SusieG Studio

Last week I posted about my watercolor painting of a clematis flower that I started and did not finish. I mentioned that I was going to pause and let my painting dry.

This pause was for a very good reason. I wanted to share with my blog readers that I have a tendency to overwork my watercolor paintings. A few of you know from working with me, that I can get so focused on a task that I forget to look up. That happens with my watercolor artwork and my watercolor painting experience tends to be short lived.

I’m happy to share that I’ve been developing better habits and experimenting with my watercolor painting process.

This is the picture I took last week of where I left off.

For the first few layers of paint I’m cognizant of where I’m applying the paint. I’ve been trying to leave various parts of the flower petals white or light. This is where I stop and look at what I’m doing. Otherwise, I will keep painting the petals or “overworking” the color and the flower becomes flat looking.

This week I was able to spend some time with my sketch. A few minutes here and there each day. Practicing and experimenting with my watercolor paints and brush and how much water to use.

By reaching my stopping point each day, this allowed me time to look at my artwork and see what areas of my painting needed more work. I noticed my flower was still lacking some “oomph” and needed more depth. I had room to add more color to the flower and still be able to keep certain areas light.

I started with adding a bit more Quinacridone Rose to my purple mix and applied the pinkish color to the flower petals. I found this gave my flower a bit more life.

I’ve also added more purple to the edges of the petals, especially closer to the center of the flower.

I continued to work on each petal. I looked at the folds and curves and applied a darker purple color. I was giving each petal its own personality. This helped me avoid painting all the petals the same color from the base of the flower to the tip of the petal.

While I was waiting for the main flower petals to dry, I went ahead and painted the background with additional green leaves and other clematis flowers. I wanted the background to be somewhat blurry with less focus and less details. I painted loose shapes.

For the clematis flower, I added a final layer of color around the edges of each petal. I also added some darker green paint in between the base petals.

Summary

This was a wonderful painting adventure for me. It was also an experiment. I took my time and enjoyed my watercolor paints and the painting process. The clematis flower was done using the wet-on-wet technique. This gave my flower a softer look.

For the background I used a combination of wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry. I actually do like the look of the wet-on-dry technique as I can see my brush strokes on the paper. The broken bits of colors in the background leaves. I actually used less water on my brush to achieve this.

I’m happy that I remembered to take pictures of my painting’s progression. This was a chance for me to stop, breathe, and look at my progress. Also, it’s neat to go back and see all the steps/pictures in one go. Like flipping through a photo book.

I’m feeling more confident in using watercolors to create my artwork. I’m looking forward to more practice time and see where my watercolor adventure takes me next.

BTW. I’m still enjoying my Luchetti sketchbook. I still have a few more sketches/paintings to create in my book. I’ll be sure to create a future blog post of what my book looks like after a few weeks of use and how my completed pages look when the book is opened and when it’s closed.

Paint: Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors. Lemon Yellow, Sap Green, Cascade Green, Quinacridone Rose, and Prussian Blue

Brushes: Rosemary & Co R26-Red Dot Pointed Round #4 and R13-Sable Blend Pointed #8. The brushes can be found at Art Toolkit at this link.

Journal: Luchetti True Flat Sketchbook. Mixed Media. 100% cotton. Cold Press. 8″x8″ with 22 sheets/44 pages. 600gsm (300lb). Archival. Acid-Free. Gelatin-free vegan sizing. Vegan PU leather covers. Luchetti has a wait list for their upcoming Batch 7. The sketchbook and information can be found at this link.

Palette: Winsor & Newton. There is an empty palette with an included small travel brush available on Amazon.