I started by stretching 140lb Arches Watercolour paper. When it was fully dry, I carefully transferred my design with graphite, including all details.
I began by establishing the background, which is the darkest area. This allows me to determine the values (light and dark) for the rest of the painting.
Because of the larger quantities of paint, I've used a generous amount of Hookers Green Dark, Dioxazine Purple and some Sap Green (Cotman by Windsor & Newton).
I placed a generous amount of each colour on my palette so that I would be able to work quickly to create a seamless mottled background.
For the remainder of the painting I've used Windsor Newton artist colours. I used Permanent Rose, New Gamboge and Antwerp Blue. All colours are mixed from these 3 primary colours.
When my background was fully dry, I began establishing the pink flowers and the green stems.
I will glaze more colour into these once they are dry.
In order to determine if my values are correct, I've also glazed in the green leaves. This is important to make sure that light values are being maintained and that the darks are well-established.
I can never seem to wait to get to the details.
You can see the progress on each of the 2 flowers.
Lots of transparent glazes here to create the depth.
Notice the variation of greens here in the leaves. Shadows are so important to bringing life to a watercolour. Because of the bright sunlight, the shadows are sharp-edged instead of softened.
Well, now that I've built up the flowers, it seems that the distant blossom gets lost in the background. I took my background colours and darkened behind the flowers. See what a difference it makes?
Lots and lots of shadows here. Notice how many different shades there are. The leaves most directly in the sunlight are warmer and those most in the shadows are cooler shades of green.
You will notice a bit of pink incorporated into the leaves as well, to unify the painting.
This page was last updated on: August 23, 2007
This past spring I visited a friend's house. She has a wonderful garden and an obvious green thumb. Something I most certainly do not have, unless I've got paint on my hands! I snapped this photo from which I will do my painting.
I've decided to work on a 14 x 22" surface for this project. I've also decided to eliminate much of the other grass and leaves in the background.
