Easy Watercolor Painting | Fall Tree

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Are you ready for the leaves to change color?

I know once September hits I am ready to see all the leaves to change colors on the trees. Honestly, I have always thought it was one of the best parts of living up north. However, sometimes it takes FOREVER for the leaves to decide to change colors… So, why not make our own watercolor fall tree to help us wait for the season to catch up?

Here is a video of the painting’s whole process. Keep reading below to see this watercolor fall tree painting broken down into 3 easy steps!

What Supplies Will You Need?

1. Watercolor paper
2. Round paintbrush
3. Watercolor paint (Burnt Sienna, Sage Green, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt
4. Two cups of water
5. Paper towel

If you would like to see all the art supplies I recommend, check out, “My Supplies” page. Click HERE to check it out!

Mixing Paints

Before we begin painting we need to get our paint ready and into our mixing pallet. We will only be mixing two colors together, the rest of our pallet will be even washes.

1. Mix together Burnt Umber + Black. Use more Burnt Umber than Black to create a dark brown.
2. Have a light wash of Burnt Sienna in your pallet. Use an even amount of water and paint to create an orange paint mixture.
3. Have a light wash of Alizarin Crimson in your pallet. Use an even amount of water and paint to create a red paint mixture.
4. Have a light wash of Sage Green in your pallet. Use an even amount of water and paint to create a green paint mixture.

Step 1:

For our first step, we are going to create the trunk of the tree and the ground underneath the tree.

Tree Trunk: Dip your round brush into the dark brown paint mixture and begin painting starting at an inch of the way up from the bottom of your paper. The trunk of the tree should slowly get smaller as you paint upwards. To make the trunk look more realistic don’t worry about being completely symmetrical, allow yourself to make uneven bumps as you paint upward. At the top of the trunk paint in three uneven “Y” shapes. One on the left, middle, and on the right.

Ground: Dip your brush into the dark brown paint mixture and paint a small line of brown paint. Next, clean off your brush, then using clean water on your brush blend out the dark brown line underneath the tree to create the ground.

Use the picture and video below as a guide.

Step 2:

In this step, we are going to be using the green, red, and orange paint mixtures we created a few moments ago. We are going to start with our orange mixture. Dip your brush into the paint and begin painting by randomly taping in the paint on the far left side of the tree. Next, dip your paint into the red paint mixture and begin taping in paint right next to the orange section you just created. Above the red paint, tap in more orange paint, and then more red paint next to that. Now, dip your brush into the green paint mixture and tap it in at the base of the treetop, moving upward towards the right. Then to finish off this step tap in the green paint at the top of the left side of the tree.

Use the video and picture below as a guide.

Step 3:

Let’s add splatter to our tree to make it have the appearance of fallen leaves. We are going to splatter this painting with three colors. We are going to use green, orange, and red paint.

Add a lot of water into the green, orange, and red paint mixtures we’ve already created. This will tone down the vibrancy of the colors as well as give us the ability to load our brush up with the paint.

Dip your brush into the green paint and begin taping your brush on your finger over your painting. Repeat this same action with the orange and red paint. Use your paper towel to dab off any extra paint on the tree that you don’t like.

Congrats! You’re Done!

I hope you enjoyed painting this fall tree with me. If you liked this painting you’ll also want to check out, Watercolor Painting Tutorial | Fall Pumpkins. Before you leave don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter. You’ll receive a FREE color theory cheat sheet, as well as a free floral camera color sheet. Check out our social media accounts to see if you’d like to follow along and see more paintings and behind the scenes photos. Leave a comment below letting me know what you would like to paint next.

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Hope to see you real soon!