Below is a response to my needing help with the watercolor painting of a new natural cedar shake home.........It is most helpful and I thank you very much...................Sheilah

RE: watercolors used to paint house with cedar shakes by Llarian You dont say if the home's shakes are old and weatherbeaten or new and pristine, or somewhere in between, but the following should help.

Since no one really has responded I will take a stab at it.

If you are doing the painting with "local color" then I suggest taking your palette and scraps of paper to the home itself and mixing colors and comparing until you get the right combinations. If that is not possible, what I would do is start with a bit of a brown, like burnt sienna or brown madder alizarin and then grey it down with a little green or blue or paynes grey or whatever you have on hand to neutralize it a little, remembering that greeen neutralizes red and blue neutralizes orange. Keep checking it against the photo until it looks right. You can vary your combinations and dilution ratio to add interest. Also, remember that the value is nine tenths of the battle and if the value is right you can use virtually any color and still have a good result. Write down whatever you mix together so you can recreate a variant of the color if necessary. Also don't forget that the grass, sky, water, etc will add a little reflected light to the wood and will change the local color to a degree. I hope this helps!