| Step 1
Read through this page to familiarize yourself with the steps.
Are you ready to begin painting?
Before we start you need to look the photo of step 1 (at the bottom of this page) to see the areas that I painted. What we will do first is lay in some colors to the four background areas of the painting. This will serve to give us some light to medium washes in the backgound and at the same time, define the outer edges of the flower. I will divide the background into 4 areas called UPPER RIGHT (UR), UPPER LEFT(UL), LOWER RIGHT (LR) and LOWER LEFT(LL). On the upper and lower left there are a couple small areas of background between the stem and flower. Paint these when painting the nearby area.
BRUSHES: A small brush to apply Masking Fluid. A 1 inch, and #14 Round for painting. Be sure you have wet them in clean water and blotted them before starting.
COLORS: Aureolin or Cadmium Yellow Light, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Sap Green, Ultramarine Blue, and Winsor Violet.
OBJECTIVE: To paint a background that is both colorful yet soft and "out of focus" (blurred). We are not looking to paint anything distinctive in the background. Let's just suggest that something is back there, possibly more flowers or shrubs. We want to let colors run together and mix. This is the beauty of watercolor...the intermingling of colors.
DO NOT be concerned if your backgound doesn't look exactly like mine. You are just looking for a similar effect.
DO NOT "overwork" or over brush these areas. You will mostly be "dropping" paint onto damp paper. Use your brush to drop and gently push color and to paint along those edges that touch the flower. Take a good look at the Step 1 Photo by scrolling to the bottom of the page or click here.
LET'S BEGIN:
- We will paint the masking fluid on the "stamen" first so that we retain white paper in that area. PLEASE READ my section on using masking fluid before applying. DO NOT use one of your good brushes. Click the BACK button on your browser to return to this page. Shake your bottle of masking before using then "paint" the long narrow stamen of the flower. Try to stay between the lines as best you can. There are several stamen parts so refer to the drawing and finished painting to see the area that needs masking. It appears "gray" on the STEP 1 photo. Clean your brush with soap and water when done. This is the only area you will need masking. If you do not have masking fluid then you could use a either a white crayon or a piece of wax and carefully rub a little crayon/wax over the stamen area. This will keep that area white when painting later.
- Pick up your large round brush(#14) and dip it in clean water begin mixing puddles of Yellow, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Sap Green, Ultramarine Blue and Violet. Start with the Yellow and clean your brush between each color to keep the paint pure and work in the order I laid out above. Be sure to have plenty of paint laid out when painting backgrounds(more than you need) as stopping to re-mix can only cause problems. Don't be frugal with paint here! You should have 6 colors mixed, now take some Sap Green and then pick up a little Ultramarine Blue and mix a dark Blue-Green puddle.
- We will work the UPPER RIGHT Background first. Have your paper either flat or only slightly tilted. Pick up your 1" brush and wet it in clean water. Brush clean water into the center area of the UR. You do not need to paint the entire area, mainly the center, up to about 1/2 inch from the flowers edge. You can leave a few dry spots near the outer corner if you wish. Pick up your #14 round and scoop up some Yellow and drop it in the center of the UR area. As the paint hits the damp paper it will begin to flow. Let it flow randomly. Drop yellow onto the damp paper in several spots with one larger spot of yellow near the center of the area. We will assume there is another yellow flower in the background. Without cleaning the brush, pick up a little Raw Sienna and touch that into parts of the backgound area. Let colors mix together on the paper. Move to Burnt Sienna and let a little of that flow into the painting. CLEAN YOUR BRUSH and BLOT then scoop up some Sap Green and brush it onto the background area letting it mix with the other colors. You can begin defining the edges of the flower with this green mixture letting it flow into your damp area so as it all blends together. Lastly, add some of the Sap Green-Ultra Blue mixture into some of the Sap green area s to darken and vary the greens. Also add some of the Purple mixture into the green. This will help to "grey" or semi-neutralize some of the backgound. Refer to the photo of STEP 1 if necessary to see how the paints seem to flow. You are looking for a predominant Yellow-green backgound with some of the other colors mixed in. Don't worry if your background doesn't look exactly like the picture. What you are looking for is this nice soft "out of focus" effect. Once you have the area covered with the colors, STOP and let it dry. CLEAN AND BLOT YOUR BRUSH.
- If you used alot of the puddles of colors on your palette then mix more of the same colors on the palette before continuing. Clean your brush between colors to keep the color fresh! Now move to the upper left (UL) and proceed in a similiar manner. Start by wetting the area then put some Yellow, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Sap Green, Sap Green/Ultra Blue, and a little violet into some of the greens to darken and neutralize slightly. Paint up to the edges of the flower and stem. Be sure to paint the 3 small areas around the upper stem with a mixture of Sap Green and Ultramarine Blue. Refer to the STEP1 photo to get a feel for the amounts colors used. CLEAN AND BLOT YOUR BRUSH.
- Replenish any paint you need on the palette. Proceed to the lower left (LL) background and paint as you did in the previous two section by first wetting most of the area and then starting with your yellow add colors to this area painting up to the edges of the flower. Paint the two small sections between the lower stem. the only variation is that I dropped more Violet on top of Sap Green towards the bottom corners. The Green-Violet combination will go towards "grey" somewhat depending on the quantities of both colors. This is okay as it is distant background. CLEAN AND BLOT YOUR BRUSH.
- By now you should have a handle on painting this background! Moving to the lower right background (LR) follow all previous methods and note the Green-Violet combinations in the lower corner. Note the vertical line that goes threw the painting. This is where I "lifted" some paint off the paper. I will lift paint to suggest another distant stem in the background. Use your 1" or 1/2 flat brush to lift paint. While the area is still damp. Pick up your clean and blotted brush starting at the edge of the flower, press and drag the chisel edge of the brush threw the damp paint. If not much paint lifted in the first pass, just try it again. CLEAN ALL BRUSHES.
You are done with Step 1. Move on to STEP 2
|