Follow along step by step to paint this easy watercolor landscape with barn – a Pennsylvania road scene in autumn for beginners. Also learn about some must have paint pigments that will improve your palette! This is a longer lesson, so it’s broken down into segments and can be done over more than one sitting.

For more barn reference photos visit my Flickr albums – barns and roads. Anyone is free to download and use my photos for painting – no attribution required.

Downloads for Watercolor Barn for Beginners

• Reference Photo [click here for link to large file download link]
• Outline Page 8 x 10 size
• Finished Painting

Suggested Paint Colors for Easy Landscape in Watercolor

• Cerulean Blue – for the sky (alternate colors – Cobalt or Ultramarine plus a little Phthalo Blue)
• Green Gold – alternate mix yellow with light green
• Perylene Green – alternate use Hookers plus red or purple or mix Phthalo + Burnt Sienna
• Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna – mix for blue gray to dark brown
• Red – any red
• Brown – Burnt Sienna or any brown

Painting Steps for Watercolor Landscape with Barn

Step 1 – Draw or trace your outline onto your watercolor paper using graphite paper. If you’re not good at details, leave out the distant trees and buildings. You can easily fill this area with a hill, instead.

Step 2 – Paint the sky wet on wet. Get in, get out – don’t play with it for a beautiful sky.

Mask the white barn? If it’s easier to mask, place a piece of masking tape over the white of the barn.

Wet the sky area with clean water – nice and wet – then hold it up to let the excess drip off.

Mix a big puddle of a pretty blue. You can mix your blues until you’re happy with the color.

Start painting at the top and leave some unpainted area at the bottom of the sky above the foreground.

Add more paint? If your wash isn’t dark enough, add darker paint (more paint, less water).

Let the water do the work – turn and tilt your wet sky to let gravity give you beautiful smooth blends. This takes practice, so don’t be afraid. If the paint doesn’t move at all, you can give it a small spritz with a misting bottle until it’s the right dampness.

Step 3 – First Washes of Color on Foreground – Graded Washes of Color

Road – mix a light wash of blue plus brown and paint the road, lighter at the top and darker as it goes down.

Field – mix a wash of yellow and brown. Start at the top with water or watery paint and get darker (more paint) as you paint towards the bottom and right. Also paint the top right field area with brown. Dry.

Grass – Mix your green with your blue and Green Gold or yellow.

• Grass strip – Paint the grass strip light to dark.
• Green triangles – Paint the small green triangle under the barn and on the left side of the road.
• Tree mass right side – While you have the green, paint the green tree mass on the right side of the barn.

Barn – Mix Cobalt blue + a little Burnt Sienna for a blue gray.

• Roof – Paint the barn roof medium value gray, lighter on the top left and darker towards the right bottom.
• Eave – Also the eave of the left side and paint a line of gray under the edge of the roof.
• Stone Foundation – Paint the stone foundation at the bottom – light on the left and dark on the right.
• Dry.
• Barn side – Paint the right side of the barn with watery gray. When the wash starts to dry, use a damp brush to draw lines in the wash.
• Small barn roof – Paint the roof of the little barn on the left gray, also.

Step 4 – Painting the distant tree line in watercolor landscape with barn.

Brown areas – use burnt sienna or your favorite fall color to paint the two brown areas as seen in the photo above.

To add brown to the tree in front of the barn, use a brush with very little paint and drag it across the paper so only a bit of color sticks.

Green areas – use medium and dark (Perylene) green to paint the green trees. Add darker green squiggles to the largest tree. Make the middle tree lighter so it seems farther away.

Bare trees – add a few suggestions of bare trees with very thin lines. Use a brush, pencil of pen.

Red building – when the trees are dry, add a tiny red building. Leave the window and roof white.

Step 5 – Finishing Road Reflections and Field for an easy watercolor landscape.

Reflections – Use light, medium or dark blue gray as seen in the photo.

Field – If your field looks gorgeous just the way it is, you can stop here and keep that look. If you want some stubble, use yellow and brown for squiggly lines until you like it. Add the hay bales last.

Telephone Poles – Feel free to leave the telephone poles out if you want. Otherwise, use a very thin watercolor line, pen or pencil to lightly indicate the poles.

Student Watercolor Paintings Landscape with Barn

Below are some of the student landscape paintings with barn – some are finished and some are still in progress. Didn’t they do a great job?