How to paint an Austrian Mountain Scene in Watercolour

Good morning, afternoon or evening, wherever you are. I'm Paul Clark and welcome to my studio. So, what have we got for you? Lovely lot today. Well, it's another winter scene. I'm going to be painting this lovely little mountain scene with an Austrian church. Why Austria, you say? Because we've just been told we're going back there in 2026. It's a beautiful, wonderful painting retreat staying in three destinations. Vienna for three nights, Dernstein by the side of the river Danube and then up into the mountains at Zellamsee. It really is a lovely trip and I've included at the end of this video, it's only a short four minute video of our trip this year. Anyway, enough of me waffling. Come and join me and we'll paint this step by step together. Today's materials. My paper is some Winsor & Newton Professional cold press finish, 100% cotton. It's 140 pounds. It's on a block so it won't need stretching but as always any decent watercolour paper will do. My colours today are Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Payne's Grey and just a touch of Cadmium Orange. I'm also using some white gouache and for my brushes from my range I have a number 12 round, number 6 round and my trusty number 3 rigger. And here's the stunning photo which I got from Pixabay which today's tutorial is based on. And here's the drawing which as always is free to download from my website. Link in the description below. Off we go and I'm starting by using my number 12 brush and some Cobalt Blue and just painting in some blotches of sky colour. Leaving plenty of white areas to suggest the clouds. Then I'm just taking some clean water and softening some of the edges. I always like some hard and soft edges in my clouds. Next I'm dropping in some Payne's Grey to suggest some cloud shadows and again softening some edges with clean water. And in some areas I'm letting the blue and the Now for this bank here and I'm painting with clean water then dropping in this shadow colour and letting it softly blend towards the top. Now I've added in this little path which isn't in the original photo. I just think it's a nice tool to lead your eye in towards the church. I'm also adding in a few more shadows into the bank here. Right for these mountains way in the distance a nice flat wash of Cobalt Blue. That's all it needs. When that's totally dry I'm just painting in a very light wash of Yellow Ochre just to give a slight warm glow here in the mountains. Next for the mountains I'm letting it dry again then using the dry brush technique keeping the brush flat to the paper and picking up its texture. Just skimming the surface and just putting in light dabs. Now for the top part of the mountains I'm using a very warm grey mixed from Payne's Grey and Burnt Umber. Now for the bottom half of the mountains same technique but this time using a cooler grey from Payne's Grey and Cobalt Blue. And you can see from the reference photo that I'm not trying to copy it exactly. I've increased the size of the church and added in that path in the foreground. And this is where you will need either cold press or rough watercolour paper to get that lovely texture from the dry brush technique. And I'm softening a few of these hard edges with some clean water. And of course I love to add a little bit of splatting for extra texture. Next for this line of trees in the distance and this is mainly Cobalt Blue but I've added in a touch of Cadmium Yellow just to green it up slightly. And just using the tip of my number 12 brush to create these blobby shapes along the top edge. And then using the wooden end of my paint brush just to scrape in a few tree details. But just in these few trees here that are nearer to us. And while it's still wet I'm dropping in a darker bluer value along the bottom edge. And exactly the same for the trees over here. So a quick little tip on painting fir trees. Now we all know that we get them in all shapes including the branches sloping in a downward direction. But I always think they tend to look a bit childlike and Christmassy. So usually I'll paint them with the branches either horizontal or even angled upwards. I just think they look a little more natural painted like this. Right so for these nearer fir trees I'm painting with a more greener value. And I'm still using my number 12 brush. It just stops me from fussing and fiddling too much. And again using the wooden end of my brush to drag out a few details. And I'm painting all the rest of the trees in exactly the same way. Just switch to my number six here for a few details. Next for these other trees I'm using the dry brush technique again. And this is a mix of Burnt Umber with a touch of Cobalt Blue. Next for a few more shadows in the snow. Now here is a voice from the future. If you're painting along with me don't paint in these three tree shadows. I'll explain later. Next with my number six brush I'm connecting up these trees with their trunks. Nice quick confident strokes. Always looks more natural than labouring over them. Next my trusty number three rigger. Thank you. Perfect for these finer little branches. Back to my number six brush for this little bushy thing here. And this is something else which isn't in the original photo reference so I'm just making this up. And rigger again for the details. Next it's time to paint the church and I'm giving it a very light wash of Yellow Ochre using my number six. Now the church in the photo reference is basically white but I thought this little bit of warmth will just make it stand out against the snow. And a touch of Burnt Umber wet in wet underneath the roof for a bit of shadow. And a little more shadow detail in the path here again using my number six brush. I know let's put in a few footprints. Perhaps a few members of the congregation have gone for a little bit of hymn practice. I heard there was a bit of a ruckus because Felix was singing in the wrong key. And I always like to show shadows of trees that actually aren't in the picture and it helps to actually show the lay of the land. And here a little touch of clean water to soften some of the edges. And for the roof a touch of Burnt Umber and Payne's Grey and I think these roofs are designed in a way that they're so steep the snow doesn't stay on them. Next using my number six brush and the same colour I'm painting the beautiful Onion Dome which is very typical of churches in Austria. And I'm being very careful making sure I get the two sides symmetrical. Next with a watery mix of Burnt Umber I'm just painting in the shadow side of the church. And you can see to make it my own I have changed the church around a little bit. I've put the shadow on the opposite side and increased the height of the tower. We've all been given our own artistic license. Now that's all very well, Paul, changing the shadows of the church. But now the shadows on those trees are on the wrong side. D'oh! Stay tuned till the end though and I'll show you how I fixed it. Then some Payne's Grey for the shadows on the roof here and those final little details. All which help to really pull the painting together. And that looks like there's a little wooden porch here. Again using my number six brush keeping it nice and simple. And of course we need a nice dark shadow on the tower here. Really help to give it some form and shape. And of course all the little windows. Try and paint them in one stroke if you can. And this window here is just a mere sliver because we're looking at it at quite an acute angle. Rounded tops to these windows. But a gothic shape to these. Not sure what this is. Could be a little oval window. Dab it out. It just looks a bit dark. That's better. Now to create that little bit of shine on the onion dome here. I'm just taking a damp brush. Rubbing it fairly vigorously. And then just lifting off with a tissue. Now this is another little feature of these Austrian mountain churches. It's a little bit of bright orange around some of the windows and some of the edges of the walls. Now these beautiful high altitude chapels are scattered all across Austria. With many going back as far as the 1600s. With a blend of architectural styles from Romanesque and Gothic to Baroque. Don't pretend you know about Austrian churches. Now it's finished. I'm looking at the sky and I'm thinking I don't know maybe I could do with just a little bit more blue sky poking through the clouds. And as before softening a few of edges with some clean water. Next I'm taking some gooey white gouache struck from the tube. This is some titanium white by Jackman's. Just painting a little ridge of snow along the top of the roof. And a few little dollops of snow here and there. There we go. All done. And this one in just over two hours. Now you may remember my earlier deliberate error. The problem I have is with the light coming in from the left. Creating a shadow on this side of the church. Now it means that these trees the shadows are on the wrong side. So I could try and rub out these shadows. But an easier option might be to bring down this tree. Then add in another tree over here. Then simply add the snow shadow on the opposite side. There's usually a way around things just with a bit of thought. And perhaps just add in a few little shadows here. And I'm not going to worry too much about these shadows. They could just be dense in the snow. Now we are finished. Well I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did and you'll give it a go. Irrespective of what side you decide to put the shadow on. So coming up now as promised is a vlog of our wonderful painting retreat in Austria. Please check that out and details will be in the description below. But in the meantime please don't forget to like. Subscribe if you haven't already. It is free. Leave a comment. I do read every single one. Can't always reply to them all. And I'll look forward to seeing you all again next week for another Watercolor Wednesday. Have a great week everyone. Bye for now. So we started our Austrian adventure in Vienna sketching in the beautiful Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. Now that's what I call a greenhouse. And the inside was even more fabulous with hundreds of species of tropical plants. Then for a tour of the city centre. Here we all are with Andy our Commander-in-Chief. We had a behind-the-scenes tour of the famous Spanish Writing School as well as a spectacular evening concert at the Palace Orangerie. Our next location was the pretty village of Dernstein nestled on the banks of the river Danube. Now the hotel offered a wonderful teaching room with overhead projector so students could follow along without getting out of their seats. Oh and we had great fun on the schnapps tasting night. My favourite was the cherry flavour. Then from Dernstein we took the short boat trip up the river to Krems. Now here is a speeded up clip of our short walk to the town centre. Watch out for the cyclist. So the next day was a real treat as we had a full painting day at the medieval Eggstein castle. With so much to draw and paint you could really soak up the atmosphere of this stunning location. And the views from up here simply breathtaking. Some of the locals you really couldn't get a word out of. And of course followed by lunch under the shade of a big old tree. The next day we visited the most picturesque town you could imagine at Monsie right on the edge of the lake. You couldn't have wished for a better spot to paint and draw. Then a short walk into town. Yeah that guy's wearing a West Ham shirt. And the beautiful Basilica St Michael's was the location for the filming of the wedding scene from The Sound of Music. Simply stunning. We were inspired so much we had a little sing song on the coach on the way home. Toe the deer, the female deer. Ray a drop of golden sun. Me a name I call myself. Far along the ways we run. Soar beneath the waterly clays. Love a drink for the soul. See a drink of German brew. Yeah well anyway the next day was a real adventure. We took the Schaffburgbahn mountain railway all the way to the top. It was like another world up there with the most spectacular views. I mean that is plein air painting at its best. So our final destination was high up in the mountains in the beautiful resort of Schladming which is a popular ski resort in the winter. Again we had the perfect classroom for teaching and Margot took an extra lesson out on the hotel terrace. The final trip was a walking tour of the magnificent city of Salzburg. Painting in the morning and taking in the sights in the afternoon. And David who had entertained us a couple of evenings with his playing had his dream come true to play the piano in the square where Mozart was born. So we would like to thank Andy and the team from Harmony Voyages for arranging this amazing trip. But a special thanks must go to all of those lovely people who came to Austria to paint and make friends. It really was a special experience.