Capture Autumn in Loose Watercolour

As the air turns crisp and the colours shift, autumn offers the most beautiful palette of the year: golden leaves, bright berries, and earthy nuts. Loose watercolour is the perfect way to capture this season — playful, expressive, and full of life.

Why paint autumn loosely?

• It lets colours blend and flow, just like leaves shifting in the breeze.
• The unexpected textures echo the richness of the season.
• You don’t need perfect shapes — suggestion and spontaneity tell the story.

Autumn Palette Inspiration

 Leaves: quinacridone gold, burnt sienna, pyrrol orange, alizarin crimson

 Berries: pyrrol red, magenta, indigo shadows

 Nuts: raw umber, sepia, neutral tint

You can also take this as a full length real time video class available for subscribers who are already taking my other full length loose watercolour classes.

Try this at home:

1. Start with a wash of golden yellows.
2. Drop in warm reds and oranges to form leaf shapes.
3. Add a cluster of berries with a touch of shadow.
4. Suggest nuts with earthy browns, leaving highlights for shine.
5. Finish with a few lively spatters in sienna or crimson.

Remember: keep it playful, not perfect. Autumn’s beauty lies in its imperfections and surprises.

What you’ll need:

Always remember, If you don’t have the equipment and paints I have, you can be really creative and use what you do have.

• I worked from real life autumn leaves, berries and nuts – if you’d like to use the same reference photo you can download the PDF photo/s to refer to within the class video area.
• Paper: 300gsm Arches (140lb) cold pressed watercolour paper or a sketchbook.
• My sheet size is: 27x38cm (11×15 inch)
• Brushes: Jennifer Rose size 10/0 and 0 mop brush. Link here: https://www.rosemaryandco.com/jennifer-rose-mop.
• Kitchen towel (to dab off any excess water) and to create shapes
• Water in a pot
• A scrap of paper to practice and mix your colours with by your side.

• Windsor & Newton and Daniel Smith Paints:

  • Lemon Yellow – W&N
  • Gamboge Yellow– Daniel Smith
  • Pyrrole Red– W&N – lovely and vibrant!
  • Rose Of Ultramarine – Daniel Smith (A touch of)
  • Pinky red Colour to list)
  • Burnt Sienna – Daniel Smith
  • Burnt Umber – W&N
  • Yellow Ochre – W&N
  • Sap Green- W&N
  • Olive Green- W&N
  • Chinese White – To create a light white sheen to the conker)
  • 1. Outline your leaves: – Lightly outline your leaf shapes using the tip of your paintbrush and a light colour of the leaf (maple, oak or oval forms you’ve collected). This allows for a freer, looser look.
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  2. Base Wash: Load your brush with clean water and paint and fill the leaf shape with the lightest colour within your leaf and let the colour spread.

  3. Add Autumn Hues:  Whilst still damp, touch in the edges and tips with brown, deeper yellows and reds (whichever your leaf shows). Let the pigments blend naturally, and don’t overwork.

  4. Depth and Veins:  Using the end of your paintbrush, lightly press to create the veins and lines to your leaf. Try this when your paint is semi dry and the paper is soft. Mix a darker color (burnt sienna + a little indigo) and with the tip of your brush, allow the paint to fill the creases you’ve created. Suggest a central vein and a few side veins. Keep them loose and broken, not exact lines using a dabbing motion with your paintbrush.

  

  5. Finishing Touches: Once your leaves, berries and nuts are dry, deepen the tones by adding darker hues within your autumn shapes, and along the edge for contrast. Spatter a little paint for a natural, scattered-leaf effect. Allow to fully dry

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• Tips for looseness:
  • Work wet-on-wet for soft blends.
  • Use quick, confident strokes.
  • Vary colors within one leaf for a natural, lively look.

   

  Want to follow this painting process in real time?

  This full length Loose watercolour autumn class is available in my watercolour library —A perfect way to capture this season — playful, expressive, and full of life.

  You can find this class and others here: https://jenniferrose.art/paint-watercolours-with-me/

  With warmth and inspiration,

  Love Jennifer Rose xx