taking it to the next level...you're ready!

Good day, fellow artists!  I have been LOVING painting these small square flowers this week.  I'm so accustomed to painting these large pieces that painting small has been a treat for me.

So, if you're newer to watercolors, you've mastered some simpler techniques and you want to take your florals to the next level.  You want depth, light, something that will challenge you a bit more.

Look no more!  (I sound like a car salesman!)

Find a flower pic or take a flower pic that has nice sun and shadow in it.  Blow it up or crop it to the square size that you like and start! Or, you can work from real life...which is what we are all SUPPOSED to be doing, but we don't.  (naughty!)

I masked some of the edges of the flowers where the sun was shining the brightest.  

For the first wash, I like to wet the whole page and get my first soft wash of colors on.

Then, I painted petal by petal, wetting one whole petal and adding color.  You kind of have to jump around at this point to let each petal dry before you start on the petal next to it.  Use a hair dryer if you're as impatient as I am.

I've painted this lovely yellow dahlia a few times, so it was a quick one for me.  You're going to use the same techniques.  Wet your whole page first.  Allow it to dry completely before you start on your next wash.

Did you know you can digitally frame your artwork on American Frame?  Go to the American Frame website,  upload your art into a frame with a mat and then capture the screen image (if you have a mac) by holding down command, shift, 4.  It'll save the image to your desktop and you can show your customers what your art will look like framed.  It's a great tool.

Ok, back to the flower.  So, after the first wash, I dried it and then I masked all the little light thin shapes in the center so that I wouldn't have to paint around them.

I had a good bit more trouble with this one.  The shadows were complicated and I kind of struggled with that large petal on the left that has a lot of shadow on it.  Sometimes I can't decide which colors to use for shadows and I flip flop back and forth.  Eh, it's all part of the learning experience.

I was really happy with the first few washes and then once I added that shadow on the left petal, I had problems....but I feel like I rescued it (kind of!) and it wasn't a total loss.  I was sweating there for a bit, though.   By the third photo, you'll see what I mean.  BUT, it's a good lesson on keeping washes lighter so that those "uh-oh" moments are fewer and farther between...lol

I don't know why I kill myself with complicated yellow flowers.  Maybe I like the challenge...

This is an odd painting, actually,....the shapes work from far away, but when you get close up, they are just shapes.  I'm not quite sure how that happened.  Oh well!

So, hopefully this has inspired you to get out there, get some good pics and start a small, but lovely flower painting!  I'd love to see your projects and I totally don't mind if you post photos to my facebook page so that we can all enjoy your work.  

Happy Painting, my friends!