How to Watercolor Leaves - My playful realistic leaf style

You may have noticed a shift in my watercolor style this year. It’s been a long process, but this was actually the first painting where I felt like I finally “got it”. Like, my brain and my brushes finally connected and created a mix between realistic and illustrative that I find both challenging and exciting. While a watercolor pear is generally outside of my work focus, it was fun to create something a little different and step away from the added pressure of making sense of a ton of petals!

The watercolor leaves in this piece is where I really had a chance to play and explore—and they are definitely my favorite part of the entire illustration! I love the color play and the way that I can show off watercolor techniques in their simple shapes.

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How to watercolor leaves - These playful but realistic watercolor leaves are my new favorite thing to paint! I love the color play in this watercolor technique.  The leaves are no longer the back seat of the painting, in this watercolor it's the sho…
 

This style is actually similar to my colored pencil style. Before taking on watercolors, I was pretty exclusively a colored pencil artist and loved it! But it’s a little more time consuming and when I developed “mother’s thumb” after my son was born, I had to quit drawing all together for 6-12 months (hello, PPD trigger!). I leaned heavily on watercolor as a creative outlet, which was easier on my wrist, but I was never happy with the style. I should have known that mimicking my colored pencil style was the answer!
It’s definitely a different application process than colored pencil (almost the opposite! Which kind of hurts my brain) which has been tricky to figure out, but I’m excited for the journey!⠀

Watercolor Leaves Video Tutorial:

Supplies:*

Paper: Strathmore 300
Large Palette: https://amzn.to/2NMsJZD
Watercolor brushes: (round, size 4 & 6) https://amzn.to/2vU9gzF

Top: (right to left)

Burnt Sienna: https://amzn.to/2UoERCW
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Cadmium Red (deep): https://amzn.to/2UoZr6f
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Lemon Yellow Hue: https://amzn.to/2JoldAK
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Raw Sienna: https://amzn.to/2JitA0K
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Viridian Hue: https://amzn.to/3arbw0u
Intense Blue (Phthalo): https://amzn.to/3alKCHf
Ultramarine: https://amzn.to/3dzetxT
Mayan Blue Genuine: https://amzn.to/2JlSfSb
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Off Screen:

Ivory Black: https://amzn.to/39rOCEG
Hematite Genuine (warm black): https://amzn.to/2WNGKe2
Chinese White: https://amzn.to/3bwRt0B

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