Painting Light In Watercolor Street Scenes

Capturing light in watercolor is always a primary goal when I am painting a street scene. The light play on buildings, shadows in the streets, and the brilliance of the sky, when done well, can come together to create a gorgeous watercolor scene.

In today’s video, I walk you through this scene I painted of a corner in Angers, France, inspired by a picture I took on my recent retreat in the Loire Valley. 

Side note - Earlier this summer, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to France to lead a painting retreat. It was a fantastic experience, and I plan to travel to new places with students in the coming months and years (the next one is in Sicily!). If you’d like to be informed of these kinds of trips, make sure you’re on my email list and follow me on social media.

How to Paint Light in Watercolor

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3 Quick Tips on Capturing the Magic of Light in Watercolor

1. Pay Attention to the Sky.

It’s often the case that your sky has some of the lightest values in your watercolor scene. Often - but not always. For example, in this scene I painted of Angers, the sky is actually darker than the sunlit buildings.

I see students make this mistake all the time: they assume the sky should be the lightest part of the painting. But in this case, my painting would have suffered greatly if I hadn’t got that sky as dark as it is. The light on these mostly white and beige buildings just wouldn’t have come out right.

So my first quick tip when capturing light in a street scene is to double check whether your sky is actually one of the lightest values and to not be afraid to darken when appropriate.

2. Don’t Be Afraid Glaze over an Area to Achieve Correct Values.

Sometimes you’re working on a watercolor painting and you realize that you didn’t get the value just right in an earlier wash. This happens to me every now and again. Don’t throw the painting out! Don’t start over! 

First, see whether a second glaze over your painting will do the trick. For this scene, I go back over the building on the left with a thin layer of Raw Sienna Light to achieve more of a warm glow and to add some sophistication and depth to the windows. 

I also painted a glaze over the street to achieve the full range of values that I wanted in this scene. This also helped define some of the shadows I wanted in the foreground. 

So, my second tip to mastering light in your paintings is to assess whether your washes need a second glaze if you haven’t achieved the warmth or the brilliance you want in your light. 

3. Add Variation in Each of Your Washes.

The method of watercolor painting I teach involves three washes from light to dark. But something I see a lot - and want to warn against - is students using the same pigment across a large area of their painting with no variation. 

Besides being boring, this misstep can also contribute to flat, lifeless light play in your scene. Consider that same building I discussed in the last point - the one on the left of my watercolor scene. See that it has slight variation in its color. This adds to the texture of the building, but it also contributes to the warmth of light. 

So, finally - my third tip - is to mix it up as you complete a wash. Even in your first wash, give a building (or whatever object you’re painting) some variation and texture. You’ll be surprised how much difference this makes as you progress in your painting process. 

Mastering Light in Watercolor

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about achieving brilliant light in your paintings - and it probably won’t be the last. It’s an important element of watercolor painting, and there is a lot to learn to master it. Below are some other videos and blogs that might help you on this journey!

Related Blogs  

Capturing Light in a Watercolor Street Scene

Painting Light in Watercolor: a Tutorial

Watercolor Mastery: Techniques to Preserve Luminosity in Your Paintings