Hydrangea Study in Watercolour

Welcome everyone to my watercolour workshop to discover the wonders of watercolours. Hydrangea’s are one of my favourite flowers in my garden. In Ontario, Canada, our soil is alkaline, so normally our flowers are pink. I do try to fool mother nature, by adding some acidity to the soil. Sometimes there are a few blue blooms in my garden. Let’s study this live plant that is on my desk by painting it!

Let’s begin by printing out the Instruction guide (includes supply list), photo reference and transfer sheets.

Paper: 140 lb cold press paper (half sheet or smaller) minimal size 12” x 16”, plus a scrap piece of watercolour paper

Brushes: Rigger or Writer brush, any size

Round brushes size 6, 8, 12,

Flat brushes: 1 ½ or 2 inch & ½ in brush

Paints: New Gamboges (or Gamboges Hue), Burnt umber, Burnt sienna, Alizarin crimson, Yellow ochre, Ultramarine blue, Hooker’s green, Cerulean blue, Sap green (can be substituted by mixing Gamboges and Hooker’s green)

Misc. Items:

· Masking fluid, Plastic spoon, toothpicks

· Palette

· Pen, HB Pencil, Mechanical Pencil, Kneaded eraser, masking tape, wood board, paper towels, Seran or Cling wrap, table salt

· Carbon paper (optional)

Decide if you wish to paint a smaller version of the hydrangeas or a larger one using the two transfers.

· Tape the computer transfer sheet to a window or lightbox, so that the backside lines can be traced with a lead/graphite pencil. Once finished, flip the transfer paper to the front side and put small pieces of tape on the top and tape it to the watercolour paper. Use a pen and go over again all the lines.

· Do not press to hard or there will be indentations into the watercolour paper. But do check once in awhile that it is transferring onto your paper. If it is not re-apply the graphite.

· Remove the transfer paper and now re-draw (with a mechanical pencil) some of the lines so that you know the flower and leave shapes. Begin with the flowers Lightly introduce shadows with your lead pencil. Use a kneaded eraser and dab any excess lead off the watercolour paper. (It will cause smudges if left on) Once we brush on water, all lead markings are fixed on the paper and cannot be easily removed. This is a good exercise to do prior to painting, so that your mind will begin to become familiar with the reference.

· If not done yet, apply the masking tape completely around the paper onto your wood board. If you have a nice mat and frame already, this would be an opportunity to apply the tape, a quarter inch inside the mat.

What is masking fluid? Masking fluid is latex-rubber fluid that is applied to your watercolor paper, will work as a resistant, preserving the white paper or wash underneath. It is often referred to as "frisket". The masking fluid will be applied several times to the “whites” that have to be preserved, for example the centers of the flowers or white petals and the front trigs. Do not be overzealous with the masking because we will repeat this step after Lecture 5. Eventually the masking fluid will dry and will stick to the paper. Air dry

I sometimes use a Fineline Applicator with a fine tip to apply my masking fluid. (The applicator bottle is filled with masking fluid). If you do not have this product, it can easily be applied by a toothpick or any other tool with a sharp point.

Pour masking fluid in a plastic spoon. Dip your toothpick in the masking fluid or Frisket and apply to the white areas of the water, especially the drops off the paddles.

POURING: Make 5 medium washes of Alizarin crimson, Ultramarine blue, Cerulean blue, New Gamboges, and Sap Green separate small saucers or dishes. Wet the entire paper with a large flat brush. Place your painting on a horizontal angle slightly elevated. Start with the New Gamboges on a few leaves. Then pour Ultramarine blue and Sap Green on the remaining leaves. The Alizarin crimson and Cerulean blue can be poured randomly on the flowers. Rock gently the painting to encourage the colours to drift. You may have to have a clean brush to manipulate the colours. Have a paper towel ready to catch any drips. This is only the first wash, and this will dry lighter approximately 25- 30%. Air dry.

Masking fluid: Apply masking fluid again to a few more flower tips, especially if you have a wonderful colour happening on your petals. Warning: try not to cover all your flower petals with masking fluid. When removed there would be too many harsh lines.

Corners: Wet the corners with a large flat brush and paint these colours. Make 4 medium washes of Cerulean blue, Sap green (or mix Hooker’s green with Gamboge hue), Hooker’s green and a Dark Hooker’s green mixed with Burnt umber. Because the sun was at the top right in the reference, start painting at the top right corner with the Sap green on the right, Hooker’s green, followed by Cerulean blue. At the bottom corners I painted Dark Hooker’s green and Burnt umber. While this is still wet, sprinkle some salt on top. Have fun applying the cling or seran wrap on the corners by pinching and shaping.

Start by painting each individual petal of the flowers. Always wait to paint the petal close by. Soften some of the edges of the violet wash. To add more interest, change the violet to Alizarin crimson or Ultramarine blue. If you wish use other colours such as Cerulean blue.

The reference will give you clues where to paint a few petals with the yellow ochre and Burnt umber. Adding a few dried up petals adds some interest.

Remove all the masking fluid and salt.

Flowers: Each of us will have different colours applied, use a darker value of the violet or red or blue, paint from the center of each petal leaving a white center.

Centers: When the blossom is new the center holds 4 tight lobes. Some will open to reveal a center pistil and stamens. Paint the opened stamens with New Gamboges. Once it is dried, paint the Sap green on the outer edge.

Look carefully at the leaves. Paint only the light green leaves with Sap green, leaving some of the first wash peak through for the veins. For the medium value leaves, use Hooker’s green. To add more interest, consider adding burnt umber directly on your leaf. Air dry.

Mix hookers green with burnt umber and paint the darker leaves. Take your time and paint each leaf. No worries… if your leaves look similar. We will be adding shadows to make them appear on top of each other.

Make two washes of burnt sienna and burnt umber. Re-wet the larger branches with clean water. Imagine the sun to the right of the painting. Apply the burnt sienna on the right and burnt umber to the left. Let the paint mix on the paper. With the smaller green twigs use sap green and burnt umber.

By adding shadows at this point, you will start to become familiar with the subject and the highlights. Make a medium wash of Ultramarine blue and Alizarin crimson and paint the shadows (probably the left side or underneath) of the flowers. When painting the twigs and leaves, add either Hooker’s green or Burnt umber over the shadow mixture while the paint is still wet.

In this watercolour painting technique, the paint is applied on dry watercolour paper, with a strong value, and then a second brush, containing only clear water, immediately touches one of the edges and pulls the paint away, creating a gradient of colour, and makes the edges disappear (lost edge)! The found edge is usually a strong value and creates the shape of the petal or leaf.

In order to make your leaves more dramatic, we need to make two medium washes of New Gamboges and Cerulean blue. With quick strokes, apply the yellow to any leaves that are in front and the blue to any that are behind.

Now look at your painting 5 feet away and ask yourself does it need more darks in the flowers or in the leaves or in the background. If so add them now.

What did you learn?

o How to create your own Transfer paper for future paintings

o Experimenting with watercolour pouring and letting the colours softly blend together

o Steps ‘how’ to approach another flower reference

o How to create unusual backgrounds letting the paint create ‘magical’ colours; experimenting with cling wrap and salt

o How to paint the contrast of light and shadows

We all have ORIGINALS!