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LAYERING DILUTE, TRANSPARENT WASHES TO ACHIEVE FORM AND LIGHT

Colours: flowers alizarin crimson
rose madder genuine
french ultramarine
indian yellow

background cobalt green
sap green
ulramarine violet

Arches rough watercolour paper (this painting is 6 x 5" approx)
masking fluid
my brush was I think a no.5 that comes to a nice point...the no rubbed
off ages ago

TIP
It's a good idea to use some of the flower colour in the background which could suggest more blooms. Putting some background colour gently wet into wet along one or two petal edges will blend the flower into the background a little.

1
Draw the flowers then erase the inner petals to leave only the outline. Mask out the stamens.



2
Wet the whole area inside the pencil outline. Let stand for a minute or so then apply a dilute wash of alizarin crimson/rose madder mix. Use tissue/paper towel to blot small areas where the light will be brightest. When dry, draw pencil lines back in lightly.



3
Note how the petals at the very back are barely visible. They need only one very dilute wash with a touch of blue in places to push then into the background, and soft edges so some of them fade away. Make a start on the background using wet into wet and have a tissue handy to stop hard edges where you don't want them, or run a brush loaded with water alongside a damp painted edge to gradualy fade it out. For the background I have used cobalt green deepened with ultramarine violet and sap green in different strengths. Play with it a little but don't fuss with it too much, just let it dry and see the results you get. A damp piece of cotton wool will soon soften effects you don't like when it is dry.
There are no definate petal shapes on most of the second flower. To achieve this, VERY dilute layers are built up and left to dry. This painting has between 1 and 5 layers. Look closely for warm and cool areas. You can see the left is cooler with blue added to the pink mix or you can try laying a pink mix and adding a little blue, letting it mix on the paper.



4
Carry on looking closely at warm and cool areas. As you fill in some background under the flowers, start to add a darker and stronger mix which will help to make the finished flowers "pop".



5
The main flower has stronger shapes and deeper shadows than the other. Build up the layers gradually as before and here you can paint some of the petals as separate parts. Use tissue/towel to keep soft where needed but don't be afraid to keep some shadows harder edged if that is how they appear.



6
It's important to keep observing the photo ref closely for warm and cool areas. The petals just above the stamens catch some of their yellow glow, so don't forget to include some of this warmth. There are also some very cool blue shadows on this flower, so look out for those. Rub off masking and paint stamens, not forgetting that this area varies from almost white to a deep brownish yellow.
Deepen background as necessary to create a contrast in places and make the flowers pop out




Hope you enjoy having a go at this.
Happ painting.

Cherry