This is an example of using the negative painting process to paint a sunny fall Cottonwood tree in Zion National Park. On top of my light pencil sketch I lay in very loose washes of color.

The finished painting. Can you identify all the places in this painting where I used negative painting to create positive and negative shapes?

In this close-up you can see how I use bluish pigment to build the cast shadows on the trunk, which gives them shape and form. Notice how three-dimensional my branches are becoming.

In the completed painting you can see how I built up texture by moving to progressively darker paint applications. Notice that the cast shadows in the right-hand cliffs are bluer and darker, [...]

Successive glazes with darker pigments form the darker branches and starts to shape the edges of the trunk.

I am using a #8 round synthetic brush and lay it on its side. This not only covers a broader area, but it allows the brush to skip (scumble) over the paper for a textural effect. I am using [...]

After applying the basic underglazes I let them dry completely before starting my darker shadows. The cliff face on the left is in shadow, so I use darker pigments. As the paint starts to set up, [...]

Remember that the shadows on sandstone are often very warm due to reflected light. Here I am using Quinacridone Sienna, with a touch of Cad Red light, and cooling it with Quinacridone Magenta. I [...]

Everyone seems fascinated by the ripply water reflections in my Lake Powell paintings. This is a technique I learned from the master himself, David Drummond. But in this sequence I will [...]

The finished painting. “Deep Blue and Orange – Lake Powell” 8″ x 12″ watercolor by Roland Lee.

Next I painted the water using wet-into-wet washes allowing the pigments to mingle on the paper. The technique used in this area is what makes watercolor so unique. Finally I scumble the distant [...]

Now I go to work on the shrubs, starting to model the shapes using both positive and negative painting techniques. I am also balancing warm and cool colors to keep the painting lively.

Using a full sheet of Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, I first soaked the paper in water, then stapled it to a stiff backing board. Re-wetting the bottom half of the paper, I first layed in [...]

I continue to work on the trees and bushes adding realism and detail. I darken some of the snow shadows to bring all the elements into the proper value relationships. I brought in more yellows [...]

Follow along as I demonstrate the whole watercolor painting process on how to paint the cliffs of Zion National Park. I will demonstrate the watercolor techniques of “wet-into-wet” [...]

I am using a full sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold press. I first soaked it in the tub, then stapled it to my backing board. When dry I lightly sketched in the shapes of the cliffs using a 4H pencil, [...]

This painting was juried into the prestigious Paint America “Paint the Parks top 50 Mini” competition which toured America in 2007 and 2008.

While the sky is drying I move down to the foreground rocks and begin a very bold lay-in of color with a one-inch flat brush. I use both wet into wet and scumbling techniques to establish the [...]

Notice that the darkest darks and the lightest lights are always in the foreground. Because I kept the distant mountains lighter in value they seem to recede into the distance. The light branches [...]

A close-up allows you to see method of creating texture on the rocks. As the pigment starts to dry, I deliberately create small back runs or oozles by loading my brush with clear water and [...]

Once again I begin by establishing the sky area. This only takes a few minutes and is done wet in wet to keep the colors fresh and lively. I then begin laying in the lightest glazes and the [...]

I use the same techniques on the distant rocks and cliffs being careful to preserve the whites along the sunny edges. I also add some of the streaks on the cliff walls.

A close-up of the sky lets you see how the pigments mingle freely. As I start to paint the cliffs I keep my washes very light. With the first washes dry, I do a little light sketching with a 4-H [...]

Now that I have most of the cliffs established, I can see where my reflections will be in the water. I first sketch them in with the 4H pencil trying to create a sense of distance by narrowing [...]