Contemporary watercolour botanicals

£35

Contemporary watercolour botanicals

Course
43 Lessons

If you love plants, delight in gardening or you marvel at the beauty of flowers, you have probably wanted to capture them in watercolour. Rather than a highly detailed botanical piece, using layers of masking fluid and watercolours, we will create contemporary botanicals focussing on patterns and shapes. The course takes you through warm up exercises and then step by step to create an exciting tondo painting.

Remember

You have lifetime access
You can start whenever you want
You can repeat each lesson as many times as you wish
Reference photos and clear instructions are included throughout
You are invited to join a friendly Facebook Group to share your work or ask questions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/694706731930461

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1. Introduction

If you are looking for a new way to capture the essence of leaves and flowers in the green space around us, without painting every detail, then this course offers a contemporary and exciting approach.

Will you enjoy this course?

Preview

Introduction - is this the right course for you?

Preview

Contemporary botanicals outline

Preview

Contemporary botanicals materials

Preview

This course's painting

Preview

Alternative circular painting

Preview

Another example to inspire!

Preview

Blues and greens example

Preview

Multicolour flowers example

Preview

2. Warming up

Before we start on the painting, we need to warm up and get to know the characteristics of our brushes and what marks they will help us produce.

Using brush work to your advantage

Warming up

3. Leaf library

We all know what a leaf looks like, but the moment you start looking closely you realise what variety there is. By developing a toolkit of shapes and patterns you will have plenty of examples to call upon in your paintings.

Developing leaf references

Leaf library

4. Masking fluid

Masking fluid is a bit of a necessary evil for the watercolourist. It helps preserve light complex shapes against a darker background. While it is best avoided in general, you cannot deny how useful it can be. A few dos and don'ts will help you avoid the pitfalls and get the best out of it.

All you need to know about masking fluid

Masking fluid

5. Planning

A few minutes spent planning will save you hours of work. It will act as a route map of where we want to go.

Having a plan

Coming up with a rough plan

6. Preparing the circle

As the masking will take a little while to dry, it's worth doing now before choosing your colours.

Getting your circle ready

Preparing the circle

7. Swatching colours

Colour is pretty fundamental to watercolour, so putting together a palette which conveys the emotion you are after, but can also give full tonal range is a key step.

Checking out your colour choice

Swatching colours

8. First wash

We are ready to start on the first layer.

Let's get going

First wash

Photo of dry first wash

9. Painting the flowers

I decided to start this piece with painting the flowers, which would then be masked to protect them.

Painting the flowers

10. First layer masking

With the flowers dry, it is time to mask out shapes which will appear closest to us in the final painting.

Definining the plants closest to the viewer

First layer of masking fluid

After the first mask

11. Second wash

Once the masking is dry, it is time to paint the second wash. Try to ensure you go a step darker by any masking, because without sufficient contrast all your hard work will have been in vain.

Let's paint the second wash

The second wash

12. Second layer of masking and the next wash

With the wash fully dry, you can now mask the next layer. These are the plants peeping out from behind the ones closest to you.

Masking off slightly more distant foliage and the next wash

Putting on the second masking layer and the next wash

13. Final layer of masking and final wash

Once the previous layer is fully dry, it is time to add in more distant shapes.

Finishing masking and the final wash

Final masking and final wash

Masking complete

14. Finishing

We are almost there. Removing the masking fluid reveals the painting and then there is an opportunity to amend anything you are unhappy with or to enhance anything you are particularly pleased with.

What have we here and what do we need to do?

Removing masking, assessing and finishing

The painting with masking removed

Starting to touch up

Making progress

Final tondo painting

Final close-up