Today I have another quick sketching tutorial of a café scene in a park.
Just wanted to mention before the tutorial starts: I realize I haven’t posted in a while. My life is a bit chaotic right now, and I miss writing and making art a lot. I’m still working on finishing the landscape course, but I will probably post less frequently on the blog for a while. I hope you’re all doing well out there!
Step by step:
Pencil sketch:
I start loosely with with a light blue pencil, then add a quick pencil sketch. I’m spending most time on the area I want to focus on – café entrance, palm trees, foreground with flowers.
Sky + ground:
I use a mix of Cerulean blue, yellow ochre, vermilion red and keep it fairly light-
For the ground I use the same mix, a bit of nickel titanate yellow mixed in, I add more of it in the foreground.
Background trees, houses:
I use a light mix of sap green and Cerulean blue for the trees in the back, darkening the area at the right that’s in shadow. The houses and café building are light yellow (nickel titanate yellow), and the café’s glass doors don’t reveal much of what’s going on inside. I use a neutral mix of ultramarine and burnt sienna here.
The trees on the right get a similar color with a bit of dark blue.
The palm trees are basically a layer of lights green and some dark green shadows added on top, plus a similar blue and red earth mix for the trunk.
Foreground:
For the flowerbeds I try to add different greens in a loose manner with lots of white to create variety.
Details:
I’m adding colorful dots for the flowers, more intense color overall, like for the roofs and café and people, more contrast in the middle ground (houses, cafe entrance, people), and I add a few accents with colored pencils.
The colors for the foreground flowers are mostly invented, in reality they were white and blue (the official colors of the city) and I found it challenging to add enough contrast because I had left so much white space – so I picked an easier approach which also felt more fun.
I hope you find these type of step-by-step tutorials helpful.
Julia,
Nice to see you back online. We had the Northern Lights two nights ago, a foggy red like clouds but the sky was clear and the stars were out. Then last night nothing.
Your current sketch is fully of approaches like the lower parts. I have trouble with weeds and native plantings. Thanks.
Thank you Rolf! Oh I bet it was amazing to see the Northern Lights. We could have seen them too technically, but it was way too foggy. Great you were able to watch them.
Yeah, weeds and plants can be tricky. I try to focus on the overall character and flow instead of single elements, that helps.
Hello Julia,
Relieved and happy to read your wonderful blog post, I will try later to replicate your process in my sketchbook. Your offerings are always inspiring, helpful and lovely.
Sending you best wishes for patience, strength, resilience and
Kindest regards,
Laura
Thank you dear Laura for all your kind wishes! Hope you’re enjoying your sketching practice these days. :)
hola Julia me alegra volver a ver uno de sus bocetos, la verdad es que lo echaba mucho de menos.
me da pena la noticia de que publicará menos en el blog, al fin y al cabo esos bocetos fueron los instigadores de mis cuadernos de naturaleza actuales, pero bueno cada uno sabe lo que tiene que hacer y la economía hoy está muy difícil y lo primero también es cuidar la salud.
te deseo lo mejor Julia miraré a ver qué cursos no tengo porque yo creo que ya los tengo todos. Un abrazo muy fuerte
Thank you so much dear Marta, I hope you’re sketching a lot, and yes I’m sorry I’m not putting out lots of new things these days. I hope that’ll change again. Hope you can find a course you haven’t taken yet, or just revisit an older one maybe. Best wishes! :)
Thank you for this helpful post. I shy away from landscapes in my nature journal and am trying to push myself to keep trying. Take care, Kim
Hi Kim, I know it seems daunting. I started with really small, and I mean really really small, landscapes. Much less details than in the tutorials I share here. Stamp-sized for a year or so, then credit card-sized, then postcards. Just tried to catch the overall feel of the place. Hope that helps a bit and happy sketching!
Thank you for sharing…beautiful
Thank you Kimberly!
Julia, i always find such beauty and serenity in your landscapes. I think your garden here is inspired. What town is this, whose colours are blue and white? So nice to hear your voice, through your writing and your watercolours. Best wishes, -karen. / Maine
Thank you so much Karen, I really appreciate it. The colors are those of the flag of Kassel, Germany. The city gardeners usually plant flowers in those colors (but also a few others) in many parts of the town throughout the year.
Thank you. That was helpful, I never know what part of a scene to do first – I will try something similar to this now. Re the frequency of posts, we all know life happens. Why I always look at what you share is because it is quality work that helps me learn, you are not just posting for the sake of being heard.
Thank you Catherine! Yeah that can be a tough decision. I like to start with the sky and then work my way from the back to the front. That way you can overlap the layers a bit. And thank you so much for your kind words and reassurance, that really helps me! :)
Hi Julia. Thanks for the blog and the wonderful step by step garden sketch. The simplistic approach you demonstrate is inspiring and the subject matter and tone of your blogs is always calming. I really enjoy them, even though I’m not a great artist. When life is tough, you should know that you have a community of artists, followers and admirers who are with you and thinking of you. Thank you again for your blogs and I look forward to more when you can.
What’s difficult for me is the beginning- creating the initial sketch. Your tutorial gave me some tips. Thank you.
Thank you Julia for this very helpful post. Looking forward to more, when you have the time.
Dear Julia,
I do so sympathise with the way life gets in the way of creativity, having had three months of stressful family issues resulting in an upsurge of chronic fatigue when I was unable to put pencil or brush to paper. I hope you are finding time to look after yourself during what sounds like a challenging time.
Thank you for your blog posts this year just gone. There is always so much to enjoy in your detailed and accessible tutorials; you are my favourite watercolourist on the net.
Wishing you a happy and healthy year ahead, and, as Mike said in his post above, your followers are all thinking of you. I hope that the chaotic elements in your life are gradually resolving.
Julia como no encuentro sitio donde ponerte un feliz año 2026 te felicito por aquí. con ganas de ver tus nuevos dibujos.
Hi Julia,
I love your work (the art, the courses, the blog etc.).
I see that it’s possible to buy physical prints of your work, but I was wondering if you’d consider making some of the art you’ve already created available as digital artifacts?
For me, I’m thinking specifically that it would be lovely to have some of your work as the screensaver for the Kobo Libra Colour I’ve got. For example, some of the pages you show from your sketchbook in your blog posts like this one (https://juliabausenhardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/hoher-meissner-1.jpg). You’ve put the work into creating these beautiful drawings and artwork and it would be great to be able to pay you for the pleasure of using these.
Hi Mary, thank you for the lovely feedback. That’s something I haven’t thought about before because I haven’t received lots of demand for it. You can use any image from my blog on your devices as screensaver/wallpaper/etc. for free, I’m fine with it as long as its personal use. :)