How to Paint a Watercolor of a Lighthouse at Sunset

Practicing and Preparing

Use this painting as a guide as you work.

Open your sketchbook and practice drawing a series of rocks. A row of rocks will be prominently featured in the painting's foreground. In pencil, sketch their shapes as circles and ovals. Some of your rocks can have sharp edges.

Practice drawing a lighthouse on a sketchbook page. It is nothing more than a tall cylinder viewed at eye level.

Research lighthouses on the internet, searching for actual photographs of them as well as artist's interpretations. Jot down parts of a lighthouse and make small sketches as you study. These can include: A solid base. Windows to illuminate the interior stairs. The lantern room with tall windows on all sides. Show a glimpse of the light. A roof.

Prepare your workspace. Assemble your supplies (also listed in the "Things You'll Need" section. You will need a medium, pointed brush, a ½ inch flat brush, at least a cup of water (to be changed as it begins to look dirty), a pencil, eraser, ruler, watercolor paper (on a pad that you can fold back, using the cardboard backing to support your page), watercolors, and tissues or sheets of paper towel.

Divide up your page. With a pencil, draw two horizontal lines dividing the page into land, water and sky. Sketch the lines very lightly. Make the shoreline behind the rocks near the bottom. Draw a horizon line approximately halfway up. This is where the sky meets the water.

Draw a series of rocks along the shore. Draw the lighthouse situated on a bar of land at the edge of the paper.

Painting

Begin painting any place you wish. Wherever you begin, you should use your brush to pull a small amount of paint onto your palette. This can be a plastic picnic plate or a clean, flat palette, perhaps one that is attached to your watercolor set. Add a few drops of water to the pigment that you carry on your brush. Mix a well-diluted puddle in whatever color you need to start. This tutorial describes the painting shown at the beginning.

Start painting the sky. Begin by painting a flat yellow sky. Add tiny bits of other colors while it is wet and they will blend quickly. Work around the lighthouse to retain the white of the paper, leaving white areas for the clouds.

Paint the strip of river or creek. Mix blue with water to create a puddle. Test it on a scrap of paper; the paint should be diluted enough to allow the white of the watercolor paper to shine through. It should clearly show the color of the paint you are using. Paint a pale blue strip or band representing the water. Using the tip of your brush, add tiny amounts of pure, undiluted blue pigment to represent movement in the water.

Continue painting working downward on the page. Create the shore with pale green, painting around the rock shapes you've sketched. Reserving white paper will make any colors you add later appear striking and vivid.

Allow a few minutes for the paint to settle into the paper. Then, wet one rock at a time and paint the rocks in various shades. Be creative and note how new shades are created by the watercolor paint mixing on its own, carried by the moisture on the paper. Use brown, green, orange, red and blue in small amounts. Try not to help by stirring and the colors will do fun things and surprise you.

Allow the piece to dry and paint the lighthouse. Use dark brown, purple or black to paint long strokes following downward at the edges of the lighthouse. Immediately follow with your clean brush filled with plain water. Run the brush barely touching the line of paint and it will pull the color and soften the harsh line. Doing this will make the structure appear solid and seem to have depth. Paint a series of small windows leading upward. Make a series of lines to create an outdoor observation platform. It looks like a short fence. Do the room housing the light. Add the roof.

Stand up the painting after it is dry to see what needs to be added or enhanced. Do those edits or corrections. Paint the setting sun. Perhaps define waning clouds above the bright colors in the sky. Add touches of color to the rocks and add grasses or weeds around them.

Finish the piece with cast shadows. Mix gray (diluted black) as a last touch. Add shadows being cast by the rocks and the lighthouse.