There is something so soothing about a quiet forest scene, and today Kassi is sharing a project that perfectly captures that peaceful feeling. Using soft watercolor layers, playful splatters, and her love for painting delicate trees, she creates a serene winter landscape that feels both calming and inspiring. In this tutorial, Kassi walks us through her process of letting go, embracing creative play, and using simple tools like the Petunia Platform and MISTI Lite to make the experience even more enjoyable. If you’ve been craving a little creative calm, this project is sure to spark it.
Hello friends! Lately I have become obsessed with painting calm little forest scenes. I think it’s because December was so busy and stressful that I’m trying to reclaim my inner calm through painting serene scenes.
I started my painting by taping down the edges of my Arches Cold Press watercolor paper to the My Sweet Petunia Platform. This will help prevent the paper from warping. I then brushed clean water over the whole paper and started randomly adding in some paint. Some with a brush, some with splatters. I also dabbed some of the color off using tissue paper.
This is really just an exercise in play and being in the moment- watching the colors move on the paper, creating areas of light and dark, experimenting with different mark making techniques… whatever whispers to your heart! I highly recommend trying this!
When I was happy with the background, I set it aside to dry. You can carefully use a heat gun to speed up the drying process (careful, the platform is metal and can get hot!), but I like to let my backgrounds dry naturally as the force of the air from a heat gun can move/change how the pigment is sitting on the paper.
I personally love hand painting in all the trees- it’s my happy place- however, if you don’t enjoy painting trees, you can always create your own scene using stamps. I like to use a variety of colors for my trees, and no, you don’t have to stick with shades of green! I used various colors from Dusty Bee Watercolors to paint this forest.
One of the advantages of using the Petunia Platform as your painting board is that magnets stick to it… which means, if you have little magnets on the bottom of your paint pans like I do, they stick to the board and won’t go sliding off when you tip or turn your board! (I’ve sent more pan flying over the years…)
After the scene is painted, I like to add a sentiment. The MISTI Lite makes this easy to do without having to move my painting (in case I decide it needs something else after the sentiment is added).
This sentiment is from Gina K. Designs Blissful Blossoms. I love how the elegant font adds to the calm beauty of the forest!
I’m going to have to start transitioning into painting spring forests soon, or maybe a forest of cherry trees in bloom….
Happy painting!
Kassi
My Sweet Petunia Products Used:
Gina K Products Used:
Blissful Blossoms Stamp Set - Sentiment on card.
Other Products:
Arches Cold Press watercolor paper
paintbrush
Dusty Bee watercolors
Black ink
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