Loose Watercolor Landscape Tutorial – Negative Space Made Simple

I’ll be straight with you — in my early watercolor landscape painting days, I thought I could skip the grind. I wanted a masterpiece, right now!, on day one, but the truth is, I hadn’t put in the miles. I didn’t deserve quality art yet. Watercolor has a way of humbling you — those early washes of mine looked more like bad coffee stains than paintings.

⚡ Want to go deeper? Check out my free Watercolor Landscape Course — hours of step-by-step demos that’ll toughen up your fundamentals and free your brush

I see a lot of beginners make the same mistake: too much pressure, chasing beauty before they’ve even built a foundation. You burn through paper, get frustrated, and wonder if you should just quit. I’ve been there. The turning point for me wasn’t some fancy brush or secret palette. It was learning to embrace negative space painting.

Watch the video and scroll down for more landscape mojo!

Here’s the drill:

• Start loose. Forget the tight pencil sketch. Back then I over-drew everything, then painted scared. Now I drop a couple edges and let the brush figure it out.
• Work light to dark. Sky first, a pale teal wash so light it barely registers. Hills next, neutrals laced with ochre to dodge that flat, lifeless look.
• Let the buildings paint themselves. No more outlining every brick like I used to. Negative space means painting around your subject — carve out those white blocks, then hit them with subtle shadows. Suddenly, buildings appear.
• Keep it gritty. Water and boats? Just a few back-and-forth strokes, with raw paper left untouched. My rookie self would’ve fussed those areas to death. Now I leave them breathing.
• Balance the mess. Big shapes (sky, building mass), medium (hills, water), small (a few rooflines and window dots). Like seasoning food — too much, you ruin it. Just enough, it sings.

Watercolor Lessons the Hard Way:

• I blasted a million washes with a hairdryer early on. Half of them bloomed like moldy cauliflower. Use it sparingly and hold it 10 inches from the wet wash.
• Flat washes? That was me, guilty as charged. Keep color shifting — add ochre to grays, blues to neutrals. This makes it dynamic, exciting!
• Over-saturated accents? Been there. One neon red roof hijacked an entire painting. Thin it out. Let it whisper, not scream.

Negative space painting hit me at the right time. I’d already stumbled enough to be ready for it. And once I got it, everything shifted. You stop painting “things” and start painting around them. You see the world in edges and shadows, and suddenly watercolor doesn’t feel like a fight — it feels like freedom.

Continue Learning

👉 Next stop: check out my Free Watercolor Painting Course or browse the Watercolor Tutorials Hub to keep building your skills.
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My Watercolor Tool Box

Here are the materials I use all the time and have for decades. I only buy from Blick Art but feel free to shop where you prefer.

Recommended Watercolor Materials

• Holbein Professional Watercolor Paints – 8 Essential Hues
  Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Light, Neutral Tint, Burnt Sienna
• Fabriano Artistico Watercolor Paper – 140lb Cold Press
  Buy full sheets and cut into quarter sheets for best value
• Silver Jumbo Wash Brush
  Great coverage, excellent quality for the price
• Princeton Neptune Point Rounds (No. 12 & 6)
  Reliable and affordable detail & wash brushes
• Princeton Neptune Dagger (1/2")
  Versatile size for lines, edges, and detail work
• Masterson Aqua Pro Palette
  Durable, with deep wells for generous mixing space
• Gator Board
  Lightweight, long-lasting painting support board
• Holbein White Gouache
  Optional for highlights and fine details
• Miscellaneous: plastic water containers, paper towels, masking tape

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