• Home
    • Home
    • About Me
    • Privacy Policy and Disclosures
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Blog Archives
    • Search & Blog Categories
  • Get Inspired
    • Get Inspired
    • Inspiring Words & Quotes
    • My Muses – Favorites & Inspiration
    • Challenges
    • Product & Book Reviews
  • Get Creative
    • Get Creative
    • Start Handlettering
    • Handlettering Fun Styles
    • Tutorials & How-To
    • Creating Art – Watercolor, Painting & Drawing
  • Start Planning
    • Start Planning Here
    • Planner Spreads & Themes
    • Plan With Me Archives
    • Organization
    • Habits & Trackers
  • Find Your Happy
    • Find Your Happy
    • Random Holiday Archive
    • Journal Prompts & Ideas
    • Health Journey
  • Shop
    • Shop
      • Lost password
      • My account
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • Orders
  • Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Pinterest
    • Etsy
    • Facebook

Chocolate Musings

Set your goals - make the plans - artfully create your life - live it beautifully. Grab the good chocolate and find your muse.

  • Home
    • Home
    • About Me
    • Privacy Policy and Disclosures
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Blog Archives
    • Search & Blog Categories
  • Get Inspired
    • Get Inspired
    • Inspiring Words & Quotes
    • My Muses – Favorites & Inspiration
    • Challenges
    • Product & Book Reviews
  • Get Creative
    • Get Creative
    • Start Handlettering
    • Handlettering Fun Styles
    • Tutorials & How-To
    • Creating Art – Watercolor, Painting & Drawing
  • Start Planning
    • Start Planning Here
    • Planner Spreads & Themes
    • Plan With Me Archives
    • Organization
    • Habits & Trackers
  • Find Your Happy
    • Find Your Happy
    • Random Holiday Archive
    • Journal Prompts & Ideas
    • Health Journey
  • Shop
    • Shop
      • Lost password
      • My account
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • Orders
Home » Project: Creating Contrast in a White Door Subject – Watercolor Portrait Painting

Project: Creating Contrast in a White Door Subject – Watercolor Portrait Painting

February 20, 2024 Leave a Comment

Watercolor Project - White Door Portrait - How to create contrast and interest with White Subject Matter in Watercolor | ChocolateMusings.com

Project Details: White Door Portrait

In this post, you’ll learn how to create contrast when watercolor painting a white door.

I love painting doors. There’s something magical about entryways. Some doors could be the portal to a whole new world. I love to paint colorful doors with contrasting colors of flowers framing the door frame. But what do you do if you want to paint a white door? How do you create enough contrast in the painting?

When someone near and dear to my heart came to me and asked me to paint their grandmother’s door – which they called their happy place – I knew I was in for a challenge since the door was white. Not only was the door white, but so was the siding, the railing, and the front stoop.

How in the world do you paint white on white with watercolor? By using shadows and other contrasting elements. Challenge accepted.

White Front Door Portrait - Create Contrast with Shadows when white is the main color in your painting | ChocolateMusings.com

Table of contents

  • Project Details: White Door Portrait
  • The Challenge: White Door Painting
  • Project Details
  • Shoppable Product Links
  • YouTube Paint With Me Video
  • How I Created Contrast in this White Door Watercolor Painting
    • Base Color
    • Keep Your Shadows Consistent
  • Fixing Watercolor Mistakes: When You Add Too Much Color
  • Tips for Painting While the Layers Dry
    • How To Know If an Area is Completely Dry
  • Use a Good Brush
  • Removing the Tape & Finishing the Painting

The Challenge: White Door Painting

The challenge with this painting is that this door is white, the house is white, the railing is white, and the stairs are white. Creating contrast is difficult when everything is white. If you stop and look at the photo for a minute, you’ll start to notice shadows and variations of color. This wasn’t going to be a painting of a white door. No, instead, this painting would emphasize the shadows and colors to frame the door to make this door stand out.

I used several reference photos and combined them to create a whole new photo. One where I could see the welcome mat, another photo featured the bushes in the front, and a third photo featured the door details.

Project Details

(See Below for Shoppable Product Links)

5×7 Arches Watercolor Paper – Trimmed from a bigger sheet
Daniel Smith Paints
#4 & #6 Round Brushes
Flat 1″ Wash Brush
Masking Tape
Art Board

Believe it or not – despite this project being a white door with white siding, here are all the colors I used.

  • Buff Titanium
  • Paynes Gray
  • Raw Umber
  • Indigo
  • Quinacridone Rose
  • Sap Green
  • Deep Sap green
  • Amethyst Genuine
  • Rose of Ultramarine
  • Imperial Purple
  • Raw Sienna
  • Raw Sienna Light
  • Yellow Ochre
  • Cobalt Blue
  • Phthalo Blue – Green Shade
  • Dr. Ph Martin’s Iridescent Copperplate Gold

Shoppable Product Links

White Door Portrait
Arches Cold Press Paper Pad – 10×14Arches Cold Press Paper Pad – 10×14 This size trims to 5x7 perfectly!

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Daniel Smith – Amethyst GenuineDaniel Smith – Amethyst Genuine

>> Link to Product Amazon
Daniel Smith – Buff Titanium 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Buff Titanium 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Daniel Smith – Deep Sap GreenDaniel Smith – Deep Sap Green

>> Link to Product Amazon
Daniel Smith – Imperial PurpleDaniel Smith – Imperial Purple

>> Link to Product Amazon
Daniel Smith – Indigo 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Indigo 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Daniel Smith – Payne’s Gray 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Payne’s Gray 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Daniel Smith – Quinacridone Rose 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Quinacridone Rose 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product
>> Link to Product
Daniel Smith – Raw Sienna 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Raw Sienna 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Daniel Smith – Raw Sienna Light 15ml TubeDaniel Smith – Raw Sienna Light 15ml Tube

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Daniel Smith – Raw Umber 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Raw Umber 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product
>> Link to Product
Daniel Smith – Rose of Ultramarine 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Rose of Ultramarine 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Daniel Smith – Sap Green 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Sap Green 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product
>> Link to Product
Daniel Smith – Yellow Ochre 5 ml TubeDaniel Smith – Yellow Ochre 5 ml Tube

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Dr. Ph Martin’s Iridescent Copperplate GoldDr. Ph Martin’s Iridescent Copperplate Gold My go-to favorite gold paint!

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Masking TapeMasking Tape

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com
Princeton Heritage Pro 4050 Synthetic Sable Brushes Round 2, Round 6, Round 12, and Angle Wash 1/2″Princeton Heritage Pro 4050 Synthetic Sable Brushes Round 2, Round 6, Round 12, and Angle Wash 1/2″

>> Link to Product Blick.com
Princeton Heritage Pro 4050 Synthetic Sable Brushes Round 3/0, Round 3, Round 10, and Wash 3/4″Princeton Heritage Pro 4050 Synthetic Sable Brushes Round 3/0, Round 3, Round 10, and Wash 3/4″

>> Link to Product Amazon
>> Link to Product Blick.com

Do you know someone who wants to start watercoloring? Check out my Christmas Watercolor Wish List!

Colors in this watercolor project - is it a garden? a tree in full bloom? No. Believe it or not, it's a door portrait painting. A white door portrait painting with white siding. What did I do with all these colors? Find out more. |  ChocolateMusings.com

YouTube Paint With Me Video

Watch the YouTube Video here. I’ll show you all the techniques I used to create contrast while painting this white door and give you even more tips and tricks.

How I Created Contrast in this White Door Watercolor Painting

The trick to watercolor painting anything white is to paint the contrast in the shadows but not let the shadows take over. In the case of painting this white door, I used the shadows from both the door frame and under the siding to break up large blocks of color.

The other trick is to find and emphasize any color in the frame – use it to contrast the white. In this case, I used the flowers upfront, the doormat, the little decorations hanging outside the door, and many-layered shadows to emphasize the door frame and siding.

Door Portrait Line Drawing #beforethepaint - How to Create Contrast with a white door and white siding - watercolor tips & techniques | ChocolateMusings.com
Door Portrait - Finished - Lots of Color, Lots of Contrast in What Could Have Been a Boring Painting | ChocolateMusings.com

Base Color

Instead of pure white, I used watered-down buff titanium for the base color. It’s very soft and warm – a perfect undertone for this door. The more water you use, the softer the color – but the more color you will need to build up to create contrast.

Painting deeper tones such as (very) watered-down Indigo, Payne’s Gray, or Neutral Tint around the door frame adds more contrast and helps the door stand out from the background.

The idea is not to be too dramatic with the colors but to create layers of varying contrast as you watercolor this white door.

Adding the first layer of shadows surrounding the door for this door portrait. It's important to build up the color when the colors are soft and muted | ChocolateMusings.com
More layers of shadow to create more contrast with a light color palette | ChocolateMusings.com

Keep Your Shadows Consistent

Painting in shadows is one of the best ways to create a distinction of color in this painting. Build up watercolor layers to create the right contrast around the white door and frame.

To keep your shadows consistent, decide where your light source is before you start painting. In this case, I chose the light source from the left.

TIP: If you struggle with remembering and creating consistency in your light source, add a reminder dot or sticky note to reference while painting. You could even cut out a cute little sun or light bulb and tape it to your painting board to remind you where the light is coming from.

Fixing Watercolor Mistakes: When You Add Too Much Color

One struggle throughout this process was that I kept adding too much color to the siding. I used a paper towel to dab the still-wet color away to fix the mistake.

Don’t forget that you can lift watercolor off the page if you make a mistake or need to lighten the tone slightly. This works best if the paint is non-staining. But even with staining paint, you can lift a lot of the color off the paper when the paint is still wet.

Added too much color? Blot it out with a dry paper towel before the paint dries. It's much easier to remove wet paint than to try to remove paint once it's dried. | Watercolor tips & tricks | ChocolateMusings.com

Tips for Painting While the Layers Dry

Sometimes I get too impatient with watercolor – but if you don’t let it dry between layers, you’ll end up with a muddy mess or watercolor blooms. So that’s why I flit about the painting and work on different areas at different times.

In this door painting, I used the door frame as a buffer between the areas of wet-on-wet painting so I could paint one area (like the door) and work on a different area (like the siding) while the different areas dried.

How To Know If an Area is Completely Dry

You will know if an area is completely dry if it is no longer cool to the touch. If it’s cool when you touch it, the paper isn’t yet entirely dry.

Use a Good Brush

Use a good paintbrush. Except for a wash in one place, I painted nearly everything with a #4 or #6 size brush. What’s nice with these size brushes is that you can get a pointy, fine tip to the end of the brush. You can hold so much water in the brush and get amazing blends and washes when needed.

Adding Shadows to the Railing - Build up your color base and add layers of watered down color to create more contrast in your watercolor paintings | ChocolateMusings.com
Shadows to the siding - add color diluted with gray for more shadows, then blend it out with water to create soft shadows | ChocolateMusings.com
Adding more color with plants - creates interest and contrast in your color scheme | ChocolateMusings.com

Removing the Tape & Finishing the Painting

For the oh-so-satisfying part of removing your tape, ensure the page is 100% dry before removing the tape. If you don’t, it will tear. Remove the tape at an angle and watch those satisfying, clean lines reveal crisp edges.

I’m glad for the opportunity to paint this client’s happy place. It was such a great exercise in balancing contrast and tone for this white door portrait. I’m sorry I didn’t take better pictures of the final result. I sent off the final painting too quickly to its new owner. And I didn’t photograph it very well.

Satisfying Tape Peel from Completed Watercolor House Portrait Painting | ChocolateMusings.com
Satisfying Tape Peel from Completed Watercolor House Portrait Painting | ChocolateMusings.com
Door Portrait - Finished - Lots of Color, Lots of Contrast in What Could Have Been a Boring Painting | ChocolateMusings.com
White Front Door Portrait - Create Contrast with Shadows when white is the main color in your painting | ChocolateMusings.com
How to Create Interest and Contrast with White Doors and White Siding - Watercolor House Portrait - Watercolor Door  - Watercolor Tutorial | ChocolateMusings.com
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Sign Up for the Chocolate Musings Newsletter

 Hey! I’m glad you’re here. If you like this content, you’ll love my newsletter.


Let me give you a little treat. Sign up for my newsletter and get access to the tips, tricks, info & freebies I send out in my newsletter. 


Plus get exclusive coupon codes to the Chocolate Musings Shop.

We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use

Find More Inspiration and Follow Chocolate Musings on Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram!

Follow Me on Pinterest

  • One of my favorite ways to disguise my brain dump page is to call it by a different name. I called this one “Blooming Thoughts,” highlighted by a faux calligraphy title and mason jar with carnations.
  • February Challenge is here!⁠ Please join me! You can letter this words or create them in any way! Doodle, paint, letter a whole sentence, let those creative juices flow!⁠ The goal is to be creative everyday!⁠ ⁠ Share with your friends and followers and remember to tag me @chocolatemusingscreates and use #FindYourCreativeMuse. Blog post below⁠ ⁠ https://chocolatemusings.com/creative-challenge-flower-names/
  • Doodle page! Don't have time to make a whole page? Make a doodle page and do just a little each day! Need ideas? Check out my garden flower words challenge!
  • This month’s creative challenge is all about flower names! Use these everyday floral names to expand your creativity throughout this month. Check out the challenge list below, and if you’re having trouble with creative ideas, keep reading. I have lots of ideas to share. Handlettering these words is fun if that’s what you always do. […] The post Creative Challenge: Flower Names appeared first on Chocolate Musings.
  • If you have always wanted to try calligraphy (or handlettering or modern calligraphy) give my basic strokes workbook a try! (link in bio or story)
  • Sometimes you need a guide to start up those creative juices! Give this cute mushroom a try!
ChocolateMusings

Find me on YouTube

Chocolate Musings by Tricia Murdock

Chocolate Musings by Tricia Murdock
YouTube Video UCefWa0NWVt5a_q9LWofOWhw_yIQ4ggBQBsg From the Archives: Fun & Whimsical Bullet Journal Set Up - Ideas and Plants - Loose floral wreaths
Lots of spring-inspired doodles with pastel colors. I changed it up this month with horizontal weekly layouts.


____________________

Brain Dump Names: https://chocolatemusings.com/different-names-brain-dump/

Social Links - Let's be Friends!
Website: http://ChocolateMusings.com
Shop: https://chocolatemusings.com/shop/
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateMusings
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/chocolatemusingscreates
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ChocolateMusings/

____________________


Products I Used: 
Daniel Smith Watercolor: https://amzn.to/3Ip8xbD
Princeton Velvetouch Paint Brushes: https://amzn.to/42IVnPQ
Archer & Olive A5 Dot Grid Notebook: https://archerandolive.refr.cc/triciam
Helix Circle Maker Tool: https://amzn.to/49kx5xY
Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen: https://amzn.to/42MogKR



Video Set-Up:

Photography Lights (I use these for my everyday drawing). They're amazing https://amzn.to/2shdb4j
Canon PowerShot G7x Mark III Digital Camera https://amzn.to/3yt2lb4
Blue Yeti - USB Microphone https://amzn.to/2SNwb6a
Scissor Arm Mic Stand https://amzn.to/2CcGgm0






Contains affiliate links - if you use them, I may receive a small commission at no charge to you.
00:00 Introduction
00:12 Sneak Peek
00:33 Welcome Page
01:26 Monthly Calendar
02:42 Brain Dump
03:34 Weeklies
05:35 Journal
06:17 Habit Tracker
06:55 Flip Through
From the Archives: Fun & Whimsical Bullet Journal Set Up - Ideas and Plants - Loose floral wreaths
Lots of spring-inspired doodles with pastel colors. I changed it up this month with horizontal weekly layouts.


____________________

Brain Dump Names: https://chocolatemusings.com/different-names-brain-dump/

Social Links - Let's be Friends!
Website: http://ChocolateMusings.com
Shop: https://chocolatemusings.com/shop/
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateMusings
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/chocolatemusingscreates
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ChocolateMusings/

____________________


Products I Used: 
Daniel Smith Watercolor: https://amzn.to/3Ip8xbD
Princeton Velvetouch Paint Brushes: https://amzn.to/42IVnPQ
Archer & Olive A5 Dot Grid Notebook: https://archerandolive.refr.cc/triciam
Helix Circle Maker Tool: https://amzn.to/49kx5xY
Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen: https://amzn.to/42MogKR



Video Set-Up:

Photography Lights (I use these for my everyday drawing). They're amazing https://amzn.to/2shdb4j
Canon PowerShot G7x Mark III Digital Camera https://amzn.to/3yt2lb4
Blue Yeti - USB Microphone https://amzn.to/2SNwb6a
Scissor Arm Mic Stand https://amzn.to/2CcGgm0






Contains affiliate links - if you use them, I may receive a small commission at no charge to you.
00:00 Introduction
00:12 Sneak Peek
00:33 Welcome Page
01:26 Monthly Calendar
02:42 Brain Dump
03:34 Weeklies
05:35 Journal
06:17 Habit Tracker
06:55 Flip Through
From the Archives: Fun & Whimsical Bullet Journal Set Up - Experimenting with Watercolor Leaves in my Bullet Journal. Featuring 2-to-a-spread weeklies and a loosely painted watercolor theme - I hope this planning session inspires you to paint or to try something new.


00:00 Introduction
00:15 Welcome Page Wreath
01:41 Monthly Calendar Page
03:04 Habit Tracker & Monthly To Do Pages
05:47 Gratitude + Week 1
06:35 Weeklies
06:52 Brain Dump
07:15 Journal
07:42 Whoops! Adding a Page
09:06 Final Flip Through


____________________

Social Links - Let's be Friends!
Website: http://ChocolateMusings.com
Shop: https://chocolatemusings.com/shop/
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateMusings
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/chocolatemusingscreates
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ChocolateMusings/

____________________


Products I Used: 
Daniel Smith Watercolor: https://amzn.to/3Ip8xbD
Princeton Velvetouch Paint Brushes: https://amzn.to/42IVnPQ
Archer & Olive A5 Dot Grid Notebook: https://archerandolive.refr.cc/triciam
Helix Circle Maker Tool: https://amzn.to/49kx5xY
Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen: https://amzn.to/42MogKR



Video Set-Up:

Photography Lights (I use these for my everyday drawing). They're amazing https://amzn.to/2shdb4j
Canon PowerShot G7x Mark III Digital Camera https://amzn.to/3yt2lb4
Blue Yeti - USB Microphone https://amzn.to/2SNwb6a
Scissor Arm Mic Stand https://amzn.to/2CcGgm0






Contains affiliate links - if you use them, I may receive a small commission at no charge to you.
Load More... Subscribe

Interact on Instagram

ChocolateMusings - Tricia

chocolatemusingscreates

Here's another #minimal #weeklylayout idea - use t Here's another #minimal #weeklylayout idea - use these cute day-of-the-week stickers, add the dates, and VIOLA! Your weekly setup is d.o.n.e.⁠ ✔️⁠
⁠
If you are feeling overwhelmed by all the creativity and additions to your planner or bullet journal, take a breath.😮‍💨 Use a minimal approach to your planner - it's ok if it needs to be ONLY functional.⁠
⁠
⁠
Check out the link in my profile to these stickers. I also sell timeline strips if you hate writing the numbers over and over again. ⁠
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1373695869/⁠
⁠
#minimalplanning⁠ #planner #bulletjournal #bujo #bulletjournalinspiration #bujoinspo #journal #journaling #bulletjournalstickers #bujostickers #etsy #smallbusiness⁠
#minimalplanner⁠ #simpleplanning #simplebulletjournal #bulletjournalcollections #bulletjournalingcommunity #bulletjournaltracker #bulletjournallayout #bulletjournaldailylog #bulletjournalph #bulletjournallife #bulletjournalsystem⁠
⁠
⁠
Looking back at this February calendar page 📅 S Looking back at this February calendar page 📅 Sometimes simple is best!
Here's an easy-peasy heart layout. Add some paint Here's an easy-peasy heart layout. Add some paint splatters for extra color and fun!⁠
⁠
🥰🥰🥰🥰 ❤️ 💗 💖 💘 💝 💟
I can never spell this one right. 🤦‍♀️😆⁠
⁠
Music: Walk⁠
Musician: @iksonmusic
What is your "Go to" word for lettering? Many peop What is your "Go to" word for lettering? Many people write "hi" or "hello". Love is the word I choose! 💗💖💗💗💖

#valentines
#valentinesday 
#love
#lettering
#moderncalligraphy
#procreatelettering
#calligraphylettering
#calligraphylettering 
#lovequotes 
#lovewins
Happy Valentine's Day! To celebrate here are some Happy Valentine's Day! To celebrate here are some lovely strawberries and a pun 😅
Follow on Instagram

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Blog, Creating Art - Watercolor, Painting & Drawing, Get Creative, Paint Tutorial / Paint With Me Tagged: how to, paint with me, tips and tricks, watercolor

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Me


Hi! I'm Tricia, the creative behind ChocolateMusings.com, I know how it feels to lose your inner muse. After years of darkness (which I call the dark ages of my life), I found my inner muse hiding in the forgotten corners of my soul, I vowed never to lose sight of her again.

Bullet journaling helped reignite the passion for art and living life again while organizing my days. I also discovered modern calligraphy and watercolor. Since then, my use of the bullet journal system has evlolved and I call it 'creative planning'. Here on the blog, I show you how to use your planner to ignite your inner muse and explore creativity and art while staying beautifully organized and living a joyful life.

I invite you to grab some good chocolate and dive into my musings. Let’s ignite your inner muse.

Read more on the about me page. You can also find my policies and disclosures here.

  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Etsy
  • Facebook

Cart

Browse Products

  • State Outline - Colorado State Outline - Colorado $10.00
  • State Outline - West Virginia State Outline - West Virginia $10.00
  • Quote Ideas for your Planner If Music be the Food of Love, Play On - Williams Shakespeare | ChocolateMusings.com #lovequotes #quote If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On $10.00
  • floral wreath stickers with numbers | ChocolateMusings.com #plannerstickers #planner #stickers Floral Planner Stickers With Daily Numbers $4.45

Search ChocolateMusings.com

Categories

What Do You Want to Do Today?


 

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2025

Copyright © 2025 · Exquisite Damask Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...