Video Tutorial: How to Paint Pine Trees in Watercolor

I've been working on a large landscape painting for the last couple of weeks. My method these days is to put down my brush as soon as the process starts to feel forced, allowing thinking time to be an important part of the process. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at a painting that I've set aside to "percolate" and had a sudden flash of insight into exactly what was needed next in the painting. This means that optimally I should have several paintings on the go at any time, in various stages of progress.

In my recent landscape, one of the elements is a large evergreen tree. I've painted spruce and pine trees for years, and was content with my results, but in this most recent painting, I suddenly thought, "What if?..." and started throwing some unexpected colours into the process. The result was a tree that shone with life and colour, and I may never paint evergreens the old way again!

I wanted to share my findings, so I made a video talking about the new colours I'm using in painting evergreens, showing a little more technique and talking about my mother's soft spot for baby pine trees. Enjoy!