FINISHING THE SAILBOAT SCENE WITH TEXTURES

 Below shows the next steps to the sailboat scene.

First, I drew a horizon line across the page, across the tops of the sailboats. I wet two inches above that line to create a tree line. (It could be mountains.) Then I used burnt sienna, french ultramarine, and yellow. Holding a flat brush with the bristle horizonal, I dabbed in bits of burnt sienna, followed by blue. I added a little yellow to create a green. Before it dried, while still shiny but not puddly, I used a credit card edge (or pen tip or palette knife) to scratch in some tree trunks.

To do the sailboats, put a hard line of color vertically parallel with the sails. Clean the brush, and with a damp brush, soften the bottoms of the boats to appear that they are sitting on the water.

Use the gauze technique with greens and burnt sienna to create a texture of foliage on the left side. You could also do this with a sponge.

This is the most fun part. Make a puddle of water on the bottom right edge. Starting with green (I used sap), drip color into the puddle and begin to blow with a straw. Add some blue and blow some more, trying to get the colors to blend. then use quin gold or another color. Make a puddle of that in the corner and blow it into the mix. I love how the colors mix this way. 

I wanted to create an extra sailboat third from left. Easy. I taped off the outside edges of the triangular sail, right over the water and background trees. Using a damp Mr. Clean, I gently wiped off the sail. 

Remove the tape when dry, and then paint the sail and bottom.

I covered the top of the picture with paper towel (or wax paper, plastic wrap, anything to protect it.)

Then I spattered quin gold and burnt sienna to create a sandy look. I decorated some of the sails. Those farthest away have greyed down sails. I also made suggestions of reflection in the water.