Transcripts
1. Welcome To The Class!: Hello, everyone. My
name is Will Elliston. And today, we're
going to be painting a beautiful botanical floral
composition in watercolor. This class is perfect for
beginners or anyone who wants to return to
the fundamentals in a calm and creative way. Botanical florals are
a wonderful subject to explore because they allow
us to focus on soft blends, gentle shapes, and simple
yet effective techniques that build a strong foundation
for watercolor painting. We'll explore how to
paint flowing stems, delicate petals and leaves
full of color variation, all with a light and
expressive touch. I've been a professional
artist for many years, exploring lots of different
subjects from wildlife and portraits to cityscapes
and countryside scenes. I've always been entranced by the possibilities of watercolor. But when I started,
I had no idea where to begin or
how to improve. I didn't know what
supplies I needed, how to create the
effects I wanted, or which colors to mix. Now I've taken part in many
worldwide exhibitions, been featured in magazines, and been lucky enough
to win awards from well respected
organizations such as the International
Watercolor Society, the Masters of
Watercolor Alliance, Windsor and Newton, and the SAA. Watercolor can be overwhelming
for those starting out, which is why my goal
is to help you feel relaxed and enjoy this medium
in a step by step manner. Today, I'll be guiding you
through a complete painting, demonstrating a variety
of techniques and explaining how I use all
my supplies and materials. Whether you're just starting out or already have some experience, you'll be able to
follow along at your own pace and improve
your watercolor skills. If this class is too challenging
or too easy for you, I have a variety of classes available at different
skill levels. I like to start off with a free expressive
approach with no fear of making mistakes as we create exciting textures
for the underlayer. As the painting progresses, we'll add more details to bring it to life and
make it stand out. I strive to simplify
complex subjects into easier shapes that
encourage playfulness. Throughout this class, I'll be sharing plenty
of tips and tricks. I'll show you how to turn
mistakes into opportunities, taking the stress out of
painting in order to have fun. I'll also provide you with
my watercolor mixing charts, which are an invaluable tool when it comes to choosing
and mixing colors. If you have any questions, you can post them in the
discussion thread down below. I'll be sure to read and
respond to everything you post. Don't forget to follow me on Skillshare by clicking the
Follow button at the top. This means you'll be the
first to know when I launch a new class
or post giveaways. You can also follow me on Instagram at Will Elliston
to see my latest works. This class is designed to make the process easy and enjoyable, so let's get started.
2. Your Project: Thank you for joining me today. I'm really happy to be
painting this with you. We'll be creating a lovely
botanical painting, featuring soft, graceful flowers and gently curving
stems and leaves. This project is
the perfect chance to practice watercolor
fundamentals, including wet on wet blending
for soft petal transitions, laying and glazing to build
soft depth and leaves and blooms and controlled brushwork for painting stems
in fine details. The best part is that there's
no pressure to be perfect. Just enjoy the meditative flow of painting nature at
its most graceful. In the resource section, I've added a high
resolution image of my finished painting
to help guide you. You're welcome to
follow my painting exactly or experiment with
your own composition. As we're going to be focusing on the painting aspect
of watercolor, I've provided templates
you can use to help transfer or trace the
sketch before you paint. It's fine to trace when using it as a guide for
learning how to paint. It's important to
have the underdrawing correct so that you can relax and have fun learning the
watercolor medium itself. Whichever direction
you take this class, it would be great
to see your results and the paintings you
create through it. I love giving my
students feedback, so please take a photo
afterwards and share it in the student project gallery under the project
and resource tab. I'm always intrigued to
see how many students have different approaches and how they progress with each class. I'd love to hear about
your process and what you learned along the way or
if you had any difficulties. I strongly recommend
that you take a look at each other's work in the
student project gallery. It's so inspiring to see
each other's work and extremely comforting to get the support of your
fellow students. So don't forget to like and
comment on each other's work.
3. Materials & Supplies: Before we get started
with the painting, let's go over all the materials and supplies you'll
need to paint along. Having the right materials can greatly impact the
outcome of your artwork. So I'll go over all the supplies I use for
this class and beyond. They're very useful to have at your disposal and we'll make it easier for you
to follow along. Let's start with the
paints themselves. And like most of the materials
we'll be using today, it's a lot to do
with preference. I have 12 stable colours in my palette that I
fill up from tubes. They are cadmium
yellow, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, cadmium
red, Alizarin crimson, Opramarne blue, cobalt blue, serlean blue, lavender,
purple, viridian, black. And at the end of the painting, I often use white gouache
for tiny highlights. I don't use any
particular brand, these colors you can
get from any brand, although I personally
use Daniel Smith, Windsor and Newton
or Holbein paints. So let's move on to brushes. The brush I use the most is
a synthetic round brush like this Escoda Purl brush
or this Van Gogh brush. They're very versatile because
not only can you use them for detailed work
with their fine tip, but as they can hold
a lot of water, they are good for
washers as well. They're also quite affordable, so I have quite a few
in different sizes. Next are the mop brushes. Mop brushes are good for
broad brush strokes, filling in large areas and creating smooth
transitions or washes. They also have a nice tip that can be used for smaller details. But for really small details, highlights or anything
that needs more precision, I use a synthetic
size zero brush. All brands have them,
and they're super cheap. Another useful brush to have is a Chinese calligraphy brush. They tend to have long bristles
and a very pointy tip. They're perfect
for adding texture or creating dynamic
lines in your paintings. You can even fan them
out like this to achieve fur or feather
textures as well. And that's it for
brushes. Onto paper. The better quality
of your paper, the easier it will be to paint. Cheap paper cuinkles easily
and is very unforgiving, not allowing you to
rework mistakes. It's harder to create
appealing effects and apply useful techniques
like rubbing away pigment. Good quality paper, however, such as cotton base paper, not only allows you to rework
mistakes multiple times, but because the pigment
reacts much better on it, the chances of
mistakes are a lot lower and you'll be more likely to create
better paintings. I use archers paper because that's what's available
in my local art shop. A water spray is
absolutely essential. By using this, it
gives you more time to paint the areas you
want before it dries. It also allows you to
reactivate the paint if you want to add a smooth
line or remove some paint. I also have an old rag or t shirt which I use
to clean my brush. Cleaning off the paint
before dipping it in the water will make the
water last a lot longer. It's always useful to
have a tissue at hand whilst painting to
lift off excess paint. Also, you never know
when an unwanted splash or drip might occur that
needs wiping away quickly. I also have a water dropper
to keep the paints wet. When you paint, it's
important to have them a similar consistency to what
they're like in the tubes. This way, it's easier to
pick up sufficient pigment. A hair dryer is useful
to have for speeding up the drying time and controlling the
dampness of the paper. And lastly, masking tape. And this, of course, is just to hold the paper down still onto the surface to stop it sliding
around whilst painting. Also, if you plan on
painting to the edge, it'll allow you to create a
very crisp, clean border. And that's everything
you need to paint along. I encourage you to
experiment with different colours and explore different supplies you
might want to use. Now let's get on and
start the painting.
4. Tips For The Sketch: So with the sketch, we're just going to
start off putting circles where we want
our flower heads to be. I'm going to do three main ones. And then after we've done these circles using
a soft lead pencil, we're going to roughly connect
them with these stems. And then we can just work our
way and build up on that. Then we can paint the inside, define the petals, gradually turning larger shapes into
more detailed shapes. And then we can swap over
to a more fine pencil for a bit more precision
once we're happy with the general gist
of the composition, and you can do this without
even looking at a reference. Is very organic and we're
just playing it by ear. We're making it up
as we go along. And it's quite well
balanced because we've got three flowers, and then we're going to use asymmetrical balance
to Add leaves, buds and make it feel
like it's grounded, it's well balanced, but
in asymmetrical way. You can put these leaves
wherever, really. I try to keep the number odd
because for some reason, odd numbers are visually more interesting
than even numbers. That main flower on the
left is open and facing us. The one above is slightly facing above and the one on the
right is facing the right. Now, adding a few side
stems with leaves. And the more leaves
you want to paint in, the more time it'll
take to paint, and the less you want to put in, the faster the painting will be.
5. Mixing The Colours: So let's start off by mixing our colors first because
we don't want to start to wash and then having it dry out on the paper before we've got our
second color ready. I'm using this opera pink, which is a lovely color,
lovely vibrant color. And I actually put it in
my lazarin crimson pan because I don't need
to use too much of it. I don't need to sacrifice a whole area in my palette
just for that color. So I just squeeze a little
bit into its closest color, which is a lazarin crimson. And actually, I
don't mind having my lazarin crimson a
bit more pink anyway. So I squirt that in there. And then after mixing that pink, I'm going to put in some
cobalt blue and serlean blue. And when I add that
pink into there, it makes a lovely purple. So those are the colors I'm basically going to
have as a base. I've got purple, pink and blue. And they're in harmony because the pink is its
own original color, the blue is its own
original color, and the purple in the middle is made up between those two. So they're all in a
lovely harmony together. And when it comes to
painting these flowers, we're almost going
to do it randomly. We're going to
take a pink petal, a blue petal, a purple petal, and just whatever
we feels right, we're going to add a bit
of pink wherever we want, a bit of blue wherever we want. So it's all up to you,
and you can, of course, follow along with me if you need the guidance
or want the guidance. But I encourage
you to experiment with what colors
you want to use and where to put them because your unique voice will shine through, and it's all very exciting
for everyone to see. Okay.
6. The First 2 Petals: So I'm starting by pre wetting
the area I want to cover because we're going to allow the pigment to flow into
all those little areas, and by pre wetting
it to begin with, we kind of create a boundary for how far we want
the pigment to go. And if we already had pigment on our brush when we did this, if we made any mistake, it
would be difficult to go back. And another reason by having
this paper already pre wet, it just creates
this natural flow that looks
aesthetically pleasing. It's not only easier, but it looks better, too. Especially as we're building
up from light pigments. If we're using a
very heavy pigment, I probably wouldn't bother to re wet or pre wet the paper
and go straight into it. So I started off with pink
at the top of the petal, and at the bottom, it's
blue, serlean blue. And as I said before, when we were mixing our colors, those two colors together
make a lovely purple. So when I swirl my brush
around in the middle there, they're going to harmonize. It doesn't necessarily look like purple because it's
quite a weak mix. But you can see now
I've got some of my purple from my
palette and just adding a few strokes
around the outside, the outline of the petal, and then it fades into the
center as it's wet and wet. Going a bit stronger
with the pink now, and a bit of blue, serlem blue. T a very relaxing way
to paint, really, because especially with
this botanical painting, we don't have to paint
everything all at once. We can break it down
one petal at a time, one leaf at a time,
one stem at a time. And what binds this composition together is the
colors the colors. So they don't need
to be painted all at the same time for them to unify
and look lovely together. Everything's going
to be connected. It's all going to be unified, but we can still
take our time and paint one piece at a
time, so no stress. You can take your time, take a breather
if you're anxious or you're new to watercolor.
There's no pressure. Moving on to the second petal, I'm starting off with
a base of purple. And you'll see in this painting how nearly every single petal
I paint in a different way. It's not like I'm
doing it on purpose. It's just there's so many
ways to go about it. So I don't think I even
pre wet that petal. I just went straight into it. And now I'm adding a
few vertical strokes in the direction of the petal. And as it's wet and wet, these are going to blend out I'm using this medium
to small brush. It's pointless giving you a
number of the brush because each different brand has a different number depending
on their range of sizes. But it's a synthetic
round brush. And I'm going to use this same brush for
everything in this painting. It's the only brush
I'm going to use. Because it's not a tiny brush, so we can use it
for larger areas. These petals are the largest
shapes we're going to paint. So as long as it's big enough to cover this
area, it's fine. And it's not so
small that I keep on having to pick up more liquid. It's large enough to
hold enough liquid. And it still has that point. These brushes have
lovely fine points for the details
we'll paint later.
7. Complementary Colours: On that second petal that we just painted,
you can see at the top, it's slightly darker
where that purple is, and that wasn't
necessarily intentional, but there's a lot of room for happy accidents
with this painting because when we look at that shape where there's maybe unwanted
blotches of color, it doesn't necessarily look incorrect because
petals and flowers, they all have little crinkles
and the light hits them and they have shadows
at different areas. So it actually gives it
an organic kind of look. You can get away with a lot of mistakes with this painting. I notice how that second
petal didn't really have any pink in
purple and blue. And this third one's
it's a blue with a purple influence
into it and actually dabbing a bit of that green
in now, that turquoise color. I'm trying not to
overwhelm each petal. So with each petal, I'm only really sticking to two or three at the most colors. So pink and blue for the
first one, blue and purple. And then, yes. With this one, it's a kind of purple pink. The reason I'm not
pre wetting this petal is because
I want this tip, this left part of the
petal to be a bit darker, and I want there to be
a bit of a harder edge. So I paint that area, and then I scrub it quickly
with this brush and then bring out that
wash as it fades, and on the other side of it, we can start to mix in
that blue greenish color. Most of the colors will
work in harmony together, and you don't need
to be worried about them mixing with each other. But there are a couple of exceptions you might
have to be wary about, and that's green and red or
even pink and turquoise, what I'm doing on
this petal here, because those are
complimentary colors opposite each other
on the color wheel. So if you mix too many of those together,
it'll make gray. It's okay when it's nice and
light like this and there's a fine division between
the pink and the green. But if they overlap and mix, it'll look slightly gray, which could be fine. In fact, it's not going
to be a boring gray because it's made up of colored pigments
rather than black. But if you want vibrancy, you may want to avoid mixing complimentary colors
or overlapping them. And then later on,
we might want to incorporate some orange because there's a lot of blue going on, and if you've seen
my other classes, you know how much I like to
use blue and orange together because I think that's the
strongest pair of colors. They're complimentary
colors that really make each other
look good together. But if they're mixed together, they, too, will make gray. I don't think I'm going to
use yellow in this painting, but yellow and purple
are another pair of complimentary colors that when mixed together, can look muddy. I'm using purple, a lot
of it in this class, but not necessarily yellow. A,
8. Using A Colour Wheel: It's always a good idea
to have a color wheel, whether it's printed
out or on your phone. It's useful to have
as reference because then you can see what's on the opposite side of
the color wheel when you're using a color to see
what it's complimentary is. And you can use that
to your advantage to make each of those colors pop because they're
complimentary. They look lovely together. But also, it's useful because you know if
you mix them together, they'll look muddy and
gray and that you need to use them with caution
when applying them together. So having a color wheel is
a useful reference to have. And then after a while, you'll have a kind of memory
of what's opposite. You'll know that yellow
and purple are opposite, red and green are opposite
blue and orange, et cetera. Pink, of course, is
in the red family. So I've been very careful here using my pink
and greens together. Right now, I'm very
careful not to overlap that green with the
pink that's right next to it. But having them so
close together like that really makes them
pop and look nice. And in terms of
color mixing so far, other than this turquoise green and the pink that we're using, everything we are
inoguus colors. And that just means, rather than opposite each other
on the color wheel, they're adjacent to each
other or next to each other. So they share the hue,
their neighboring hue. So they harmonize together. And it looks visually cohesive because they're almost
in the same family, the next neighbor
along, so to speak. And that makes it
quite comfortable for someone who struggles with choosing colors
and mixing colors because they have this natural harmonizing
effect to them, and you don't have to worry
about them getting muddy. Usually, what a good plan
is when figuring out a color scheme is to
pick your main color, your favorite color that
you want for a painting, and then use the
neighboring colors that are directly next to
it on the color wheel. And then in certain areas, use little sparks of the complimentary color which is opposite on the color wheel. That way, not only is the
painting well harmonized, but you have that
extra element of interest from the
complementary color. That's why I think painting
these botanical flowers is such a good exercise because it allows us to explore color at
a comfortable pace, and we don't need to be so
reliant on any reference. We can be a bit more imaginative and there's less room for error. Also, they're very
organic and open shapes. So you only need a few
simple references. You can just type flowers into Google images and just
draw out a simple sketch. These flowers aren't
pretty at all. They're not symmetrical,
but there's some kind of beauty in their
imperfection and randomness. And that randomness actually
adds to the intrigue with a painting like this
if they were all very structured and precision based, and I mathematically
split them into five petals and made them
all even proportions, then it would take away a lot of that magic. A
9. The Second Flower: As you can see now, I'm
adding on new layers. So we did a base layer with the nice
transitions of colors. I let it dry, and
now I'm going on top of that to boost
the tonal values. And then adding a few lines, a few directional brushstrokes coming from the center of
the petal towards the out, just to give it that feeling that pull
towards the center. And again, that pink
contrasted with the green turquoise
really makes it pop. You want to use your
complimentary colors where the most contrast is. So I didn't want there to
be a smooth transition where that green and pink is. Because if they're going
to have a transition, it means there's going
to be mixing involved, and you can't mix complimentary colors in this context because they'll cancel each other
out and look gray or muddy, as I said before. With this next flower, I'm going to paint, I'm going to do a different
color scheme. But the same principles apply. I'm going to choose a base
color and work around that. I'm actually going to use
this brown burnt sienna, which I view brown or burnt
sienna as an orange, really, because it's a
slightly muted orange. And then I can use my
mind's eye or my memory to think about what's next to orange or brown
on the color wheel. Well, it's going to be red, so I can mix a bit of
that pink in there because pink is on the red
side of the color wheel. Always making the center
of these petals slightly lighter and a bit darker
towards the outside. Now we can add a bit more red. Mixing in a bit of
yellow ochre, actually. I said before that I wasn't
going to use yellow. But technically, yellow ochre is almost like a brown.
It's not a pure yellow. And even still, I'm mixing
it with this brown and red, so it's not a pure yellow. Very subtle, in fact. Moving on to the next petal, which is going to be purple. I think purple is actually the main color
in this painting, the thing that will ultimately
bind everything together. That doesn't mean purple
needs to be everywhere, but I'm going to use
purple as a little motif. Maybe I'll add it in some
of the leaves later, the stem on the other side, just to have it well balanced
throughout the composition. And this is what you can
play around with, too. Maybe you want purple
to be your main color. So when it comes to
you painting this, you can swap where
I've ped purple with blue or maybe you want pink
or maybe you want green. I have purple in my palette, but that's just a
short cut for me. I can easily mix the same
purple with this pink, Azaren crimson and serlean blue. With this one, I'm going a lot darker on the border
of the petal.
10. Braking The Rules: And then in the center,
it's still wet, even though there's
not much pigment, I'm just going to drop
some brown in there. And because it's wet on wet, it's just going to have
a nice transition. That first flower
we did on the left, that is the focal point, really. That's the main eye
catching feature. That's why I incorporated so many colors and made
it a bit more intricate with more going on
because you don't want multiple flowers
competing for attention. You want a primary one and
then two secondary ones. And the first one, we,
of course, have purple, and then we played around
with pink, blue and green. This one, we've made
it even more simple. We've got purple
as the main color, and then we're playing around with brown and orange with that. Purple and orange are quite a strange pair of
colors to put together. And it's a good example of
breaking the rules sometimes what we see as the
rules because they're neither complimentary
or inoguous. So they're not next
to each other on the color wheel and they're
not opposite each other. But they do have some kind
of unexpected harmony, and that's because they're on either side of red
on the color wheel. So there is a fair amount
of distance between them, but some would call it a
split complementary color, as they're not opposites,
but they still hold a strong contrast because
they don't blend that easy. Red is arguably the
most powerful color. So having the colors
that are right next to it on the color wheel make
them both rich and vibrant. The warmth of the
orange pushes forward, and the cooler purple
tends to recede. So that push and pull
creates a kind of energy to the composition. And breaking the rules
isn't necessarily bad, especially when we
do it intentionally because the whole point of art is to express feeling, and it's by doing these kind of things that creates
feeling, makes it exciting. It's a different
kind of feeling. It's very unique. And when we
stray from what's expected, we stumble upon combinations
that feel fresh or emotionally charged
and even a bit surreal. Makes us think a
bit more about it. Even still, we're
thinking about balance, the dominance of these
colors and the contrast. So it's a good reminder that
color theory is just a tool. It's not a cage that we're trapped inside and have
to follow directly. And once we understand
these foundations, after playing around with them, we can learn when to bend them
or even break them to say something personal
or expressive. A
11. The Third Flower: So I just painted a
couple of buds there, just a soft underlayer
for the time being. Now we can start working
on our last flower using this lovely pink,
the opera pink again. This one's a bit more intricate, at least the outline of it, because we're viewing
it at an angle, the flowers facing
towards the right. So we see the edges of the petal and it makes the
perspective a bit odd. But the same principle applies. We're incorporating those
lovely vibrant colors and not overdoing it with the amount of colors
that we're using it, two or three at most. I'm using a blue
with the turquoise. So you've got a bit of
that green in there, but it's not obviously green. It's not obvious green. It's a subtle green
inside that blue. So I paint one side of it, and then I use pure
water on my brush just to scrub it out and bring it towards the edge
on the other side. You can use that
same diluted brush to start painting
that next petal. Because we're
viewing this petal, this flower at the side, the petals are going to overlap, and that's why it might
be a bit more intricate because we're going
to have to create a bit of contrast to make
it easy to differentiate which petal connects
with the other ones and which ones are behind
it or in front. And we can use color and
tone to do that contrast. I'm going to show you
what happens when you paint pink on top of green. So this isn't a
very strong green. Again, it's a bluish
turquoise green. But I'm going to
take some pink now, paint the other
side of this petal to allow that green
bit to dry a bit. And then when I paint
over top of it, you'll see how it
looks much darker. It doesn't it cancels
itself out and makes it almost a gray or muddy. But I'm okay with
that in this context because it works as
a shadow, really. It gives it some tone and depth, and I wouldn't want to use pink to create tone because
it'll just look too vibrant. And I don't want to use black because that'll look too dull. So using that green as a way to create shadows is
a nice way to do it. You can use complimentary
colors to create shadows. The edge of this
middle petal is quite complicated or a bit
not complicated, just a bit more
precision is needed. So I'm starting off filling out the edge and then going
back to spread it out. Again, using the same brush because it's got a
nice little tip. It can follow the edge
of this pencil line. But it can also hold enough pigment to fill
out the whole area. If you use a brush
that's too small, it's actually more difficult
because you're going to have to go back and forth to top
up your brush all the time, so there'll be no consistency
in your brush marks. And ironically, after going
smaller than this brush, the water stops bringing
the strands of hair, synthetic hair on your brush together to create a nice point. There's a bit of resistance or magnetism. I don't
know what the word is. The water pressure brings all these hairs together
to create a fine point. And if you've got a
brush that's too small, the water doesn't bring
them together anymore.
12. Layered Transitions: On this green petal, you can see how the first layer was green, and then we faded it out and
we waited for it to dry, and now I'm going to
go back and blend it together the other way around using this purple and blending it
soft in the middle. I didn't want to do both
of them wet on wet. And if you're not
comfortable with wet or wet, if you don't want
to experiment with it on this painting or try it, you can always blend to white
and then dry it completely, and then on the other side, blend from the other
color to white or to the other color that's already painted
on the first layer. It's not ideal, but on a smaller shape like
this, it's easier. On a larger shape, it can
be difficult because you wake up the pigment
that's below it and the transitions won't
be nice and smooth. If you can get away with blending wet on wet,
it is much better. So now I'm going back to the previous flour here now
that it's completely dry with a second layer to bring about a bit more form
and three dimensiality to it. And now I'm using
a vibrant orange. It's not super vibrant
as oranges goes, but it's a burnt
sienna that's vibrant. With each wash, even
this small shape here, I'm trying to keep
it interesting by varying the tone a bit. It's not a pure orange. There's a bit of
pink in there, and even the tone is a
bit lighter as well. For that middle one,
maybe I'll just add a few strands Then maybe for this petal
on the bottom left, we can mix the color
up a bit and have a reddish purple or
maroon kind of color. A few scriptive brushstrokes line sweling lines, basically. Because you could
imagine the petal. We're seeing it at an angle, so all those shadows
will be quite sharp. So more texture is
needed for those ones. Again, more subtle
dry brush marks. Little if you imagine where the petal crinkles a bit as
it gets closer to the middle. So those little lines imply the shadows of the crinkly bits at the bottom of the petal. I'm basically just using the same colors we
use for the underlay, but a bit richer, and this time it's
not wet and wet, so we've got a lot of harder
edges, bit more contrast. Use a bit of thick
pigment here so that it slowly bleeds out and
creates a soft shadow.
13. Sharp Edges: I think I need to define the edge of this
petal a bit more. There's not enough shadow there, so using the tip of my brush, using that deep purple and then using water just to spread it out
and smoothen it. Taking a bit of red and mixing it with that orange up there, cadmium red and cadmium yellow. Maybe put a bit of
purple in there. Now painting the petals
of this little bud. And I'm using negative painting, I'm leaving out a little
white line in between them. You can see where the two
petals are separated. Of course, at the end, we
could have used white guash, but it's simple enough just
to leave a little line there. On one end, we've got the point and then
it curves around, expands, and then goes back to the point on the
right hand side, too. And that curvature, that form gives it a
free dimensiality to it. And that little white
line in the middle helps convey that form as well. Because there's not much. Well, there's no
background at all. We're literally just
painting the subject of these flowers and stems. So in order to give it a
feeling of three D and depth, we have to use a lot of shadow
and tone to create that. And also edge control, what I was talking about
right now even we're creating a nice sharp edge
because edge control has a lot to do with values and the way we use edges
and values describes to our viewers where the light
and shadows are and how that relates to the form
and shape of the subject. For example, when
we place a sharp, dark edge next to a light area, it tells the viewer that there's a strong transition in depth, almost like a ridge or a fold. It's a way of showing contrast
in both light and in form. So in these little buds, you'll notice that
the edges around the base of the petals are
often sharper and darker. That's because the
petals are turning inward or receding into shadow, and we're using both value and a defined edge to
emphasize that form. It's our way of saying this part is curving away from the light. On the other hand, the areas on the flowers
inside the petals, they fade into softness, lighter areas that are more blended and have
gentler transitions. And this gives the impression
that those areas are facing more to the light directly and curving outward
toward the viewer. This contrast between
hard and soft edges is something we can be
really intentional about. Even in a simple floral
composition like this, we can use edge variation
to sculpt the forms and suggest a play of light without needing
much detail at all. It's one of the most subtle
and expressive tools in watercolor that we have. Um,
14. Influencing Focus: It's also interesting how edge control can
influence focus. Our eyes are naturally drawn to areas of strong
contrast and sharpness. So if we want to guide the viewers attention to a certain part of
the painting, say, the center of the flower, we can sharpen the edges there
and soften them elsewhere. That way we create a
kind of hierarchy, a visual hierarchy where certain parts pop
forward and others melt into the periery
or the background. And this is incredibly
helpful when we're working without a
background like this piece, because we're using the
subject itself to tell a story of space,
light, and form. Another thing to
keep in mind is that edges aren't just about outline. They exist inside the form, too. For example, when we're painting those edges or those
petals as an angle, they look like edges
or when two colors meet within a petal, say, pink bleeding into blue, we can choose whether to
let them blend softly or dry the paper slightly to
hold a crisp transition. And that decision changes how dimensional the petal feels. Soft transitions tend to suggest gradual curves or
smooth surfaces, while sharper transitions hint at planes and shifts
in structure. All of this works in
harmony with values. The darker the value,
the deeper the shadow and the more it
pushes back in space. Light values, on the other hand, tend to lift forward, and by managing how sharply they meet their
neighboring tones, we're constantly communicating
something about the form, even if we're not painting every single detail. A,
15. Storytelling: So while it may seem like
a small technical choice, should this edge
be soft or hard, it's actually one of the most powerful
storytelling tools in a watercolor painting. It's how we breathe life
into a flat piece of paper. It's how we guide the viewer
without saying a word. And when we really start to notice and control these
transitions intentionally, that's when our
work begins to feel more sophisticated
and expressive. Edge control in this way, is almost like
punctuation in writing. It's what gives that shape and rhythm to our
visual language. And you might be thinking,
What do you mean storytelling? It's just a painting
of some flowers. But in fact, all
paintings tell a story, even the quieter simpler ones, and by storytelling, I don't
mean a literal narrative. It's not always about
characters or events. Sometimes it's about
mood, movement, light, or emotion or the way we guide a viewer's
eye through a piece. Even a single flower can express a whole range of
different things from strength, joy, melancholy, just depending on how
we want to paint it. It's a message, really. And in this case, we're
using color, shape, and composition tools to
guide the viewers experience. This soft use of transitions
contrasted with hard edges, the flowing lines suggest
something gentle and elegant. And the way the petals
open outward might evoke a sense of reaching,
blooming or unfolding. And the balance between
the warm and cool tones might suggest harmony, contrast. And these subtle
elements are what give the painting its
emotional weight. It's not just what
we're painting. It's how we're painting it. Because there's thousands of different ways to
interpret flowers, and every single
element can be edited. Even when you're
following this, you can take any of the concepts
that we've talked about and vary them for your
own personal message or what you want to say or tell. You can swap the green
for red or whatever. You can shift the color wheel. Maybe you want to use darker
colors, lighter colors. To be softer, maybe you want it to be a bit more
organized and geometric. Maybe you want it
to be looser and less less precision involved. Every decision we make where
to place a sharp edge, which colors to blend, how much white,
we want to leave. It's all part of
that communication. It's how we want to
express feeling. So when someone looks at
your piece or this piece, they might not think
this tells a story, but they certainly feel
something and they might feel a sense of calm,
beauty or movement. And sometimes you can't even use words to
describe the feeling. It just makes you feel
strange or excited. And that's the beautiful
thing about art. You don't need to explain it. It's just a feeling. A
16. Starting The Leaves: We've finished the flowers now, and you can see I've
sped up the footage because the next part
is fairly repetitive. We're just painting the
stems and the leaves. And I'm going to be painting
them in exactly the same way just at different angles and varying the colors a
bit and the tones. We finish off the flowers
by adding a few dots in the center where the pollen is collected and held together. And that's also a
nice little contrast. Having those sharp little dots, contrasting the smooth
transitions of the petals, is like the ultimate
contrast of texture. So my concept with painting
these stalks and leaves, these stems, I want there to be a general
transition of color. Not with each individual leaf, but you can start off on the left with this
turquoise green color. And as we move across, we're going to vary
the kind of green. So this one, this green
we're painting now, is a bit more yellow ochre
as we go further down. And then we can just carry on going across
the color wheel, the further we move to
the right hand side. There's no better practice for your brush
work than painting these leaves because they're
in every single angle. They're rotated all the
way around 360 degrees, and that means that you're going to have to work out
with your brush, how to rotate your hand, and the dexterity in your
hand will be improved a lot. And it might feel a bit tiring, but it's not it's a strange kind of concentration because
you can easily listen to music rewatch this class or listen to anything in the background on
audiobooks and radio. Another one of my classes, you can still concentrate on my words whilst
you're painting this. It takes from a different
part of our brain. It doesn't consume
much concentration, but we still have to be
precise with our brush work. But we're basically coloring in. We're not thinking about
anything too technical. There's no difficult techniques that we're using
to fill in this. You just have to bite
your tongue and hold your breath and
make sure you don't paint outside the lines.
17. Enjoying The Process: It's actually a great meditation because it's not a
stressful concentration, but it focuses the mind and it brings us into
the present moment. We're simply following
the shapes we've already drawn and staying within the edges and letting the brush glide.
There's a rhythm to it. It's almost like a coloring
in book as a child, but with a deeper
sense of awareness and flow and a more creative, unique expression to it. This part of the process doesn't demand technical
ability, really. It's just steadiness,
patience and a gentle touch. It's one of those moments in painting where you can let go of decision making and just enjoy the act
of applying color. And the stakes are low in
this part of the painting. But the result is
calming and satisfying. And in a way, this quiet focus is what makes watercolor
so therapeutic. We're not rushing
or second guessing. We're simply being
with the brush, the pigment and the paper, and it becomes a kind
of moving meditation where time slows down and we feel more connected
with what we're doing. We're not just about creating
a finished painting. It's about enjoying
the whole process. And you can really take
your time with it, have a cup of tea or
coffee or whatever you drink and have some
music on the background. So like I said before, even though this painting
has no background, we can still create a
strong sense of depth and three dimensional form simply
through our use of color, value, and edge control. And let me go over a few ways
in which we can do that. You can see now I'm
painting this little bud underneath the flower in a much darker tone than
we've used before. And one of the most
effective ways to create depth is through value contrast. Notice how the petals have soft transitions
from light to dark, particularly towards their base. These subtle shifts in tone suggest where the
light is hitting and where it falls away and helping each petal feel
curved rather than flat. The same applies to
the leaves as well. Some are lighter and
more translucent. Others are going to be a bit richer and darker as
we continue to paint them. And these variations help
establish a sense of space as if some leaves are catching more light while
others are turned away. And that really affects the
feeling of free D and form. Another important element
is overlapping elements. You can see how some petals and buds are arranged in a way that appear to sit in front of others just by the way
that they're layered. And this kind of
spatial relationship gives the illusion of depth, even without a background or
shadows cast behind them. It's how we can create
a hierarchy of space just through careful
composition and painting order.
18. Colour Tempurature: At the start of the class, I talked about choosing colors, colors that are adjacent
to each other on the color wheel or opposite to each other on
the color wheel. And another element of color is the temperature because that plays
a bigger role. Warm colors like
the peachy pinks that we've got there
and the warm browns, they tend to advance
while cooler colors like the lilacy and soft blues and
the greens tend to recede. And by strategically placing warm colors in some petals
and cooler colors in others, we can push and pull
certain elements forward or backwards within the composition to add that sense of space. You see how this leaf that I'm painting now,
the bluish one, it feels like it's
receding a bit more than that green one
that's slightly warmer. And we've talked about
edge control and how that affects the
feeling of form. And also detail and size. That's a natural
sense of perspective. When we try to vary the scale
and the level of detail. Notice how some of the flowers are larger and more detailed, while the buds are smaller
and much more simplified. This mimics what happens
in real life when we observe something close up
rather than further away. And we can use this
to our advantage to guide the viewers
perception of depth. And another element that's
quite obvious, actually, because there's no background or shadows, just pure white. So we need to be aware of
the negative space that's involved and the placement of the flowers within
that negative space. The spacing between elements
and the way they extend outwards creates a sense of
movement and dimensionality. So we don't really want to think of the white space as empty, but also part of the design. It allows the forms to
breathe and stand out. It's more like
they're suspended in the air rather than stuck
onto the flat page. So even with no
background at all, we're still working in an invisible sense of light,
space, and structure. And we're using values, temperature, overlap,
edge control, and other compositional tools to give these flowers a
sense of life and form. And we can keep these
things really minimal and still evoke a strong sense
of three D and depth. Notice how I'm
painting the leaves first and then the stems after because if I were
to paint the stems first, then I could potentially
trap myself or force myself into painting these leaves
a way I don't want to. But if I paint the leaves first, I can paint them
exactly how I want to, and then I can just
connect them very easily with a single sweeping
line into the stems.
19. Flow & Gesture: Now that the painting is
starting to come together, it's really showing one
of the things I love most about this kind of style of painting,
this botanical style. It has a lot of flow and gesture throughout
the composition. Even though we're
painting something still, just a cutting of flowers, it's full of movement. And that's what is really the goal to this kind of botanical painting
to give life and energy to something that's
static through the way we place our strokes and
guide the viewer's eye. We're not painting
these leaves or the stems that are going to
connect them in a rigid way. We're not doing a straight line in any of this composition. There's not one straight line. It's all curved and mainly
it's sweeping gently upward. And when it came to doing
sketches for this class, trying to work out
a composition, the strongest designs
are always the ones that are asymmetrical and
have this flow to them. It's not a straight line. So it was intentional. I'm not just thinking about
where to place each element, but how it moves. And I also go to weekly
life drawing classes, which just helps improve
your sketching in a very gesture like way because you don't have
much time to draw your model, and you don't have to go to life drawing to
practice gesture drawing. You can go to the street
and paint people walking. And the idea is not to paint realistically or
draw realistically. It's to capture the spirit, the gesture, the
feeling, the flow. It captures how something feels more than it
actually looks. And flow is about connection, how one part leads to the
next without interruption. And here, the lines of the stems just lead us from one
flower to another leaf. It's all a connected rhythm. These lines are connected
with implied lines as well. If you look at any leaf here, it's got a curvature and you can follow that
curvature around, and it's going to
connect to another part. We're not just dotting
elements around the page. We're trying to
create a visual path, a sense of continuity that makes the whole piece feel
unified and harmonious. To achieve this, it
helps to think in a long fluid brushstroke, even though we're using
little short ones here. My mind's eye thinking of a big flow You can see how now that we've got most of
the elements painted in, that element of purple is
cropping up everywhere. I wouldn't say it's
a purple painting, but it's that purple that touches around the
whole of the composition, even if quite subtly, that gives it a
feeling of unity.
20. Colour Variation: One of the things
that really brings these leaves to life is
the color variation, rather than sticking
to a single green, we've allowed a whole range of earthy organic tones to emerge. Of course, we've got multiple
different kinds of greens. We've got ochres, as well, browns and even hints
of blue and some red. And this kind of variation adds a lot of richness and
depth to the painting. We don't want the paintings
to look too flat or uniform because in
nature, they rarely are. They catch light differently. Some are fresher, others
are older or drying out. So we reflect that by
shifting the colors suddenly from leaf to leaf or
even within a single leaf, adding this bright red on
top of that previous green, for example, right now. And there's colors
that aren't natural, like the bright turquoises and
the blues and the purples. I mean, you do get
that in nature, but not altogether in
one single flower. But we're not trying to copy. We're trying to express and be playful with color
because it's so fun. So even though I'm going back
over a lot of leaves now, we started with
one layer and just for a little bit of interest with a few of
them I'm going over. But most of these leaves are done by wet
and wet blending, letting two or three pigments
just merge slowly on the paper without mixing
them fully on the palette. I like to drop a touch
of warmer color like burnt sienna or a muted red at the base or along one edge, just to suggest a bit of warmth. And with this stem, you can see how I'm
starting off red, and somehow I'm going to blend that over to the green that I started on
the other side. Even though these leaves are supporting elements
in the composition, they're not the
main primary focus. This kind of color play
gives them personality. It gives the painting visually interesting elements to look at, and it encourages the eye
to move across the page. It's not about making
them realistic. It's about making
them feel alive, textured and believable in their own expressive
kind of way. So as you're painting
your own leaves, feel free to experiment. Let your brush wander
around between colours and trust the water to do some of the
blending for you as well, because it's these
unexpected transitions and tiny little
irregularities that make the painting actually feel
more natural and effortless.
21. Simplifying Forms: When painting details like these leaves in watercolor and earlier on with the petals, one of the most
valuable skills we can develop is learning how to simplify because
it's easy to get caught up in trying to
replicate every little detail, the veins, the serrated edges, the subtle color shifts, but in doing so, we often lose the freshness and elegance that watercolor is actually
so good at capturing. In this painting,
we're deliberately stepping back from realism. Instead of painting leaves exactly as they
appear in nature, we're reducing them to
their essential shapes. Their slender form.
They're like, pointed ovals, and
they're grouped along the stem in a kind of
rhythmic flowing pattern. This simplification allows us to maintain the feeling of the composition without
overwhelming it. We're also using tonal
variation to our advantage. Notice how some leaves are painted in a single
flat wash while others have gentle gradients or a slightly deeper tone
towards one edge of the tip. This again, helps suggest light and form
without the need for intricate shading
or drawing details. We're aiming for implied detail, just enough information for the viewer's eye to
fill the rest of it in. And it's a concept used in more expressive minimal
styles of painting. Where a few carefully
placed shapes and color shifts may actually say more than a highly
detailed rendering. Another benefit of
simplification is that it lets the flowers
remain the star of the show. If the leaves were too
detailed or colorful, they'd start to
compete for attention. By keeping them
subtle or stylized, we're supporting the composition rather than distracting from it. One technique that I like to
use is to work quickly and with a slightly drier
brush because this allows the texture of the
paper to break the paint in certain places. And although dry brush isn't really so much of an
element in this painting, when it comes to
simplification in general, if you want to go
beyond this painting, it can be quite useful because dry brush creates a lovely
naturalistic effect, almost like dappled light. On the surface of objects, and it reinforces that idea
of suggestion over precision. So don't be afraid to
let go of accuracy. Instead, think of it as
the gesture of the leaf, the direction that it
points, how it curves, how it interacts with
the other elements around it, the other leaves. Think about variation, too, mixing up the angle, the length, the color of the
leaves, adds rhythm, and it keeps things from
looking too mechanical.
22. Finishing Touches: Now I need to emphasize some
of these stems and stalks. So this is also good
practice with the brush. Where we're painting the leaves, we had to do different angles, and it's a different shape, but painting lines like this
allows us to really practice the pressure of our brush because the harder
we press the brush, of course, the thicker
the line will be. And these brush strokes
have to be long and winding and ideally, they have to stay
the same width. We don't want it
going thicker and thinner or being wobbly. So it helps the flow of our arm. I start the brush stroke. Well, before I even start it, I look at point A and point
B, where I'm going to start, where I'm going
to finish and try to do one long sweeping motion. And this is where a
lot of it's layered. You got it overlapping. Some of the stalks are above, some of the leaves are below, and it gives that
feeling of depth. Multiple colors
in there as well. And you can play around with what's overlapping and
what's underneath, you don't have to
match what I'm doing. Because I'm sure your drawing will be unique and
you'll have to adapt it. But if you use a soft pencil, you can draw it all
out to begin with and make sure everything makes sense before you put the
paint to the paper. So as we reach these final
stages of the painting, let's take a little
moment to reflect on the main ideas we explored
throughout this class. One of the most
important elements we just talked about
was simplification, not over describing them, but suggesting the shapes. We also learned the
unique strengths of watercolor, the
soft transitions, and the unexpected blends, or the way we can allow pigment and water to do some
of the work for us. You can also see
the edge control, knowing when to use
hard defined lines versus soft wet and wet fades. This helps us direct
the viewer's eye and create a sense of
lightness and atmosphere. Of course, we talked a lot
about color transitions and how gentle shifts from
warm to cool can add depth. It's these small decisions that he the painting come together and make
the painting feel alive.
23. Final Thoughts: Welcome back, and
congratulates Johnson completing your botanical
floral watercolor. I hope this class gave
you a chance to relax, practice some
essential techniques, and feel proud of
what you've created. From gentle blending to
layering soft colors, you've learned valuable
fundamentals that can carry you into all your
future watercolor projects. Even if you're
just starting out, this kind of floral painting is a lovely way to build confidence
and enjoy the process. Remember, watercolor painting is not just about technical skills, but also about expressing your creativity and
personal style. I encourage you to continue
exploring, experimenting, and pushing your
boundaries to create your own unique
watercolor masterpieces. As we come to the
end of this class, I hope you feel
more confident and comfortable with your
watercolor painting abilities. Practice is key when it comes
to improving your skills, so keep on painting
and experimenting. I want to express my gratitude for each and every one of you. Your passion for
watercolor painting is so inspiring and I'm honored
to be your teacher. If you would like feedback on your painting, I'd
love to give it. So please share your painting in the student projects
gallery down below, and I'll be sure to respond. If you prefer, you can
share it on Instagram, tagging me at Will Elliston, as I would love to see it. Skillshare also loves
seeing my students work, so tag them as well
at Skillshare. After putting so
much effort into it, why not share your creation? If you have any questions
or comments about today's class or want any specific advice
related to watercolor, please reach out to me in
the discussion section. You can also let me know about any subject wildlife or scene you'd like me
to do a class on. If you found this class useful, I'd really appreciate
getting your feedback on it. Reading your reviews
fills my heart with joy and helps me create the best
experience for my students. Lastly, please click
the follow button up top so you can follow
me on Skillshare. This means that you'll be
the first to know when I launch a new class
or post giveaways. Thank you for being
part of this class. I hope to paint with you very soon until next
time. Bye for now.
Will Elliston, Award-Winning Watercolour Artist
