Spring 2018 Watercolor Class

Spring 2018 Watercolor Project: Magnolia Week 4

 

 The above images are from the Wednesday class to show what we worked on in class last time, basically it is just more of what we have been doing the past couple of weeks:  Adding more washes of color to intensify the color and darken the value.  Remember to leave lighter areas where you want it to look sunlit or to use lighter colors (more water than paint) in those areas and darker cooler (blue mostly, or a little purple) colors in the shadow areas. Have your reference photo in front of you to guide you.

This is from the Monday class, we are a little bit ahead of the Wednesday class so these are dome of the finishing touches.  I like to add what I call "bug bites" when I am painting plants. Plants in nature aren't usually perfect and I think those imperfections add character.  I start with a mix of yellow and orange and paint it along the edge of the petal, then rinse my brush and with a damp, clean brush and my whole brush edge touching the paper and the petal side to the color, I soften the edge of the yellow. WHILE THE COLOR IS STILL WET, I pick up burnt sienna on the tip of my brush and just touch the edge of the petal with the color and let it bleed on its own,  the key here is to work wet into wet.

This is also Monday's project.  The green center of the flower I used sap green with a touch of yellow and was using my small 1/4" angle brush. I left the little yellow scales on the green center by painting around the scales, this is negative painting.  The stamens I added a yellow/orange mix as well as an alizarin.  Remember that the stamens are curves as they come up and around the green center and they are longer than you think. When it was dry, I came back in with a dark mix of blue, sienna and a ting touch of purple to make the darkest shadows.

I also darkened the stem under the flower and around some of the closer branches and buds with the shadow mix from above.  This is the time to create contrast and detail to finish up your painting.

This is where I left off in the Wednesday class, we will be adding some finishing touches next class and possible finish up completely as well.

This is the Monday version and at this point I think I want to call mine done.  I will look at it for a few days though I am already seeing a few things I might want to improve on.  Finish your's up as you see fit.

Keep painting and I will see you in class.