Potted Lemon Tree in Watercolor

Bring some sunshine into your day and paint this vibrant yellow potted lemon tree following my detailed demonstration and instructions. 

I decided to use my Alina Gallo set of paints for this little watercolor painting of a lemon tree, because her lemon colored paint is so vibrant and so reminiscent of real lemons I couldn’t resist it. Of course, you could use any Lemon Yellow, and my second choice would be Winsor and Newton or Schmincke, both my reliable go-to manufacturers of paint which I’ve used all my life. However, the Gallo handmade paints are lovely to use, and give a harmony to your painting which is hard to beat. You can find them online at A Gallo Colors where you will find their whole range.

In the same set of paints I used Hokkaido Orange, Forest Green, Chromite Brown and Periwinkle Blue. If you don’t have this set, then alternative colors which will be found in any regular paintbox would be:

Lemon Yellow https://tinyurl.com/eex42pju ,

Cadmium Orange https://tinyurl.com/csfb75dn ,

Sap Green https://tinyurl.com/33wzvdyu

Burnt Sienna https://tinyurl.com/yjptnnct  and

Cobalt Blue https://tinyurl.com/hrbmjtt8 

I used my Drawell Maestro (no. 778) Size 8 round brush for this painting. You can buy these Japanese brushes direct from the maker in Japan. They are all handmade by Mr Maeyama, the owner of this small business, which I have supported for over two decades. I have no affiliate links with them, but enjoy using their brushes, which are reliable, expressive and inexpensive, and so I like to recommend them to my students.

For paper I chose a quarter sheet of Bockingford cold press 140lb watercolor paper which I prepared by stretching it ahead of time. If you haven’t learnt how to stretch paper yet, have a look at my video which takes the mystique out of paper stretching and explains why it is a valuable skill to have even if you don’t stretch every sheet you paint on. I know I certainly don’t, but when I want to ensure a painting is flat and unwrinkled and frameable I do like to use stretched paper.

How to paint a potted Lemon Tree

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