Seriously beautiful Spring florals ...Capture them!

- May 19, 2019

Spring flowers and Spring storms are a guarantee in Texas in May. But this annual bouquet doesn’t last forever...unless you capture it! That was our goal as we dedicated one day to paint together and create versions of Indian blankets that are dotting our roadsides. I found these showboats on a country road in Spicewood, Texas. They are the inspiration for my painting titled “ Texas Roadside Beauties”. I am delighted to announce it will be a part of the Texas Watercolor Society’s 2019 Show held in San Antonio from May 29 th to August 15 th.

My photo was used as a reference for the attendees with easy to see values. I often copy a color and black and white version for an easy value study.

We had a group of 5 gather at Galleries at Pecan Creek in Marble Falls on Wednesday, May 8 th despite a guarantee of stormy weather! On a pre sketched 11x15 ( quarter ) sheet of Arches 300# paper ( cotton rag), we started our process by adding any mask desired. I usually sign my paintings at this point using Pebeo masking fluid. Some masked the centers to protect them.

Please note this image can be painted horizontally or vertically as the focal point ( the largest bloom) is in a position that allows it. The tips of the petals can also be masked to keep the yellow pure. I did not. First, we lightly sprayed clear water and created an under painting using 3 transparent watercolors for this painting. Do not spray the entire area but use the white of the paper as part of the pattern. All 4 sides and corners should be different for the best design. We all used a variety of red, yellow and blue to give a cool or warm temperature for the next glaze. My selection was Quinacridone Magenta , Hansa yellow and Prussian blue. Just be sure these are transparent colors for the best outcome but do experiment with your favorites.

When dry, we began painting the second glaze working on each petal and it was immediately apparent that all of ours would be different. The obvious selection of colors and also the amount of water- to -pigment has a lot to do with this dynamic. I suggest using a pointed round that is larger than a detail brush at this point ( mine is Silver Black Velvet #8). This process can take awhile and hair dryers were used to speed the drying process. It was a humid day with a Texas frog strangler and lots of thunder outside our doors. We all munched and painted through a lunch break.

My original:

Moving into a third and very important phase of this , we began using negative space to create the tangle of darks in between the stems and leaves. The eye captures this lovely and interesting puzzle but it is tricky to repeat. I did demo each of these processes ( petal painting and negative painting using alternating shapes of darks) but tried to let each artist create their own. They all were diligent and suffered through the initial complexity of this stage in their own way...so fun to see them figure it out.