I thought it would be fun to create a smaller floral painting. I’m in between projects and I wanted to keep my sketching skills going. So, I had to gather a few of my smaller travel brushes and get in some practice time.
In early Spring, I took this picture of Bluebells from our garden.
I selected a few flowers from my picture to sketch and created my own floral composition. I used my Uni-Pin pen in light gray with an 01 fine line tip to create the sketch and to minimize the harsh lines in my painting.
I decided to paint both the flowers and leaves at the same time. Again, I’m in my experimental phase. Developing my painting style. Practice, practice, and more practice time.
I’m painting my Bluebells in my Luchetti sketchbook. As you can see, it’s a smaller floral painting compared to my Clematis sketch on the other page.
I’m trying to get used to painting with a smaller size #4 brush and I used it to paint the flower petals. I used my #8 brush for the green leaves. Later in my painting adventure, I ditched my #4 brush and just used my #8 with the lovely pointed brush tip.
I think for the right side of my page, I might create other small floral sketches.
I could have left my blueberry sketch alone, but I decided to add some background colors. I’m just creating colorful and loose images to represent additional flowers and leaves in a distance.
I’m really happy with what I’ve accomplished. For the final layer of color, I used less water in my paint mix and darkened the areas of green leaves. I also added a few pencil sketches to my page while I was waiting for the Bluebells to dry.
More watercolor exercises to complete when I have a few minutes available.
Summary:
As I mentioned earlier, I ended up using my #8 pointed round brush to finish my painting. That included adding fine details to my painting. This is the brush I naturally reach for and feel comfortable using for my painting tasks.
I’m thinking ahead and planning my next watercolor painting challenge. I went ahead and ordered two new Daniel Smith watercolor tubes to try out. So, I will be filling two new pans and swapping out the old pan colors for the new ones in my fave W&N plastic palette. I’m enjoying my palette and still limiting myself to 12 paint colors at one time.
Pen: Uni PinFine Line in 01 size with Light Grey ink
Paint: Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors. Nickel Azo Yellow, Sap Green, Cascade Green, Quinacridone Rose, and Ultramarine 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. Escoda Prado #4.
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. The sketchbook can be found at this link.
Palette: Winsor & Newton. There is an empty palette with an included small travel brush available on Amazon.
Leave a comment