WATERCOLOR CLASS Project: 3 Poppies Week 3

PV Class: Remember that you are a week behind the Torrance so go to the previous post to review what we did in class last time. Some of this post will also be helpful just remember I will cover everything in class so you do not need to try and figure it out if it is something we have not covered.

This week will you continue to add color to bring up the intensity of the colors and also the values of our poppies. The difference between value and intensity is:  value is the lightness or darkness of a color; intensity is the strength of the color and these poppies are very intense in color.

I also painted in the stems of these flowers, however, you need to look at the stems in the reference material before you start painting the stems of the left and center poppies. Looking at the reference photo, you will see that there is tinge of orange especially on the center stem, this is light coming through the other poppy and being cast on to the stem and pod of the center poppy. This is easy enough to do but you will need to plan for it.

First you need to wet the area of the stem on the left, you want it damp but not dripping so that the paint will move when you apply it to the paper. Next you will need to mix a green and have it ready, that green will be either sap green or Hooker’s green with a little touch of orange in it to grey the green a little and water to thin it. This color will be for the center and the left side poppy.

Rinse your brush and pick up some straight cad orange with enough water to make it drip and then just touch the top of the pod under the flower on the left side which is like a little flute over champagne glass, watch it spread, it should go down into the pod if it doesn’t, touch the area with your brush and let the dampness of the water spread the color.

On the center stem you want to just touch with that orange down the side of the pod until it gets to the stem and when I say touch I mean just touch the tip of your brush to the paper and let that damp paper do all the work. Rinse your brush then pick up the green and working from the opposite side of the stem on both pods and working over to the orange areas, bring in this green color. Again, you are not doing a lot of painting it's more like touching the wet paper and you will see how the damp paper blends the colors together. Do not try to force the orange and the green to blend or you will get mud just bring them together let them touch and let them do their own thing. While the green is still wet you can take ultramarine blue and add it to that green color just by touching the paper, starting in the shadowed areas which is on the right hand side and working over to create shadows, letting the wetness of the paper blend your colors.

The stem on the poppy on the right is a little bit lighter so you will mix your sap green with touch of yellow and a little touch of orange to create a lighter warmer green color and paint the entire stem with this color. You don't necessarily need to pre-wet with water first, this

light green will act like the water to wet the paper, while the area is still wet, looking at your reference photo see where the shadows are, add a little touch of ultramarine blue into that light green painting around where the bright highlight is and just touching the wet paper with the blue to create your shadow.

One of the problems that you may see is that the stems are very close to the same color and value as the background so we have to one or the other and one way to correct it is to make one of them darker. You need to have dark to show light I choose to make the background darker and a bit greyer, there are several ways that I can do that I've already put in at least one layer of wash using my green with a little touch of orange in it and washing the sections around the flowers, I also add some blue to that color too deepen the value to create more of a shadow, but I want to make sure when I am doing these washes that I don't keep going over and over the area especially when the area is wet or I will ruin all of that nice texture that I got from the plastic wrap.

The other thing I'm going to do is to look at those shapes that were made by the plastic wrap and paint some of them darker especially towards the bottom of the paper by using my Hooker’s green with ultramarine blue and a touch or burnt sienna to paint in the darker areas this will make it look like a tangle of leaves and stems and weeds and whatever else is under there and it will increase the value of the things in the background making the stems appear lighter.

The alternative is to make the stems darker and that is an option if you wish to follow it. I prefer, for my own purposes, to make the background darker again I am thinking about contrast and this time it's the contrast between light and dark the darker I can make things around the poppies the lighter the poppies will look and they will look like they are glowing.

 

PV Class Week 2

Try to get your paintings up to this point we will probably finish this up next time we meet so start looking for something that you want to paint and I will help you get started and get demos as needed for those problems that will come up so keep painting and I will see you in class.