On looking back through the blog I have realised that I forgot to show you my last completed watercolour picture. I am also posting them on this blog so I can keep a record of how I am progressing.
This picture was done over two weeks classes – so just under 4 hours I suppose. I used a method called wet on wet. In this you do a wash as your background colour – in this case it was a yellowy orange and then you blob on the highlight colours while it is still wet. So for this leaf I blobbed on the burnt red and greens. By adding the additional colours while the base is still wet means that the colours merge a little and you get a nice background. Once this is dried you can apply another thin wash over to dull down the differences between the colours. Then it is a case of adding the details: the stems and veins. Finally with a splayed dry brush you add in some fine lines off the veins to give the impression of the lights and shades in the leaf – which after all is far from flat.
I’m not sure what the leaf is from – I chased it down in the local supermarket car park before my art class like a woman possessed. My teacher had told me to get some leaves with lots of colour in and then I missed two weeks classes and the leaf change seemed to be a little early so there was little around to choose from. This leaf fluttered past me, teasing me with its red, pink, orange, yellow and green. No doubt there were people who were thinking I was a loon. I think it might be a Liquidamber as there are some growing in the supermarket car park but if anyone has a better idea I would love to know so I can label it.
I have now moved on to an Iris seedhead which is being painted from a photograph so I can take far more time and really work on getting the fine detail right which is something I am struggling to learn.
Bloomin heck Helen (wanting to avoid causing offence or being flagged as spam, I was thinking something rather more Anglo Saxon), I assumed that image was a photo when I saw it – you painted that? Wow!
Wow indeed – that’s really impressive! I love the way you’ve captured the curl at the tip – makes the whole thing look very three-dimensional.
Wow – great painting. Def not a Liquidambar leaf as they are 5-lobed similar to a maple. The highly toothed edge makes me think it looks like hornbeam?
This is incredibly good. I have enjoyed your progress and work. Looking forward to your iris seedheads.
Watercolor is tricky. I too have an art background. I was fortunate in that I was trained in watercolor from the beginning and didn’t have to unlearn any oil painting technique. Ironically enough, I struggle with oil. You did do a very good job with the leaf. I’ll look forward to seeing more!
If you didnt mention that its a watercolour, I wouldnt have known..it looks so real, so you are that good! Looking forward for more!
It is excellent – such lovely colours and detail. You are making wonderful progress!
I too thought it was a photo done on a scanner–so beautiful, very talented. Carolyn
Helen that is fabulous! so full of movement. Not Liquidambar, they are star shaped, perhaps birch or hornbeam?
Helen, I thought the same as other commenters~Wow, you are incredibly good~My college roommate was a water-colorist and it’s a difficult medium! Thank you for sharing…gail
Looks fantastic to me. Can’t wait to see the Iris seedhead too.
You have a wonderful eye for colour with that leaf – beautiful.
I’m so impressed, it is fantastic Helen. Really beautiful.