Abstract forest art with acrylic ink

1. Wet-on-wet painting

- Squeeze Phthalo Blue, Bright Green, and Orange into your palette

- Wet the entire sheet of Cotton Watercolour Paper with clean water using the goat hair brush

- Create a very watery Phthalo Blue mix and apply it to the middle of the page

- Use a slightly stronger mix around the outside in a curved shape, allowing the colours to blend while keeping the centre very light

- Mix a watery Violet and paint it beside the blue, letting the colours merge naturally on the paper

- Paint Green into the bottom of the page and add Orange to suggest a path

- Lightly press a tissue onto the surface if you want to remove ink and lighten an area

2. Painting trees in the distance

- Create a watery Phthalo Blue mix slightly darker than the centre background

- Use the liner brush to paint small trees, keeping the furthest trees lighter and smaller

- Release pressure as you move up each tree so the trunks become thinner towards the top

- Add branches quickly without overthinking their placement for a more organic look

- Darken the mix slightly with Violet and add another layer of taller, thicker trees

- Continue adding small amounts of Violet as the trees move closer to the viewer, making the trunks progressively larger

3. Foliage painting

- Dab colour over the trees to suggest vegetation, keeping the distant foliage fairly light

- Mix Cadmium Yellow and Phthalo Blue to create a fresh green

- Splay the brush out as you paint to create complex, random masses of foliage

- Introduce other colours from your palette to create more expressive foliage

4. Foreground painting

- Mix plenty of Violet with Phthalo Blue and a touch of Red to create a dark foreground colour

- Paint much larger, thicker foreground trunks using the size 12 mop brush

- Add Green into the foreground from each side of the page towards the path

- Use a variety of green tones and drop Phthalo Blue into wet areas, allowing it to diffuse naturally

- Add other colours over the greens to suggest wildflowers

- Keep your brushstrokes running in the direction of the ground where possible and leave some areas free of colour

- Create the banks on the side of the path using random, abstract brushstrokes

- Introduce subtle Rose tones and warm greys into the path while allowing some of the underpainting to show through

5. Painting dappled light and highlights

- Apply white shapes along the path to suggest dappled sunlight

- Add concentrated Titanium White dots through the trees and foreground

- Paint opaque white areas where you want to create foreground foliage and allow them to dry

- Glaze colour over the dried white areas to create vibrant foliage highlights