works well for this.
I can now paint in new lights! These strokes will be somewhat opaque, somewhat transparent. I can layer my "gesso juice" to make subsequent strokes more opaque, if desired.
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Note : Following is a special Fearless Technique!: 

I have also discovered that if I want to create an opaque color to use in my painting. I can drag a small amount of whatever pigment desired onto the paper plate and mix it with my gesso mixture for a lovely opague tint! 

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"LIGHT HOUSE LANDING" © Beattie 2025

My finished painting of Light house landing on Kentucky Lake. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial about painting with a mix of water media. This blog is dedicated to my students who keep me asking "What if I...?" and experimenting with new and different techniques for painting fearlessly.
Please visit my web site art classes page if you would like to learn more about painting fearlessly!

If you are looking for a creative gift to give, how about a gift certificate from Beattie Artworks? Gift certificates are good for classes and artwork.


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