Adventures in Art, Product Design, Home Decor, Cooking, and Gardening
This painting, which is based on a tutorial in Fiona Peart’s book, “Tulips in Watercolor,” showcases my favorite Winsor Newton paint colors–permanent rose, Winsor blue green shade, Winsor yellow deep, green gold, and alazarin crimson.
My niece Karen chose to paint these yellow trumpet flowers. This is her second watercolor painting and her painting skills have improved a great deal already. I love the shading in the center of the flowers–it gives them such depth–and the sunny color scheme she chose. This painting is based on a tutorial in Janet Whittle’s book, “How to Draw Exotic Flowers in Simple Steps.”
Here’s a close up of Karen’s painting, isn’t it pretty?
My daughter painted these cheerful orange tulips during our joint painting session earlier this evening. How fabulous are they? I love the color scheme and the series of lines and dots drawn in micron pen that she used to shade the flowers and leaves. This painting was based on a photo I found on Paint My Photo.
Here’s a photo of her painting before the addition of the details in micron pen:
She wanted me to ask my readers if the painting was better with or without the micron pen details. I say it’s better with the dots and lines. What say you all?
Tulips are my favorite flower to paint. They’re simple but elegant, they come in a variety of colors, and the leaves offer a lot of opportunities to play with a range of blues, greens, and yellows. I wasn’t sure if the pastel background would work with this painting, but I think I pulled it off. This painting is based on a tutorial in Fiona Peart’s book, “Tulips in Watercolor.”
Here’s a close-up view:
During our Columbus Day family paint fest my sister painted this amazing bouquet of orange and yellow tulips. She really enjoyed learning Janet Whittle’s background painting technique at our last family paint fest and wanted to try it again on this painting. This is her third watercolor painting and I think she’s hooked. I couldn’t be more thrilled; I love hanging out with my sister and look forward to many more painting sessions with her.
This painting was based on a tutorial in the book, “Tulips in Watercolor,” by Fiona Peart.
Here’s a close-up view of my sister’s painting:
This painting was based on a tutorial from Fiona Peart’s book, “Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Watercolor Flowers.” I may drop in a background at a later date, but for now I’m calling this painting done. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was an internationally celebrated architect, designer, and watercolor artist. His paintings did not become popular until after his death in 1928.
How do you tame a wild watercolor background? Add some wild roses. Here’s a sneak peak of a painting I’ve been working on this weekend. I worked on this painting for a good portion of the day but had to stop when the lighting changed. If all goes well, I’ll be posting the completed painting tomorrow.
Sometimes you have to leave your comfort zone to make magic happen. Today I left my comfort zone, slapped a variety of colors of paint on my paper, tilted the paper to encourage the colors to run together, and came up with this wildly intense background.
Those are roses I’ve sketched (the shiny areas are masking fluid). Can I take a traditional subject like roses and combine them with this wild background and come up with something magical? Only time will tell….
And speaking of orange, here’s my completed tulip painting. I plan on featuring it–and the orange poppies my daughter painted–on my upcoming tangerine tango redecorating series. I may drop in a background at a later date, but for now I’m calling it done. I like the simplicity of this painting and intensity of the colors. This painting was based on a tutorial from the book, “Tulips in Watercolor,” by Fiona Peart. Watercolors on cold pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.
I worked on this painting for several hours yesterday and again tonight, but I got too tired to finish it. I’m happy with my progress thus far, so I’m posting a sneak preview. For this painting, I reversed my usual process and painted the background first. I used masking fluid to prevent the dark paint from bleeding into the lighter parts of the painting. It was my first attempt at using masking fluid. I found it a bit tricky to apply; it dried quickly and became thick in a few seconds. I’m not sure if this is typical or if the masking fluid I purchased was a bit on the old side. I used only three colors in this painting–Winsor blue (green shade), permanent rose, and green gold–my absolute favorite colors by Winsor Newton. Watercolors on hot pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.