How to paint a Watercolour Postcard

A lovely way to spend a lovely sunny summer’s day by learning or developing your watercolour skills; with a painted postcard. A wonderful keepsake or to send off with family & friends…

SL : beginners +

B : £23+

T : 1.5 + hours

You will need: Watercolour paper, Watercolours, a pencil, an eraser, Paint-brushes or Water-brushes, a container with clean water and some tissue.

Additional equipment: a ruler, stamps, ink pad and a pen for writing.

Before you start, we recommend thinking about what you would like to paint. You can use a reference photo, work from still life or pick a location and paint what you see.

For this demonstration, we used a photo reference of a location we went to. 

Equipment used in Demo (From Hobbycraft)

Daler-Rowney Simply Watercolour Pocket Set of 12 (including brush) - 5722681000

Hobbycraft ART Watercolour postcards A6 (15 sheets) - 6371751000

Derwent Fine-Tip Water-brush - 6043521000

Dreamer Mini Alphabet Wooden Stamp Set 30 Pieces - 6534281000

Hobbycraft Ink Stamp (xmas red) - 6523811013

Step 1

Using your pencil, sketch out your subject matter onto your watercolour paper. We used a 3B pencil, but I recommend a lighter pencil like HB.

Step 2 : Once you have your sketch completed, you will need to make sure your set up for your watercolours. If your set up at home, make sure you have your brushes ready and a container with water at hand. If you're using the water brushes, make sure there is a supply of water within.

Step 3

To start you will be using the wet-on-wet technique for the sky. This is a watercolour technique that uses wet paint against wet paint or wet paper. This allows the paint to blend easily.

Start by wetting your paintbrush or squeezing your water-brush a-little to release some water. Wet the area with your brush until it looks shiny.

The trick is to not add to much water. You need it shiny looking, but it also starts to absorb.

From the Daler-Rowney watercolour pocket set used in the photos, the colours we used are- Vermillion (hue), Sap green, Viridian (hue), Yellow ochre, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt blue (hue), Prussian Blue and Ivory Black.

Step 4

Using some water and a small amount of Prussian blue, mix together to make a watery pale blue. Using your brush, apply small amounts on the pre wet paper. You should use a tapping motion to dab small amounts to build up a sky.

You want to leave some areas blank for where your clouds will be; otherwise, you need to lightly tap over the areas you want clouds with a clean dry tissue.

Step 5

Using small amounts of your watercolours and some water, paint lightly, the figures within our scene. For the photos, the land in the distance was painted first, then the trees, and so forth till a light image is formed. It would be useful to build up your scene in layers.

You will have a first layer to help visualise what you’re painting. We used sap green for warmer coloured trees, viridian (hue) with small amounts of black to create cooler toned trees and leaves.

Step 6 : To build up the painting with more details, mix more of the paint but with less water. You should have an even ratio of water and paint. Once you’re happy with the layer, you should be mixing a higher ratio of watercolour vs water.

Step 7 : Start building up detail by taking advantage of your brush shape and size. You can use the tip of the brush to make small details, the side of the brush to fill, and the way you move the brush can create lines for tree branches and water ripples.

If you find your greens to vibrant, adding small amounts of vermillion (hue) can help dull the colour. Mixing Colbert blue and Vermillion (hue) can create a grey wash, handy for creating light shadows for the clouds and water.

Step 8 : Once you're painting in complete and dry, you can start writing your postcard. Remember to write the address on the right side of the card and your message on the left.

If you want to add some more detail into your card, there’s a few things you can add. You can use some stamps to write on the back ‘postcard’ like original vintage cards have. Using a pencil, ruler and a pen you can mark out the sides to separate them.