Techniques to aid in flower painting

 There are four techniques that I consider helpful in flower painting. One is painting wet into wet and adding darker paint to edges; one is lifting to create highlights; one is underpainting the shadows; and one is lifting to soften edges.

Here is the reference photo for most of this lesson. 

Here is the simplified line drawing. The dotted lines indicate where the edge of an overlapping petal would be. I WANT the petals to appear to overlap.

The idea is to create the effect of transparency, as if you were looking at the light through the petals and could see each individual one. 

Make two puddles of color, one very light, and the other with much less water.

Wet one of the petals, including the part the overlaps another petal. 

With your bigger round brush (size 8) apply the pale colors. Make sure it is not too puddly, just shiny.

With a small, pointed brush, use the thicker consistency paint to paint around the edges of the petals while it is still damp. You should get a hard line where the dry edge is and it should spread where it touches the damp petal. 

Here is a really good video that gives the idea. It is from Liesl Arts. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WAgoSwOzt0

Emma LeFebvre also has one about layered transparent painting that is simple and fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ymuPJniZp8

Here is what mine looked like. To do the stems, loosen some of the paint from the flower and let it go into the ball shaped area at the bottom. Dry it. Wet the stem and sepals, drop in a green (mine is made from cerulean and new gamboge). Gently lift some of the paint from one side to create a a light. Then, one the other side, take some French ultramarine on a thin brush, and go down the side to create a shadow on one side. It's like what you did to the petals, only on one side instead of all sides.

We practiced using a lifting brush to blur some edges or lift color out to create a highlight.

The brushes I have for this are:

Winsor Newton Monarch filbert or flat, size 4 or 6

Zen Royal Langnickel flat size 6

I used to use the "scrubbers", shown at the top,  which come in a package with several sizes.

I use these only for really difficult patches, as they will remove the sizing of the paper more easily.

Next we tried "underpainting" a color in the shadow areas before glazing with the local color.

(That is the general color of the object)

Since we are doing daffodils, I wanted to show what colors would be good to use in the shadow areas of a yellow flower. In the chart below, you can see left to right:

violet (painted very lightly)

quin gold

burnt sienna

(next row) raw sienna

The daffodil is underpainted with raw siena

All are glazed over with hansa yellow and some new gamboge. In the corner is a demo of how to paint a black background, but that is another lesson.

The two I definitely have a preference for are the violet and the raw sienna.

People can also use yellow ochre. 

Yellows are particularly difficult to shadow because yellows don't get a very dark value on their own. If you try to darken it with a blue you get green (which is probably ok on a daff). Browns look a little dead. 

Putting it all together

 Putting it all together:

To introduce this lesson, we drew some shapes on paper--two cylinders, two spheres, and two cubes. We painted one of each shape with a primary color and let it dry. With the other, we mixed the complement of the color and painted it wet into wet, shading it with the complement. Then we shaded the dried shapes (using "glazing") with the complement to compare. 

There are so many subjects I could cover to be included in a basic class, but

obviously, there's no time for all. So I had students copy this sketch, where we are going practice water control,(wet into wet, wet into dry, wet into damp), using complementary colors for shadow and form, and add a little bit about creating 4 common textures.

First I want to paint this pot on the left, which is earthenware. I painted it burnt sienna (a sedimentary color) and added its complement (French ultramarine, also sedimentary) to the right side to make a shadow. As the two sedimentary colors met, it created even more of a texture. Before it dried, I added a few grains of salt.

Then I used a flat brush to paint the middle vase yellow. I wanted to create an ombre effect, which is a gradual light to dark. I painted it all hansa light, wet into wet, then added bits of purple/yellow mixture to the right and left sides to shade the cylinder. (I wanted yellow so that I could just paint the leaves over it)

For the red square vase, I wanted a glassy look. I wet the square and dropped magenta and red and let them mix on the paper, leaving some whites. While wet, I crinkled some Saran wrap and put it over the top and let it dry. This creates a very fun texture like water or glass. 

When the ceramic vase is dry, I wet the area above it in a semicircle. Then I dropped fairly dry drops of paint and let them spread to make flowers. (As the area dried, I kept adding paint to see that the paint spreads less as the paper dries) Then I dropped greens in, trying to leave whites. When the paint had lost its sheen, but not completely dried, I dropped bits of clean water to make some blossoms. After it all dried, I spattered blue and yellow over the flowers area and some of the vase.

Back to the yellow. This is mostly line work and brush strokes for the stems and leaves. I used my liner brush to paint three lines, painted some extra stems, then used the leaf stroke to add some leaves. 

When the leaves dried, I lifted paint from one side to give a more formed effect. I also lifted a little at the top of the vase to add dimension. 

The flowers on the red vase are more free form. They were made by making a mark wet on dry paper, then flooding the petal with water, sometimes dropping in a different color.  I used a credit card while the petals were still wet to score in some fine veins. On the vase, I darkened one side to create a shadow, using a red with a little green added. I lifted a highlight where the two sides of the square met. I added some long leaf strokes for leaves. 

PEACH ROSE- CONQUERING WET IN WET

 I like to watch and follow other watercolor artists as much as anyone, and I enjoy some of the challenges. I enjoy learning something new from others. But when it comes down to it, I don't want to get so sucked in that I never do anything of my own. The purpose of watching others is to bring more skills to my own work.

Therefore, I present to you my latest rose. My husband said, "Flowers, AGAIN?" Truthfully, I haven't done much in the way of flowers for some months. I enjoy the wet in wet techniques and find it rather soothing to do flower petals. And I wanted to practice the leaves.

I drew this from a photo I found online, and I'd give credit if I could find it again. So sorry.

One of the challenges was to create this peach color without making it too orange-y. I used Quin Coral (or a warm red, such as cad medium) and new gamboge, watered down quite a bit, for the base colors. For deeper oranges I used quin burnt scarlet. For the leaves  used green gold, sap green, some green apatite genuine, and some purple. 

Before applying paint, erase lines to be very pale, but dark enough for you to see. *I just roll a gray kneaded eraser over the entire page to pick up extra pencil marks.

First step was to wash over the entire flower with the base peach color, very pale. I washed over all the greens with green gold and sap.

After the initial wash, check to be sure you haven't lost your lines. You need to understand what the petals look like, and not try to guess your way through the flower. 

When all was dry, I began the fun part of defining the petals. Some artists work from the center outward; I find it easier to find my way if I work from the outward petals in. Using a stronger blend of my peach color, I began the wet in wet process. I wet each petal one at a time. Then I added the peach color, encouraging it to travel and gradually become lighter toward the petal ends. I worked in a circular pattern around the flower so as to avoid running into an area that is still drying. Where I needed pinker color I added the coral into the mix. When I got to areas that were very dark and warm, I used quin burnt scarlet.

You can create a similar color to burnt scarlet by using your red and burnt sienna, adding a little orange if needed. 

More about split color wheel mixing

Creating a split color wheel

Below is the first color wheel I created in Sandy Maudlin's class. It took weeks for me to complete. Since we didn't have time for that I chose a simpler color wheel. This puppy takes an entire 22 x 30 sheet of watercolor paper. Good thing I marked all my color choices with codes on the bottom left.

This lesson was all about creating colors from just 6 primaries. A "split" color wheel uses a warm and a cool of each primary. I prefer the term "leaning toward" to warm or cool. If you want very pure and clean looking secondaries (orange/green/violet) you choose primaries that "lean" toward those colors. Therefore, the "cool" yellow, which has no orange in it (like lemon) faces the "cool" blue, which leans toward green.

The warm yellow (that leans toward orange) faces the warm red (that leans toward orange). The Cool Red, such as magenta or quin rose, leans toward violet, so it faces the warm red (French ultramarine) which leans to violet.

The students downloaded this color wheel and drew it on watercolor paper. Then they combined the primaries that faced each other to make the secondary colors. My suggestion was to make the secondary color first. Example: To make a good secondary green, mix the cool yellow and the cool blue (cerulean) on the palette until you get a good green. Then add yellow to the mix to make a yellow green; then add blue to the mix until you get a bluer (more teal) green. Then move on to the other secondaries.

I would suggest labeling the colors you use so you don't get confused.

The little half circles on the outer wheel that look gray are filled with the complement (opposite) of each primary mixed with that primary to create gray or brown. 

After the color wheel, we made a chart at the bottom to show what would happen if you mix colors that do not lean toward each other.  There is a final column to see if you can figure out what that color's complement is. (Hint: a WARM yellow has a COOL--bluer-- violet; a COOL yellow has a WARM-redder- violet)

For those who want to do a more complex color wheel, here is one that allows you to mix colors that lean toward each other; then colors that do not lean toward each other; and the inner circle uses only colors in your printer: cyan, yellow, and magenta.

Here is a color wheel I made for myself on a larger piece of paper (11 x 14) I liked having larger spaces to color so I could see what a color looked like dark or watered down. When I was done, I went through some of my tube paints and tried to match them to where they would show up on this color wheel. It's a good way of discovering which paints you might want, which ones you don't need. The piece in the middle helps identify color schemes (triad, complementary, analogous, etc.) but there is another lesson on that on a different blog.

After the color wheel, we talked about complementary colors. Complement means "to complete." So the complement of a color is across the color wheel/opposite. If you want the complement of red, what colors are missing from the primaries? Yellow and Blue, which make green. Green is the complement of red. Violet is made of blue and red...what is missing? Yellow. That is the complement of violet. And Blue and orange are complements. 

Below is a link to my blog with the exercise we did with complementary colors.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8812132386157895665/1158813432207354820

We also discussed the advisability of using tube color when you want to create dark brown, black, or grays. It is very hard to get your primaries in pans to get thick enough to make a dark black, so I take a little directly from a tube and mix the colors with a little water. That takes away from the struggle of getting enough thickness in a pan paint.

A very popular way to make blacks and grays is with French ultramarine and Burnt sienna, which is a very orange brown. You make it grayer by adding more blue; browner by adding more burnt sienna.  Mixing Alizarin/Pthalo/and burnt umber also produces a nice black. You can experiment with combinations. 

I was asked about my favorite colors to use. That changes from time to time, subject, and things I learned.

For example, cadmium is toxic, and many companies are gradually switching over to non-toxic cadmium "hues," which duplicate the color without the toxic cadmium. 

So what I am most likely to use are:(bold ones are  in my palette)

Yellows

warm: new gamboge (very orange) or hansa deep (less orange)

cool: hansa yellow light or lemon yellow

neutral: primary yellow (good for combining with anything)

Reds

warm: Pyrrol red or Pyrrol scarlet

cools: magenta, quin rose or permanent rose, Alizarin for darks

Blues

warm: (lean to violet) French ultramarine, cobalt (I use cobalt for glazing)

cools: Pthalo, cerulean, cyan

Other necessary: Burnt sienna

My favorite convenience colors: (chosen for different reasons)

Transparent Pyrrol orange (for flowers)

Quin burnt scarlet (for skin tones)

quin coral (flowers & skin tones)

quin gold (for shading yellow flowers)

raw sienna or ochre (skin tones)

burnt umber

lunar earth (for granulation)

green apatite genuine (because I love it)

Carbazole violet

Some people like a basic green like sap (warmer), Hookers (bluer)

But if you get a true green, you can make anything just by adding blue or yellow, red or violet.

Personally, I don't put green in my pallet; I just carry little contact lens carriers in my pallet to hold greens or other odd colors I want for a painting. 

My Blog on split color wheel simplified

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8812132386157895665/4240977623940030232

Split color wheel cards--If you want some homework!

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8812132386157895665/6322867704138753851

creating a split primary wheel (16 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BlD6ijheyk

Watercolor Boot Camp Week #1: Supplies, strokes

 Daily I see artists struggling with concepts that I either learned or WISH I'd learned early in my watercolor journey. In this three weeks, I hope I can help artists avoid some of the pitfalls so they can progress faster.

This first week is about supplies. You honestly don't need much to begin. But your choices can greatly affect your progress.

Basically you need:

*watercolor paint, six colors

*3 watercolor brushes (about an 8 round, 3/4 " flat, and liner brush)

*100% cotton 140 lb paper

Other than that, you need a palette for your paints; some paper towels or white tissue, water, spray bottle, masking tape, something to store and protect brushes, and a willingness to experiment and make mistakes.

PAINT:

There are HUNDREDS of paint colors and brands out there. Do you choose pans or tubes? Do they have to be professional grade?

I was spoiled by having an amazing teacher when I began. She had us use the right paper and paints right from the beginning. I have my preferences, but to begin USE WHAT YOU HAVE. Professional paints have purer pigments, fewer fillers, and they perform better. Watercolor paints have several attributes that other mediums don't have, besides the "hue" or color.

TRANSPARENCY: This is probably the most important, because it is the transparency that gives watercolor it's glow and beauty. Transparency is labeled transparent/semi-transparent/opaque. It is usually not on the label, but you can get charts from manufacturers that give that information. 

SEDIMENTARY: This provides texture. Some paints are not able to be ground as finely as others, which makes some particles heavy, and they granulate. Some of these are burnt sienna, French ultramarine, any of the lunar paints, etc. Professional paints will designate this on a chart.

LIGHTFAST: This means the paint will not fade over time. Some paints (Alizarin, Opera) are famous for being "FUGITIVE", which means they fade quickly. Paints will indicate by Roman numerals I, II, III, or IV, with IV being the least light fast. You want paint that is I or II.

STAINING/LIFTING: Professional paints can be staining or not, and should indicate on the label. Staining paints quickly get into the fibers of the paper, and are hard to remove or "lift." Artists take advantage of this quality in several ways. If they want to glaze other colors over another, and want the under color to not mix or lift, they will use a stainer. If you are doing flowers or a face, and you know you will be lifting high lights, you would choose LIFTING colors. Common stainers are Pthalos and Carbazole.

PIGMENT COLOR:  Pro paints will provide the pigment number. This helps in comparing brands, which don't always use the same name as another brand for the same color. For example, French Ultramarine is PB (pigment blue) 29; Imperial Purple is PB 29 plus PV 19 (pigment violet). Winsor Violet is P 23, which is the same as Lucas Dioxazine or Daniel Smith Carbazole.

SERIES NO.  You will see a Series No. on many paints. That doesn't indicate quality of paint. Instead, paints are priced according to what it costs to produce. Series one will be the cheapest; series 5 will be the most expensive, because they are made with the most expensive pigments. 

INFLUENCE or TINTING STRENGTH: This can be important to remember when mixing colors. Yellows have very little influence, so if you want a green, you will need more yellow than blue. You would start with the yellow and add bits of blue until the hue you want is achieved.

VEHICLE or binder: Most watercolor, except for QoR, use gum Arabic as the binder, or the vehicle which the pigment is ground into. It is also the same vehicle for gouache, which is an opaque watercolor.

BRANDS:

People have their favorites, and you can mix and match them. I pretty much stick with Daniel Smith, Winsor Newton, Lucas, Holbein, M. Graham (which has honey in it), Sennelier. There are some homemade companies cropping up that also do a good job, but they can be expensive.

Student Grade: Cotman by Winsor Newton makes a pretty good student grade of paint. If that is what you have, use it, but gradually add some of the better brands to your list. Student grade will have more filler, less pigment, and miss out on some of the other qualities of watercolor paint. 

TUBES OR PANS

My preference is tubes for several reasons. I always have pure paint ready if I need it.(paint in the pan, especially yellow, gets polluted by other colors).  It is easier to mix a dark color, rather than struggle to reconstitute a dry paint. I can put the paint where I want it in my palette. Plus I can easily share a color with someone. 

Pans are handy and usually cheaper because they have more filler. Often your set places the colors close together, and they get mixed up and need to be cleaned out constantly.

WHAT COLORS DO I NEED?

Start with a "warm" and a "cool" of every primary. In the next week we will discuss the "split primary" color wheel, which will help understand color mixing. Cool colors lean toward blue, and warm ones lean toward orange, in general. Generally speaking, you can make nearly every color with 6 primaries:

WARMS

Reds that lean toward orange (I avoid cadmiums bc they can be toxic. They do now make cad "hues")

Blues that lean toward purple -- cobalt; French Ultramarine)

Yellows that have a tint of orange

COOLS

Reds that lean toward violet (pinks; magenta, permanent rose)

Blues that lean toward green (cerulean; pthalo)

Yellows that look very pure, like lemon 

You can prob get away with one yellow if it is not too light and doesn't lean to orange

I NEVER use white or black, so you don't need it.

Many colors are considered "convenience" colors, because they are mixes that are used frequently. (such as sap green). Some you get because you need something either staining or lifting. Some are heavily sedimentary, and you want that look for landscapes. Some are neutrals, such as burnt sienna. Your palette will evolve as you become more experienced and learn what subjects appeal to you. 

PALETTES

Here are a few I've used over the years. 

The first I'd ever painted from (outside of a plastic dish) was the one on the left. The wells are large, and it has two large mixing sections. I still use one like this at home. It allows me to have the colors I need, and to use large or small brushes. An advantage not many consider is that colors don't get mixed up, contaminated, as much as in a palette with smaller wells. Also, the lid has two additional mixing sections. 

The one on the top right is a small, about 9 inch, palette. The wells are pretty small. But it does have 5 sections for mixing. I often use this to lend to students.

The bottom is a stay-wet circular one I bought because I thought it would be nice to have all my colors in the color wheel. The wells are nice size. But it has no space for mixing paint. Bummer.

On the left is my most recent palette, a Mijello with 40 wells for paint. I thought I'd at last add some colors I didn't have space for, like some greens. But, alas, when I fold the lid over, any wet paint gets mixed in with paints on the bottom. So sad.

On the top right is one I use for kids and is OK for small items. The daisy shaped one on the bottom right is cute, but I only use it to store odd colors or tubes that I've had to pry open. The very bottom one is a flat tray, originally for acrylic paints, that I just use for mixing space.

I used this one for teaching and traveling for a long time. It has trays that pull out to give 3 large spaces for mixing. It cracked, and the hinge broke, which is a weakness with palettes by Mijello. After that I bought the larger one, above, and was disappointed. So, for traveling and teaching I am going back to this one. 

I've arranged my paints, left to right, like the color wheel. It starts on the top left with cool yellow, then to warm yellow, then oranges, then warm reds, then cool reds, then purples, then cool blues, then greener blues, then neutrals. No greens. See those little cups in the middle? They are little containers I use to keep a green or two and any odd colors I want for a painting. 

This one works while I'm teaching. But at home, especially for bigger paintings, I like my old big one. I also have a tiny palette for traveling in the car. 

BRUSHES

There are many decent brands of brushes out there. I personally like Silver Black Velvet, but Princeton Neptune makes a reasonably priced brush that I like. Some people love the Escoda, but they are more costly. You will get a lot of tips from other students, so be open to that.

To begin with, you only need three. I like a round brush, about a size 8; a flat, about 3/4 inch; and a liner brush for fine details. That is all I had for years..... specialty brushes are cool, but not necessary. If you plan to paint larger, then larger brushes are needed. 

Watercolor brushes are generally short handled and designed to suck up moisture and release it. Sable is wonderful, but I honestly like the synthetic or mixed just as well. I like my brushes to have a little snap to them, not to be "moppy." 

Your brush should be able to come to a sharp point when wet, with no extra hairs sticking out. It should hold together when wet. As a rule, you should not use watercolor brushes for any other medium, except possibly gouache. (which uses the same vehicle). 

You might consider getting two other inexpensive brushes:  One is a "lifting" brush...one that is stiffer...to help lift out unwanted paint or to lighten an area. The other is a small brush used only for masking fluid, usually and old brush no longer good for watercolor. 

In class I had a set from Emma LeFebvre from craftamo. You can watch a brush demo on craftamo.com/botanical

Cleaning brushes--super easy. Just rinse out with lukewarm water and soap. Bring to a sharp point, then air dry flat. When they are dry, put them in something (brush side up) to protect them.

PAPER

Just because a paper is called watercolor paper, doesn't mean it is any good. Even paper that is 100% cotton and acid free isn't always quality.  My preference is Arches, Fabriano Artistico, or Kilimanjaro. For class it should be 140 pounds cold press. 

Arches is great because it only makes ONE quality of paper--the good stuff. It will take punishment, any technique I need to use, will take masking fluid and tape and contac paper. It absorbs the paint beautifully, and has the right amount of sizing. I can glaze or lift. If you spend money on anything, spend it on paper. 

There are some less expensive papers which I think are OK to practice on because they seem to absorb the paint and give a similar effect as good paper. They either don't lift, or don't take masking, but are OK for other techniques. There may be others but these are the ones I've tried. 

 FLUID, Bao Hong, Bee 100% cotton

WEIGHT is important. We usually use 140 pound because lighter weights will buckle. 300 pound paper is quite expensive, and requires additional water because it absorbs more. 

SOME RULES TO REMEMBER

Over and over again, I hear that the key to mastering watercolor is learning to CONTROL THE WATER.

So most of what I am concentrating on will be how to control and manipulate the water and paint. It takes practice. 

The first RULE we talked about was ONLY PAINT ON WET Or DRY PAPER. Ideal wet will be a shiny area, but NOT PUDDLEY. There is a time when the paper loses its shine, but is not "DRY." To tell if your paper is dry enough to paint on, touch the area with your finger tips; then touch some paper that has not been painted. They should be the same temperature. If the painted area feels cold to the touch, it is not DRY.

The second rule we talked about is Water flows from areas of more wetness (like your brush) to areas of less wetness. Paint will not flow to the dry paper unless you purposely put it there. If you wet an area then add paint the paint will be darkest where you first put it down with your brush, then gradually get lighter as it travels down the wet paper. 

PRACTICES

First, introduce wet into wet technique, where you wet the paper first, apply paint, then learn to "charge" another color into it. See what happens to the paint in a 'puddley area" and on one that is just "shiny."

Practice controlling the water/paint ration by making lines that start out dark and gradually get lighter. To make it lighter, after each addition of paint, blot the brush on a towel to remove some paint, or add a little water to the brush.

Practice using your brush as a mop for when you have too much paint. Use the brush to mop up the excess paint/water for a more even spread of paint.

The first thing I asked people to do was to play with brushes. See what their brushes can do. Make marks, see how long a line they can make before running out of paint. Practice how much pressure to put on the brush.  Try using light pressure, then harder pressure to use the belly of the brush, then light pressure. Use the marks to swatch out some colors.  

Then practice making "washes." Practice how much water to paint they need. See how to use the brush to pick up excess water and paint. Then make a graded wash in a shape, like below.

When the graded wash is dry, practice painting some long strokes over it, such as in the picture below. These strokes require you to start with the sharp point of the brush, gradually add more pressure as you pull the brush along, then lifting the brush back to the point to end the stroke. 

(I'm being sneaky and introducing "glazing" in this one) Notice how the color of your stroke changes as it passes through each color on the graded wash.

(all of these grasses are made with the same brush, just using different pressure)

Here are some short videos that may help, and not be as boring as this:

Mind of Watercolor: Steve Mitchell discusses the importance of learning water control

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFenH6TdSuw&t=0s  - 10 min

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSp2qNBvMSo  --20 min

Emma LeFebvre talks about supplies and exercises--27 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhFBybA6K4M

Jackie Hernandez supplies--9 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTSvBWggajQ

Kristin Van Leoven 5 things I wish I knew 16 min

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls620E6YhjI