You just have to think that you are sitting by the sea and the sun is setting down as you are painting the sky with glowing orange color, soft pink color and dark violet color. As a beginner painting the magnificent beautiful scenery with watercolor may feel like a hard challenge. But with the enthusiastic tools and rightly guided steps with our Seaside Watercolor Book, painting a natural sunset sky is an amazing and easy prize for you.

The main aim is the simple “wash’ technique in this tutorial. It is an amazing method in which thin layers of color mix flawlessly making the soft and bright look of natural sunset. We will teach you to control the water and how to use the color productively by changing the empty page in a peaceful and dynamic landscape. 

This is an excellent project for relaxation that needs only basic tools and less time by admiring that an amazing art is always stress free and simple. You just get ready to mix the colors and invent the magic of painting light with water.

Why the Sunset Wash is Perfect for Beginners

The most relaxing and imaginable basic technique in watercolor painting is watercolor wash. The watercolor wash is all about applying a thin layer of washy color equally on large areas like the sky. Sunsets are the excellent details for washes as the natural beauty is in the soft transformation of colors that is not in detailed elements or sharp lines. 

It simply means that now you do not have to be worried about the complicated shading and drawing. Now your main aim is to manage the amount of water that you use by mixing the colors naturally on paper.

The flow of colors and seeing it becoming soft and dry is really introspective. “Simple Watercolor Seaside Sky” is an amazing project for apprehensive painting. While you are using an organized product, our Seaside Book, the horizon line and any focal point elements (like the sea and sand) are sketched for you softly in it already.

It will let you free from the frightening part of the balance by giving you the permission to go deep down in relaxing tempos of the strokes of the brush and mixing of the color. You can aim devotedly on the wide ranging sky by creating a strong sense of atmosphere and depth with a very little struggle.

Essential Supplies for Your Seaside Sky

For this project, you do not need a proper studio of an artist with all the stock. You just have to make it simply easy and relaxed. Specially the paper, and the quality of all the materials you have, can make a big difference in creating the smooth wash of the sunset. 

By using your ArtVibe Wellness Seaside Watercolor Book and kit, the things you will need are as follows:

Seaside Watercolor Book:

The already made sketch decreases the tension of drawing, as the quality paper it has is specially made to cope with the amount of acceptable water it needs, not too much.

Watercolor Paints
To create a natural sunset, you need some special colors:

• Yellow (Cadmium Yellow or Bright Lemon Yellow)

• Red/Orange (A warm red or pre-mixed Orange)

• Pink/Magenta (For the high clouds A permanent Rose or Magenta)

• Blue/Violet (A deep Ultramarine Blue or Purple for the water and top of the sky)

To make everything more convinient and easy for you, ArtVibe wellness has introduced a complete set of colors and brushes for you on discounted price. Click the link below to claim your dicsount today.

A Large Soft Brush

A Wash Brush (about 1 inch wide and flat usually) or a Large Round Brush (size 10 or 12). A soft brush can grip more water and can also equally spread the color, which is hard for a smooth wash.

Two Water Jars

One for the clean water (for making the paper wet and mixing the colors) and another one for cleaning the brush while painting (the dirty water).

Paper Towel/Sponge: To clean the extra water of your brush.

By focusing on artistic rhythm, when you have all of these essential tools you can work easily without any disturbance to write the 1500-word article focused and relaxed. 

Preparing the Paper: The Wet-on-Wet Technique

We will use the wet-on-wet technique to achieve the soft and whipped sunset look. Before spreading the paint, first you have to wet the paper. The color softens and flows when you put it on the wet paper that will make the sky transformation natural.

1. Tape Down the Edges (Optional but Recommended): You just have to use the masking tape that artists use around the boundary of the sky area. This will help make the border clean by eliminating the curving of the paper when it is wet with the water. 

2. Activate Your Paints: Drop some water on the pans of the color before you wet the paper by using (Yellow, Red/Orange, Magenta, Blue/Violet). As it will activate the colors by making them easily pickable.

3. Wet the Sky Area: Soak your large clean brush in the jar of clean water. Fully soak the brush. Quickly and smoothly brush layers of clean water all over the sky area of the already sketched scene. Carefully spread the water not making it too heavy and also making sure that the area is wet and shiny equally. Your wash has the base now. Exactly stop at the horizon line that is already made.

4. Wait for the Sheen: You have to soak the paper, not make it heavily wet. Now wait for 30 seconds so that the heavy sheen of water slowly flattens, but the paper should still be wet. For the perfect blending, this is the “sweet spot.”

The Sunset Wash: Layering Color for Depth

The enjoyable part is now adding the color by doing it fast because the paper will be drying quickly. The key for success here is painting from light to dark colors and inside the edges.

Step 1: The Sun’s Glow (Yellow and Orange)

• You need a brush that is wet but not with extra water dripping so clean your brush and rinse the extra water on the paper towel.

• Now pick a good amount of the Yellow color. Start spreading this color by brush near the horizon line where you are showing that the sun is setting down. You do not have to worry about perfection.

• Now quickly change the color with a mix of red and yellow or orange. Spread this color above the yellow color. Let these two colors run together and touch. In the previous step the water you applied will naturally mix the yellow and orange by making a smooth, soft inclination that makes the area bright around the sunset.

Step 2: The Mid-Sky Hues (Pink/Magenta)

• Now quickly clean your brush and pick up the Pink/Magenta color. This color will make the beautiful reddish brightness that is mostly seen in the clouds of the setting sun.

• Above the orange line, by soft sweeping horizontal strokes of brush, apply the magenta color. The wet paper will make amazing blends of coral and peach as the magenta color touches the orange color.

• And if the colors are not spreading enough, you can soak your brush in the clean water and touch the edge of the color as this will enhance the color flow more. Be careful and do not make hurdles. 

Step 3: The Deep Upper Sky (Blue/Violet)

• You need the cool and deep colors for the top of the sky. Mix the Ultramarine Blue with a touch of Violet or you can also use the dark blue color.

• Spread this color to the top edge of the paper. Use little paint by allowing the blue/violet to touch the magenta color. This cool contrast of the colors with the warm colors below makes the sunset look more natural and dramatic. The group of cool and warm color tones will add a pleasant view with depth making it more interesting to watch. 

Troubleshooting the Sunset Wash

As a beginner, you will face some common problems. You do not have to be worried, as these issues are part of the learning process, and watercolor is also lenient. 

Problem: The colors are too dark or too harsh.

You are not using enough water but too much color. Quickly clean your brush, smudge it well, and use the soaked brush to lightly pick some of the color from the paper. You can also touch the edge of the harsh area with a clean, wet brush to make the color soften and dilute.

Problem: Cauliflowers or Backruns (Water Blobs).

It happens when you drop a very watery paint mixture or clean water on the wash that is still wet. By creating a strange feathered edge it pushes the color out of the way. You have to paint quickly on the equally wet paper to prevent this problem. Trying to add more details, you can also wait until the whole wash dries completely.

Problem: The colors look muddy.

You have overburdened the colors by mixing them too much on the paper when they were still wet. Letting the colors mix together is the beauty of this technique. In the future, you just try to use one or two strokes per color area and let the water do the mixing.

Adding Depth: Painting Simple Clouds

Depending on the water that is used, usually it takes 10 to 15 minutes while your main sky wash is fully dry. Now you can enhance the natural feeling of the painting by adding some simple soft clouds. By using thin watery paint, the key here is to use the wet-on-dry technique (applying wet paint to dry paper).

1. Thin Your Cloud Color: By mixing a very light and milky version of a soft Magenta or a little hazy Gray-Blue (Use a lot of water and a tiny bit of blue color).

2. Sketch the Shapes: By the use of a small round brush (size 6 or 8), slightly paint the bottom edges where you want to make your clouds. Clouds are often horizontal and nebulous at the horizon, and they become more enlarged as we look high above.

3. Soften the Edges: Clean your brush thoroughly, quickly after spreading the color, smudge it on the towel, and touch the clean damp brush to the top edge of the cloud figures. This will make the line soft by making the cloud look hazy and unified in the sky rather than being painted on top. Making the clouds brighter-looking, this technique is called lifting or feathering.

Completing the Seascape: The Water

You have made the magnificent sky perfectly; now you need to paint the water below the horizon line. The water, with a little richer and darker color, should reflect the sky to make the contrast and depth.

1. Observe the Reflection: As the water will mainly reflect the brightest colors in the sky (orange and yellow color near the horizon) but will also absorb the dark blue and purple color from the sky above, especially close to the foreground.

2. Paint the Water Wash: You can use a little darker mixing of the same colors, orange/yellow and Blue/Violet that you used for the sky. By using horizontal strokes, spread the colors. Remember to keep the brush strokes very controlled and flat to make the impression of a silent ocean.

3. Add Ripple Lines: When the wash is almost dry, take a small fine brush and use a very thick dark blue or dark gray color to paint some very thin and sharp horizontal lines. These present the far folds of the sea waves and by quick addition of the natural smooth surface of the ocean.

Why This Project is Ideal for Stress Reduction

This simple tutorial of the ocean’s sunset is more than an art project as it is a form of mindful painting specially designed for quick stress relief.

Focus on Flow, Not Form: 

The impressiveness of the wash technique changes your aim from being worried about perfection (for example, making perfect lines) to watching the fluid, unpredictable nature of color and water. This is an elementary method in recognition of mindfulness. You will be forced to get rid of control.

Color Psychology

The warm colors of the sunset (yellow, orange, pink) are psychologically associated with ease, warmth, and hope. Letting yourself in painting these colors can naturally change your mood and prevent the exhausting feeling of a stressed day.

The Power of Contrast

The pleasure of watching the bright and warm colors of the sunset contrast beautifully with the cool and deep colors of the water and the upper sky surely is a quick prize. It is a small appreciable achieved goal that boosts the confidence and gives a sense of performance after a hypothetical workday.

Accessible Results

In your Seaside Book the layout is already made, which gives you a surety of charming results. It also eliminates the tension of performance, which stops many beginners from even starting. When the results are more beautiful, you are more interested in the stress-relieving activity as a permanent hobby.

Final Steps - The Reveal and The Pause

When all of the layers of your painting are completely dry, slowly and carefully peel off the masking tape (if you have used it). The white and clean border will quickly turn your sunset wash look more encased and competent.

Just take time to step back and look at the masterpiece you made. Watch the soft glow, the calm, and the depth that is making the paper more beautiful. This is the imaged reminder of the peace of your mind that you have achieved during this process.

This 5-minute art break is a powerful tool to transform your mood after work. Giving importance to this small act of creativity and self-care, you are investing in your brain’s health and making a peaceful tone for your whole evening.