Watercolor Flower Painting

How to Paint Glorious Watercolor Flowers.

With that in mind we are going to learn to make the flowers lifelike, so that we can pick them right off the page.

Watercolour flower painting. Is quite a vast subject, but with a few simple easy to learn techniques and you will soon be on your way to beautiful flowers.

To make it easy for you, this is what you and I will do.

PAINTING LEAVES

Painting Leaves are the beginning part of our adventure, they are an important part of any flower painting.

When Painting Leaves they can be painted in light and shadow patterns, they can be in the background with light and shadows bouncing across them producing a nice effect.

The initial drawing starts with a central vein, the shape of this leaf will follow this vein. Drawing the shape with the other veins leading off the center vein.

Generally speaking only leaves in the immediate foreground need this kind of detail. Painting Leaves in the background will only be the shape and color. In other words we don't want to paint twigs and details in this area, let the viewer fill in the leaves with their imagination.

Wet the complete leaf with clear water. Paint with a very light wash of yellow, your choice of yellow would be best if it was a transparent. You are really just dropping the color (yellow) onto the wet paper allowing the water to disperse the pigment for you.

Patience is very important at this point, in fact patience in watercolor is always required.
Don't be tempted to push,probe, pull and brush the pigment around at anytime. Let the water move the pigment.
Learn to prepare another non adjacent leaf rather than mess around with the one you just painted.

The yellow has moved over the majority of the leaf, the leaf is now still wet, now drop in Sap Green or a Green of your choice and let that run without a lot of painting with the brush.

Tip
This is a good rule of thumb.
Wet the leaf 100% of the area
Drop in the yellow about 75% of the area.
Drop in Sap Green 60% of the area.
Drop in Darker Sap Green for the shadows maybe 5 - 10%.
Whilst it is wet take a sharp pointed object maybe a large sewing needle, or other shape pointed metal instrument, now with the point draw in the veins. Note: the paper must be wet for this to work. Now you have some really nice veins, better than you could have painted.
Don't ever try in Painting Leaves to paint veins on a dry leaf it will look awful.

Mix a variety of greens for your leaf, don't ever use Sap Green all the time or any other green for that matter big mistake.

Explore, make a chart of all the combinations of Green you can imagine with a variety of Blues and Yellows include some violet, try adding some Burnt Sienna.
You need to record these results immediately, if you are like me you will have forgotten the colors in Painting Leaves just completed.

By the way I nearly forgot the directions of the veins and how they connect to the center of the leaf would be an indication of the form of the leaf, in other words we can make it roll and bend any shape we want.
The curl of the veins indicate the curl of the leaf.

A smooth shining leaf reflecting light will not show too many veins. The leaf is mainly formed with large patches of warm or cool colors and blended high lights, see the following image.

Always fine tune Painting Leaves as a last step, Blending, Adding Color, Softening Edges, all these touches will ensure you of a realistic looking leaf, and that's what you really want, isn't it.

We are now going to start talking about petals.

THIS IS WHAT I HEAR FROM MY STUDENTS!!!!!!!!!

What do I do about the background? or OK, Now what about the background.

Taking fear out of painting the background.

Afraid you will mess up a nice painting when it's time to paint in the background.

GENTLE BLENDING OF BACKGROUNDS.

Let's paint a background very wet into wet (wet the paper and apply wet paint), using transparent colors.

Florals tend to look most effective when a transparent background is used. This gives the impression of depth, of space. Maybe the viewers will have thoughts of mystery behind the foreground blooms. What is that? Could it be more blooms

BACKGROUNDS IN OPAQUE COLORS.

Occasionally an opaque color is just what it needed. Again apply to wet paper, aiming to produce a rich jewel like background.

Although transparent colors for a background are my first choice. Opaque can enhance and bring out the transparent foreground subjects.

Remember backgrounds can be in any subject matter - NOT AT ALL RESTRICTED TO FLOWER PAINTING.

Suggersted Opaques - You might use Cadmium Yellow Deep avoiding the lightest area and areas of Blue. Cadmium Red Deep, Cadmium Orange, adding a few transparent pigment, your choice of color.

IMPORTANT - ONLY JUST 'DROP' (touch with point, brush the wet paper), DON'T BRUSH BACK AND FORTH.

Should look something like this image:

Remember the wet background will dilute the colors you are going to Drop In, so have the paint quite thick, also you do not need to be coming back into the background for a second time. Opaque paint has a habit of lifting (easily removed) go carefully.

When you drop in colors, for goodness sake don't push and pull (overworking the colors). The temptation to do this will be there - DON'T DO IT.

This is a major point to think about

A problem arises when the background is large and it is very difficult to keep the paint very wet and juicy and bad splotchy marks of color and mud appear.

The simple solution is made in the drawing stage.

A general overview of petals.

The do's and the don'ts,in painting Flowers in Watercolor.

WHY........In In painting Flowers in Watercolor, the painted area will immediately scream at you if it's wrong.

The thing to do is then eliminate the screams.

It's like a child, if it screams something is wrong, so you just eliminate it. No, not the child just the scream. I have not had any students eliminate the wrong one yet.... but you never know.

The petal is going to be a series of "Lost and Found Edges" (soft and hard).

Paint any shape and then soften with a damp brush on one edge. It's going to be a piece of cake if you keep in mind the brush must be dryer than the painted area.
Now was'nt that easy..........a very wet brush and it will not be easy but a big mess.

Shown is a soft edge.

Note - you will never get a hard edge on wet paper. Likewise you will never get a soft edge on dry
paper.

Do pay very close attention to the hard and soft image shown above, they are both painted with the same color and strength but the difference in value is caused by the paper being wet and diluting the pigment, in the illustration showing the soft edge.

So always keep that in mind, wet paper produces different results compared to dry paper. More information on how to paint Flowers in Watercolor.

Now let's think about petals that have curled edges, that's right leaves also are curled.
Curled edges give you an opportunity to add color and brilliance to your Flowers in Watercolor .

You can achieve the illusion of curled edges by painting the surfaces facing the light a little cooler when you learn how to paint Flowers in Watercolor.

The cool and darker shadows mold and describe the form of the petal.

The area facing the sky might also be cooler reflecting such.

It is best to paint one petal at a time, not painting adjacent petals. If you paint two petals side by side they will bleed into each other. At this point you don't have to finish the petal to complete completion.

You may also indicate surface form by "line" in say an IRIS FLOWER WATERCOLOR PAINTING.
This petal appears to curve largely because of the vein lines on it's surface. A change in color temperature further enforces the illusion.

Several things you must keep in mind, when learning how to paint Flowers in Watercolor, curls and petals that have multiruffled blooms. Not only is the whole flower subject to sun and shadow, but each petal moves from sun to shade and then into shadow many times within one petal.

Jim all these rules are getting to me......OK Think this way then, Petal in sun, Petal twists and turns, Shadow and Light occur. Paint it that way. And your done.

Capture with Glazing Techniques the Brilliance of Color in Petals and how to paint Watercolor Flowers Part1.

You can paint anything by building up glazes just paint very thin washes over the subject. The secret is not to cover the entire first glaze with the second one, the second with the third and so on.

You should retain the same value of the glaze but paint less area with each graded glaze.
But you must think where you want the darkest glaze to appear.

Always wait until the wash is DRY, before adding further washes. When it comes to the glazing process the importance of the word DRY is paramount in how to paint flowers.

Free watercolor demo

In the above example first draw as best as you can then apply a mask (frisket) to the column of the stamens.
You can start with any petal you like, but only one at a time.

Damp the petal but be sure to leave some of the edges dry, study the image and you will see some white of the paper showing you don't want any paint there.

Just before the petal dries, apply second coat of water again don't wet the edge. This method allows the first application of paint to soak into the layers beneath the surface of the paper enabling
successive applications of washes without disturbing the initial wash

The "normal" way is to paint one layer either wet on wet, that is wet pigment on wet paper,or wet on dry. This does not allow the pigment to penetrate very deeply into the paper leaving pigment on the surface for you to disturb during subsequent washes.

Now "drop" in color in this case Permanent Rose into the wet paper. Allow the paint to flow toward the tip of the petal, if the edges of the image shown are not dampened the pigment will not enter.

Finish off all the other petals the same way.
Take your time, I will wait for you.Painting Watercolor Flowers is fun.

Everything must be completely dry now we are going to build up paint on the existing petals.

Gently dampen the Whole Petal
Yes I know you are only going to paint a very small area of the petal, if you only wet the area you are going to paint you stand a good chance of leaving a tide mark where the water stopped.

Don't forget to soften the edges where appropriate as you paint, maybe somewhere,a diffused shadow is thrown onto the petal by the one above.
Rub off the masking on the stamens, now tint with a yellow (your choice) now with a fine brush paint the negative shapes with yellow plus violet, and do each stamen carefully.

That should complete the project........Now pat yourself on the back.

I know this about you, if you do this several times I will have a good chance to pick out the very first one you did. Think about that before you go rushing into another new project, master How To Paint Flowers one at a time. Practice - Practice - Practice.

This has not been a free botanical Watercolor Painting Lesson........but close, it was reasonable tight

Regardless how more difficult the next flower seem to be Hibiscus Tropical Flowers, Lily of the Valley, Red Roses, Flowers Mums or all flowers in season.
Petals and leaves can be treated the same way as above.

LETS RECAP. How To Paint Flowers.

Petals and Leaves......always wet the whole area and just before it dries re-dampen then apply color by just touching the brush to the wet paper.

For goodness sake let the water disperse the pigment. NOT YOU brushing back and forth.

Watercolor does not like to be pushed around. Don't fuss with it.

Slowly build up the texture with glazes, painting less area with every coat.

IMPORTANT TIP. Try painting a smaller area than you are actually seeing, if the colorful area looks to be about the size of a postage stamp only paint half a stamp and let the water do the rest of the work.

How to Paint Flowers part 1........has been described in a very basic format just to get you started.
But I fully realize that you want more details about specific flowers and arrangements. Your wish is my command.

The most popular flowers paint step by step with all techniques and colors and drawings will be available very soon. Working from these will take your Watercolor Flower Painting to a new level.

If you are really serious about How To Paint Flowers really well stay tuned to this site.

This is just a few of my Floral Watercolor Paintings.

You can do the same with knowledge,and painting practice and have fun at the same time.

Now let's see what we can do about backgrounds.

Take a petal,leaf,stem off the paper

Every time you do this the background area is divided into small sections.

Small sections that you will be more comfortable in painting

Background colors

It's really your choice because of the variations in the artwork.
You might want to try Complimentary Colors.
How about a Jarring Colors.
What about a color or colors that repeats the subjects color, but deeper in value.
Maybe an experiment might be in order.

The question that always comes up is do we paint the backgrounds first or wait until the painting is completed.
My preference to put the background in last, the reason being, if I have a dark background which is normally true.
Cutting into the flowers with dark paint you can really shape the petals and leaves.
If on the other hand you paint the back ground first it is hard indeed to place flowers into the "gaps" you left for the subject matter.

Backgrounds should be "planned" in the composition and drawing stage areas broken up into interesting small shapes.

Plan to have some of the leaves, petals or stems going right off the sides of the paper dividing the background into sizes you can easily paint.

Goal--- make the background help tell the story and set the mood of the painting. Harmonious shapes should reinforce the dominant these, and contrasting ones should be added for interest.

But, suppose you complete a painting without giving it any thought about the background. STUDENTS DO THIS ALL THE TIME.

The worst time to think about adding the background is JUST after you have finished painting. NOW THE FEAR SETS IN, I don't want to ruin my painting.

You now try to convince yourself it does not need a background, maybe that is true. But, if the answer is YES for a background, PUT THE PAINTING ASIDE. Plan out on a scrap of paper the background, before you rush in and really mess up the painting.

THIS WILL NOT TAKE LONG - BUT DO IT.

First go back to the original photo or sketch or make a new one, and do several black and white studies of possible backgrounds.

Tracing paper or mat acetate over the photo, using a soft pencil or marker, copy all of the dark shades you've used in your painting. Now you can experiment with background shapes and values until you arrive at a pleasing pattern of darks and lights.

Consider placing dark against light, and light against dark. DOES NOT HAVE TO BE RESERVED FOR BACKGROUNDS).

Remember, you are not obligated to put "things", objects in the background - abstract shapes will do.

A solid color is nearly the same as no background at all - BORING - Simple shapes and related colors are often the answer.

EXTRA TIPS.

For a unified composition try to have some of the background color flow into and over parts of the foreground. It will prevent your foreground from looking pasted on a background.

When background is dry soften up the edges where you painted over the subject (if you left a hard line).

Why don't you do this, follow this step by step painting of a background.

Draw a simple shaped flower, remember to take some of the petals off the edge of the paper.
Let's just start with one color, we want to concentrate on the method and not worry about colors, does that make sense?

Notice the slight "dome" on the puddle of paint. This shows me I have reached a good water to pigment ratio

It looks juicy, not a thin coat of pigment smeared on the palette.

Mix up a large puddle of paint, let's use pigment PB 27. keeping it fluid, no thick paste look. Dip brush in puddle, it needs to be almost dripping wet, needless to say we are painting on dry paper. You might want to use 2 brushes, one for pigment and one for water.
Paint a size about two postage stamps then recharge the brush, never go back into what you just painted.

Just drag the edge of the paint down slowly, work the edges away from you. Maybe you might want to do a few brush strokes with water then come back with pigment.

Don't fiddle with it. Don't mess with it which is ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES MADE.

I have never seen a student that did not want to prod and poke around with the brush.
So maybe you will not be any different, but really try to leave it alone, let the water and paint do their own thing.

As you paint, pay attention to the intensity of your color and how much paint you will need to keep on the brush in order to keep the edges wet and flowing.
You can move the painting around as you work to be more comfortable. At this stage of the painting you do not have time to go and fix your hair, keep going, don't stop. This is what you should be aiming to do to get value changes into this beautiful blue, push the brush loaded with pigment into the paper and release and then pull the remaining paint with the water brush leaving it thin so that you can almost see the paper.
Now recharge the brush with pigment and push as before.

Never let the edges dry.
You should wind up with a nice wet look on dry paper that also provides you with complete control going around the flower.

PB 27 this is one of the most dynamic pigments available, it has a big drying shift (lightening by about 60% from wet to dry).
PB 27 dries very fast and back runs readily and I just love that look. (Winsor & Newton, Antwerp Blue).

This maybe some thing new to you .

As you can see I never mentioned the pigment by name.
You must understand each colors characteristics.
Above all forget the colors name on the tube,just remember the pigment code which is on the tube.

Please see my home page where a student tells their story about pigments.

PB 15.1 has a least 15 different names.

Very often a Paint Manufacturer will have different names on the same pigment (maybe you might have bought duplications), don't be surprised if you have

Don't laugh I was just looking at a Large Catalogue where there was listed 80 plus colors.
Are you ready for this, 10 colors, different names of colors on the tubes, of course, the same pigment resided in each of the 10 , sometimes they even added another pigment.
I believe they call that "MARKETING".

It truly makes me quite offended.

Return from Watercolor Flower Painting to Home

footer for Watercolor Flower Painting page