Bold Tulip Painting

I really enjoyed doing the pansy tutorial, so I've decided to do some more large close-up flowers using my own reference photos. Tulips are my favourite spring flowers, so I've started with those.

Pansy From Tutorial

I found a very useful tutorial online by Birgit O'Connor, who makes lovely bold watercolour paintings of flowers. I finished my version in my own way, but following the tutorial was a great learning exercise, especially about how to get the water to carry colour in large areas. Here's my effort (based on Birgit's original).

 

 

Limited Colours Landscape Sketches

I've seen some great landscapes recently using very  limited palettes (just two or three colours) so I've decided to have a go. Here's my first sketch - I had no plan so I ended up using watercolour pencil, watercolour paint, pencil and acrylic paint! As I generally struggle with colour a bit, I actually find it enjoyable to be limited to three colours.

 

 

 

This one has a bit more colour but still muted.Watercolour crayons for this one, plus a bit of watercolour paint on top.

 

 





 

 

 

 

 



Watercolour Practice - Daffodils

More watercolour practice. This is one of the step-by-step projects in 'Ready to Paint - Watercolour Flowers' by Wendy Tait. I've cropped it down though, for a more modern look.

 

 

A Couple of Hares

More watercolour practice - this time some hares. This one is just watercolour paint (with me trying not to be heavy handed!)

 

 

And this one started out with a watercolour wash, but then I fancied giving him a bit more texture so I got stuck in with some coloured pencil (another medium I'm interested in at the moment. I've seen some amazing coloured pencil work recently...yet another thing I want to learn...I need more time!)

 

 

 They both need backgrounds really - maybe I'll return to them and add something.

 

Watercolour Practice

I've been trying to learn watercolour technique using books and tutorials. I've had some disasters (I tend to be heavy-handed with colour and tone) but I think I'm starting to make some progress.

 

I've traced some outline drawings (pigment pen) from reference photos and scanned them, so I can print them off multiple times. This allows me to concentrate on practicing the watercolour techniques without worrying about having to spend ages doing a drawing each time. Here's one of Chichester Cathedral with watercolour washes.

 

 

Still not very accomplished but definitely an improvement on earlier attempts (which weren't fit to be seen and went straight in the bin!) 

Watercolour Pencils

I'm getting into watercolour painting and have seen some nice examples of watercolour pencils used in conjunction with watercolour paint to create some nice effects. I hadn't used my watercolour pencils for years, so I got them out to have a practice. This is just an adult colouring page I found online - ideal for experimenting with the pencils and getting a feel for them. I penciled in the whole thing dry and then added water (using a water brush - such a great invention!) to create a first wash. I then let it dry and added subsequent washes to create dimension. A great learning exercise, and I have to agree with all those who love adult colouring - it's SO relaxing!