‘Rose’, 15″ X 19″, watercolour on paper, 2012.
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This entry was posted on May 14, 2012 at 3:53 am and is filed under Arts & Entertainment, Entertainment, Flower Painting, Food and drink, Graphic Anthropology, Painting, Watercolour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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May 14, 2012 at 4:36 am
Wow, that is really something!
May 14, 2012 at 7:38 am
Thank you.
May 14, 2012 at 5:52 pm
It’s also a perfect rose. I have had some trouble with flowers in general, because I take them in to study, so they start wilting, which is an interesting look, but I lose the “standard” form, which I think I really need to be successful.
May 14, 2012 at 7:02 pm
I think with a painting of a flower the expectation is to show a flower at its best, or standard form. I use photo’s and the real thing and memory. Mostly memory, roses have a pattern to their growth cycle. From there its the technical things you do with watercolour. Like the wet on wet shading for each petal, or lifting colours with a dry brush to create highlights.
May 14, 2012 at 7:24 pm
Yes, this is true. I’ve been using your tips. I used a Derwent Ivory Black for the darks, very POINTED, and a fresh flower. Additional sharpening with sandpaper. You really do have to put the flower aside, because the light and darks that form the patterns are so subtle. So I put the drawing to the side after doing a few basic shapes of the petals and shadows and then shade it in as if it were a doodle. Once I can see it as a doodle, then all the shapes have beginnings and endings and meet up somewhere.
May 14, 2012 at 8:20 pm
I find its really easy to get overwhelmed by the detail in the real thing. Even the stems of plants can be so intricate when you look at them closely. Over the years I’ve mixed a lot of the practical things I used as a sign painter into the world of art, modified a bit for creativity. Handling a brush and pencils or charcoal every day to do signs for a few decades helps, it becomes second nature. Dividing up the piece into manageable sections of the same colour, or shade keeps it from getting too much.
May 14, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Quite a contrast with the previous posts. But all great stuff.
May 14, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Thanks. Sometimes I need to look away from the world. It makes me too sad, then I wouldn’t be able to paint about it at all.