Bird Wreaths: Techniques for Painting Soft Watercolor Flowers

1. What You'll Learn: Okay. How do you paint soft and dainty flowers with water colors. Using the wet on wet technique. Just wet the area, drop your paint, and that should be it, isn't it? But this one is nowhere near this PN painting. How do you really do it? With experience and lots of testing, I have identified the different factors that you have to consider to achieve a soft and dainty look for your floral paintings. That's what we'll do in this class. Hi. I'm Bian Castra an aspiring watercolor artist from Batanga Philippines. Since 2018, I made it a commitment to paint every day, even for just a few minutes. Some of my works have been acknowledged in both local and international exhibits, and have also been featured on Mont Mart's website. In this class, I'll share with you my secrets on how to create soft and muted floral paintings with a limited palette. To apply what we have learned, demo how to paint these bird reeds. Once you've completed the video lessons, you'll have a clear understanding how timing, consistency, texture, brush size, lifting, and other factors affect the overall look of your painting. And if you just want to focus on florals, I have included a bonus video lesson for you on how to paint the ponies. Anyone who loves birds and flowers, whether a beginner, a hobbyist, or an experienced artist are welcome to join in the fun. I have also prepared a gift for those who will complete this class. Find out how to get yours in the next video. 2. A Gift for You: Okay. Our main goal for this class is to paint at least one bird width with soft and muted look. You can either watch and paint at the same time or complete the video lessons first. Pick one that you're most interested to paint and work on that. But if you want to get the most out of this class, then I suggest that you do all of them. Honestly, it's quite addicting once you know how to paint in this style. They say that doing something for the first time is always hard, but the second and third tries are easier. That's why I designed three class projects for you to try. To help you achieve this look, I will discuss different factors that would turn your painting from this to this. Along with those demo videos, I will show you different flowers I did for you to further appreciate why each factor discussed matters. All the materials needed, colors I used, scanned copies of class projects, and an instruction on how to get your gift are in the class guide. Make sure to download your copy if you haven't already. I have prepared this gift for those who want to learn more. A book containing over 100 color combinations of pink and green swatches. I made this for over two months to see which colors work together and which don't. You can get a copy by either uploading a class project or reviewing this class and then sending me an e mail with the subject pink and green book. I spent hours and hours experimenting and creating this book. So I would love to give this to anyone who loves color mixing as much as I do. Please prepare your watercolor materials, including paints, brushes, and paper. Once you're ready, LC in the next video, and let's start mixing muted tones. 3. Muted Colors: If not for color mixing, I wouldn't have dared painting a wreath like this with two to three colors only. But look how harmonious this simple pace is. Because I only used a couple of pigments. First things first, how did I manage to pick colors for a limited ballet painting? I discussed more of this in my previous class. It is focused on landscapes, but all the concepts are applicable to any subject. Please check this out when you get a chance. Looking at the color wheel, red and green are lying opposite each other. They are called complementary colors. When placed together, they look vibrant and work really well. They indeed compliment each other. Since I'm working on a wreath, then green would be one of the colors. As it's complement, we can choose either red or pink. I spend some time testing over 100 combinations. So now I know which greens and pinks to choose. But what about muted colors? Here, we have quinacridone red and hookers green. Without any mixing, they look vibrant and very saturated. You can use these colors as is, if you prefer to. Now, when we mix them equally together, we'll get this neutral brown color. And if you want a muted version of each color, then you can use its complimentary color. If you add just a tiny bit of quin red on hooker's green, you'll immediately see the difference between the pure green and the muted version. The same goes for quinacridone red. Add a bit of green, just a bit and you'll produce this lovely shade of pink. With these colors, we'll create this bird and rose wreath later. Now let's try another set of complementaries. This time, it's quinacridone red with dian hue. You'll notice how different the palette has become just by changing one color. Isn't that amazing? That's why I love color mixing so much. Complimentary colors work very well to tone down or D saturate a color. Here's your quin red and vedian hue palette. White pigment is optional, and you can use this to mix pastel colors like these. With these palettes, we'll be able to create our bird breeds projects later. Now that we know about complimentary colors and how to use those to mix muted down colors, I'll see you in the next video where Is how to achieve a soft and dainty floral paintings. 4. Technique and Timing: I always love soft laurel paintings, and I know through experience and research that wet on wet is the technique that I need to use to achieve this look. The process is simple. Prepare the area by wetting it with clean water, then drop your paint, and that should take care of everything, right? So I thought. That's what I did on these two circles using different colors, Quinn red and hookers green. On the third one, I attempted to paint a simple pony with wet on wet technique. But it didn't turn out the way I wanted it. It was hard to predict and control where the pigment spreads. And since I am using a textured watercolor paper, the edges are feathery, which isn't the style that I am looking for. It was supposed to be soft, dainty and relaxing to look at. But it looks raw and unfinished. I used the same watercolor technique on the flower, but this one that I did is nowhere near my pony painting. Why is that? There are so many factors that we have to consider, including the surface, timing, consistency of paint, brush size, and what we do once the paint has been dropped on the paper. Perhaps the number one factor that you have to consider to achieve soft looking paintings is what you do once you drop your pigments on a still wet surface. For comparison, let's leave the first circle and let the paint spread wherever it wants. On the second one, let's pre wet it with water. Drop or paint, rinse our brush and then soften the edges by slightly scrubbing off the edge of the painted area? That's one way to get a smoother transition between the edges. But on the third circle, let's do something different. I actually got this idea when I saw how an oil painter blends his colors, and I, Would it work with water colors too? Okay. Immediately, I grabbed a stiff brush, which is actually not ideal for watercolors and try the technique. Oh my goodness. It worked. This has been my favorite softening brush so far, and it works best when the stiff brush is still dry. Now, let's see the difference. The second and third ones have smooer edges compared to the first circle, where we didn't do anything after dropping the paint. To see how it looks on flowers, here's a gumamela or hibiscus flower where the first one was not smoothened out, and then I use a soft watercolor brush on the second one and a stiff brush on the third one. What do you think? Okay. Timing also plays a crucial part on how far the pigments will spread on a wet paper. Drop it too early, and the paper is still wet, that the paint will go everywhere. Drop it in time, that the paper is damp and you can expect a slower spreading of the paint. To show how it affects the edges, let's prepare these circles and wet them with clean water. On the first one, I'll drop my paint without any waiting time. See how far the pigments spread. On the second one, the paper is still wet, but not soaking wet. You can easily check this by tilting your paper and observing how shiny it is. Generally, the shinier, the wetter. The paint didn't get as far as it did with the first sample. And on the third one, I dropped my paint when the paper has started to dry or damp. Now, the edges have become more defined and it didn't really give the pigments enough room to travel across the paper. Looking closely, you can see how timing the dropping of your paint affects how far the paint spreads. I tested it and painted pones with varying timing and wetness of the paper. In the first flower, the paint spread everywhere and cover the whole area with paint. While in the second one, there is a bit of control as to where the darker paint goes. Please take note that the details are done once the paper has been dried. And on the third one, the shapes are more defined since the paper was already dp. Right. We quickly demonstrated how to do wet and wet and apply it on the flower. I showed you how retouching once the paint has been dropped on the paper, and observing the timing will greatly affect how the flowers will look like. In the next video, let's paint our first bird reef and apply the techniques that we learn. 5. Bird and Rose Wreath: Let's apply what we have learned right away and paint this lovely bird wreath. To make a guide for my bird wreath, I start with a big circle plan where the flowers would be with a light sketch, and decide where to place the bird. Once the simple composition has been decided, I'll start painting. For this class project idea, I will use a limited palette consisting of Quinacridone red, hookers green, and Chinese white. I'd like to prepare the roses with a watery and muted base color. That would be Quin red with a tiny bit of green. I'll paint the silhouette of all the three roses. Then I'll switch to my smaller brush and using thicker paint and less water, I'll paint some petals. Just impression and suggestion of the petals. No need to be too realistic here. Of course, don't forget to use a brush, whether it is a soft or stiff brush to soften the edges. Immediately, you'll see how dainty those flowers have become. I'll do the same for the third flower. Okay. Keeping in mind that I have the time when I drop my paint. If I want the center of the flowers to be darker and with less paint movement, then I need to wait for it till it dries a little bit and it becomes d. Only then can I define the center a bit more and gain control on how far the paint spreads. Once done with the roses. The next part is a bit messy but the most fun. For painting the base of the wreath, I'm using a food plastic wrap. C a small piece like this, crumple it to a manageable size and use that as your brush. Let's dip it in a watery mixture of quin red and start painting. Don't worry. You can rinse and reuse this bit of plastic over and over again. It's amazing how organic the shapes it creates. Now with the same plastic wrap, you can paint the greens on your wreath. I'd like to start with light colors first and then the dark ones, so I wouldn't have to rinse my plastic wrap. If you're not getting enough paint on the paper, then you either have to put more paint on your palette or just rotate the plastic wrap and see if another angle works. A word of caution though, this could be really addicting. Make sure not to go overboard and cover the whole wreath with this technique. Leave some space for other wreath elements and the twigs. Once you're satisfied with how the wreaths, retouch some of the areas by dropping thicker paint to make some variations. Now, go ahead and paint in some leaves. I love to mute them down too. Honestly, I used to hate this color Hooker's green because it's nowhere near the color of the leaves in real life. Only to realize that I can take it to my liking, and one simple way is mixing it with its complimentary color pink or red, and it would change dramatically. Let me know what colors you're going to try in the discussion stab. You can then paint some tiny elements like berries or accents with a thicker pink color. And it's time to add those little leaves at the top. With single strokes, work on those dainty wreath elements. It's starting to look decent now and I love how this limited palette project is coming together. Now, combine the two colors until you achieve a neutral mixture and use that to paint the twigs, which hold this wreath together. This will also be the same color that we'll use for the bird. Speaking of it's time to paint the last but cutest element of this painting. Our little friend. I'd like to start with a pastele paint for its face and chest. Then while wet, I'll connect that color with our neutral mixture. Since the flower is covering parts of the bird, there is a bit of a challenge in painting around the flower, but paint carefully and enjoy the process, and I'll show you a neat way later on how to soften that edge. Paint the tail, and we we drop darker brown color on the lower part of the bird just so it doesn't look too flat. You can also paint the big and connect it with the body and leave this to dry for the final details. As we wait for our little friend to dry, we can also add tiny elements like additional leaves using the plastic wrap or paint the veins of the bigger ones or add tiny berries and anything you may want to add. I encourage you to own this painting, so feel free to include other elements like insects or animals or even inanimate objects. Once you're sure that the paper has dried paint in the eyes, some suggestions of feathers and facial marks. Now to soften this flower, we can take a clean wet synthetic brush, carefully sc, and use a paper towel to absorb the reactivated paint. Finally, a touch of pure white pigment on the eye to bring it to life. What do you think of our bird wreath. Applying what we learned from the previous video by using a brush to soften the edges after dropping the paint and being mindful of when to drop those pigments really helped in achieving this dainty look. In the next video, let's discuss how the texture brush size and consistency also contribute to the overall vibe of our painting. 6. Texture, Size, Consistency: The texture of the paper also affects how the pigment spread. Are you using a hot pressed paper, cold pressed or rough? In other words, is it textured or smooth? Here, we have three different kinds of paper. The first one is the backside of the paper I am already using. The second one is another cold pressed paper, but from a different brand, and the third one is a hat pressed paper, which, as you can see, is very smooth. Let's try out the wet on wet technique on these papers. And the first circle, even though it is the same paper, but using the other side, you will observe that there isn't much of the feathery texture. That's because the other side of a cold press paper is usually smoother, and I like how that looked. Now, moving on to the second one, this is also a cold pressed paper bought from another reputable brand. The pigments behave differently. And on the last one, the smoothness of the paper shows, as you can hardly see any feathering of the edges, and the way the pigment interacts is different. Looking closely, here's how they look. Most of the time, I use brand A for florals, Brand B for a more serious painting and hot pressed for illustrations. What about you? Which texture do you prefer for wet on wet technique? Of course, I also tried this in painting a simple carnation flower. You can see how the texture affects how the painting looks. You might think that the third one is the best to achieve soft edges. But since it is hot pressed, the paper also dries faster than the cold pressed one, leaving us less time to use the wet on wet technique. So I personally like using cold pressed papers, and I recommend it for beginners too. The size of the brush you're using to drop those pigments also matters. Let's find out why. These are the brushes that I will use to demo the exercise, a mop brush, a medium sized round brush, and a small round brush. On the first circle, let's prepare the area by wetting it with a very pale green wash. Then grab the mop brush and drop the paint. It is a thirsty brush, so it will obviously load more paint and water compared to a medium brush. As you can see, the pigments in the first circle are occupying more space and will spread farther than the rest of the three. Now let's move to the second circle. Pre wet the circle and with a medium sized round brush, drop the pigments on the left side of the shape. Compared to the first one, the paint is not spreading as far since the brush was only loaded with less paint. What about the third circle? Let's shift to a smaller brush and see how that looks. You'll observe that as I prepare my puddle on my palette, the brush is only able to absorb smaller amount of paint and water. And when dropped on the wet circle, the paint almost didn't spread. So if you plan to paint small flowers, it is advisable to shift to a smaller brush like this so that you have better control on how much the paint spreads. Here's how they look once dried. What do you think? To further demonstrate, here's a lily of the valley in three versions. Where I used the different brushes I showed earlier. Obviously, if you want to only darken the bottom part, your medium or small brush will work best for this technique. Ever heard of the tea, coffee, milk, butter and cream paint consistency? Yes. The amount of paint you drop on a wet surface also matters. The paint consistency or how much water is mixed with your paint also affects how the wet on wet technique will behave. For example, if there's more water than paint, say, a 90 by ten ratio, Obviously, the paint will spread faster and farther and it will be paler since there's less paint. Just like how I did the first circle. If you add more paint, it will then become more vibrant and won't spread as far compared to the first circle. You could say that this has a 50 50 ratio of paint and water. What happens when you add even more paint? Say a ten by 90 ratio. It is the most vibrant of the three, and the paint won't move as much as the other two since there is less water. You also have more control on where the pigments will go. Looking closely, the difference really shows. Bear this in mind the next time you work with the wet on wet technique. Here's an orchid painted with varying paint consistencies. A watery, medium, and thick paint were dropped on the darker parts of the flower. In the next video, let's paint this bird and ponf and apply what we have learned. 7. Bird and Peony Wreath: Combining what we learned with smooth edges, timing, and now with paper texture, brush size, and paint consistency, let's paint another bird wreath. This time, I will use Quinn red, radian hue, and Chinese white. You'll see later how changing one color in a limited palette greatly affects the mixtures that you'll produce. A mixture of my pink and green here would give us a purplish gray. If you add in more pink, it will lean more towards purple. I was actually surprised that the pink and green could produce purple. That's color mixing for you. As always, start with a big circle for the guide. Then plan where the bird will sit. And sketch three circles for the peonies. This time, I will start with the bird. With a tiny bit of dan hue and queen red and adding white to the mixture, you'll mix a cool pastle purple. That's the color I'll use for his face and chest. Now, if you add in more green and pink to the mixture, you'll have a darker version of that purple, and that works well in painting the rest of the bird. I didn't wait for the face and chest parts to dry so that the pigments will blend smoothly. Just like how we soften the edges of the flowers, you can also use the same technique with the bird. And you can apply this on literally anything. As we wait for our little friend to dry, we can now paint the base of the wreath. Start by preparing a pink and green puddle. I initially regretted purchasing a radian hue tube as it looks awkward when used on landscapes. But that was back then when I had no idea about mixing colors and that you can produce the hues that you need with a limited color palette. Okay. Anyways. Yes, I am using the same plastic wrap for this project. It is messy, but it still works. Dip it on the lighter color first, which is pink and dab on these parts of the wreath. As soon as you're done with the pink, you can add in the green and let the two colors blend on the paper. I really love doing this part as it feels like you have absolute control on where you paint, but you have no control on the shapes that you'll produce. It's a nice balance, and the process is really relaxing. I hope you're feeling the same. Once the base is finished, use the same green mixture and add smaller leaves at the top. One or two strokes for a fresh looking leaf will do. While wet, dropping darker paints at the edge of the leaves will give it more variety and make it more visually interesting. Next, we can work on the peonies. I'd like to start by painting a pastel pink base, that's quin red plus white and paint the silhouette of the flower with that mixture. Then with a thicker paint consistency, drop it at the center of the flower. Don't forget to soften it with either a soft or a stiff brush. I'll do the same on the second flower. This is the front side of the paper, so there will be more feathery edges. If I don't retouch it with a brush. Depending on the texture of the paper you're using, you might have a different output, and that is totally fine. It is also worth noting that I am only painting an impression of the flower and not bothering whether I make a realistic one or not. That being said, I want you to focus on the darker parts of the flower only and drop the darker paint there. This is the fun watercolor illustration and not a photocopy. So please don't stress too much if you are not able to produce an exact replica of the reference photo. Okay? Now onto the third flower. If you observe, I use a bigger brush in covering the base shape, but when dropping the thicker paint mixture, I then switch to a smaller brush and load it with thicker paint. That way, I have greater control on where the paint goes and avoid having it spread all over the place. This wreath is starting to come together now. All that's left are the details. To balance the composition, make sure to add some leaves at the bottom where the flowers are. Use a varied mixture of pink and green to make it more interesting. And don't forget to drop darker paint for vargation. Leave this to dry and we can finish off with some final touch. To paint the beak and the eyes, just use the same pink and green mixture, but make sure that there is more paint than water this time. Add water to make it lighter and paint some facial marks with few strokes. Do the same for the wings. No need to paint each feather. Our brains are amazing, and it auto completes an image it sees. If you paint a couple of feather shapes like this, we'll see that as a wing. Using the same neutral mixture, work on the twigs that hold this wreath together and add the bird's feet to. Some few red berries here and there and then define the veins on the bigger leaves and done. How do you feel about your progress so far? Are your flowers looking softer now that you apply the techniques I shared in the previous demonstrations? I hope so. In the next video, I will demo a few more factors to help you achieve day florals like using a base color, lifting and how to add details. 8. Base, Lifting, Details: The following factors that I will discuss would have the least influence on how soft your paintings would look like. But knowing them could be of great use to you. Color is a personal choice. You can use different base colors for the flowers. You have an option to use pure water, colored water or pastel mixture. Let's try it out. You've seen me use water multiple times in preparing the areas before dropping the paint, and that's what I'll do on the first circle. You're probably aware of the process now, so I just want you to observe what difference it makes when I use a different base color other than water. Of course, you can always soften the feathery texture if you want a smooer edge transition. Now, if you want to see what you are painting on easily, you can add a bit of pigment to the mixture and start from there. That way, you won't have to tilt your paper every now and then just to see what areas you've already covered. Make sure that it is a pale mixture though so that the darker pigments will still be visible once dropped. But perhaps my personal favorite is adding white to the mixture to make a powdery pastel color. Adding white water colors instead of adding just water to lighten it creates another shade of that pigment. Compare the second and third circle. There is a slight difference. It will be more evident when you drop the darker and thicker pigment. White also makes a color more opaque, in a way, it has more volume onto it. To better see the effect, here are the circles when dried and scanned. The paint also spreads farther when the base color has more water, like what happened with the first and second circles. Here are some poppy flowers with different base colors. It might not be that different, but you'll see once you try this exercise. Okay. Lifting watercolor paint has many uses. You can do it to correct mistakes, to lighten a layer, or even to soften some edges. To better compare this, let's do our usual wet on wet technique and leave the first circle without lifting any paint. I will try to negatively paint on a small gap here that will serve as the highlight. Yes, it is quite challenging to do negative painting on a wet paper, but it also has a softer look when done this way. On the second one, use a pail wash for the base. And try to leave a small gap too. But in case the paint moved farther than expected and the negative shape became smaller than intended, like what happened here, you can grab a clean damp brush and lift a portion there. It is not evident right now, but we can fix it later. And on the third circle, I will do the same as I did, but I will leave this dry before doing any lifting. Okay. Checking if this is dry and if it is, you can now grab a clean, damp synthetic brush. My favorite is this flat brush. Gently rub over the spot that you want to lift, and then with a paper towel, pat it dry so that the reactivated paint won't go everywhere. You can also retouch the second circle to make the highlight even more visible. Here they are when dried and scanned. Now you might ask, what's the use of this lifting method aside from leaving space for highlight shapes? Lifting is very useful when you want to show a separation between the petals. For example, here's a rose where I didn't do any lifting. The second one is when I lifted some paint while the paper is still wet and on the third one, I let it dry first before lifting. Now the petals are separated from each other on the second and third roses. Pretty useful technique, right? Details are fun to work with. Since they send us a signal that the painting is almost done. You have different options on how you could add details on your painting. Let's paint a base color for the second and third circle, since I need them dry first before adding details. Once done, let's work on the first circle. The technique that I'll do here is called scratching. You might want to look for a pointed tool like a toothpick or a used up ballpoint pen to do this technique. You can even use a nib that you use for calligraphy. It only works though when the paper is still wet. Let's do the usual wet on wet procedure on the first circle. Drop your colors with a used up pen, scratch the paper with shapes that will serve as details. It might not be visible right now because I use a watch that it's too pale, but I can always retouch and redo the process. I love the scratching technique so much that I created two more classes focusing on this alone. Do check them out if you're into this type of illustration. Now on the second one, I'll do the traditional approach, using a smaller brush to paint the details. I find this very challenging when I was a beginner, since it's very easy to make a mistake and paint a thick line instead of a thin one. So make sure to practice painting with the lightest pressure that you can on a separate sheet of paper before adding the details with a brush. Four and the third one, L use a watercolor pencil. A colored pencil or a colored pen can also be great substitutes. This is the easiest of the three and the most relaxing four beginners. If you want to go for a mixed media approach, then try this one. Now that the circles are dry, it's easier to see the difference between them. Which one will you give a try? Adding these types of details work well with flowers like tulips. Pretty dainty, right? Now that I have discussed, all of the factors that you have to consider to paint a soft and dainty watercolor flower, we're ready to work on our third project. 9. Bird and Hibiscus Wreath: They say that doing something new for the first time is always hard, but the second and third tries are easier. That is also true with our watercolor projects. So you know the drill. Start by drawing some guidelines, where the wreath would be, where the flowers are placed, and of the bird. I will try a different composition here where everything is aligned at the center. For our last project, I will use rose matter, hookers green, and Chinese white. I will also use a pastel version of the rose matter as the base color for my gummela or hibiscus flowers. Paint the silhouette of the flower. And with a thicker pigment consistency, drop that on the shadowed areas. Soften with the brush if needed. If you'll observe closely, the paint didn't spread that far and fast when you use a pastel color base. Again, that's because there's less water. There's also less opportunity for the paint to go anywhere it wants. Do the same steps for the second and third flowers. Right now, we cannot see the separation between each flower, but we can always fix that later. Trust the process and know that almost all paintings go through an upward phase. You know what comes next, right? The fun but messy plastic rock technique. As always, start with a lighter color and add the darker one next. That's rose matter with a bit of white followed by hookers green. And yes, I did use two plastic craps, one for red or pink and the other for green. So I won't have to keep on rinsing when working on the different class projects presented in this class. Now that the base of the wreath is established, retouch some areas with a brush and make some parts and visually appealing. These complimentary colors work well when placed beside each other, don't they? Next, use a muted green and paint smaller leaves near the center. Then mix both colors to achieve a neutral brown color and paint the twigs. For the next few minutes, we will work on the bird. Try to achieve a neutral brown color by mixing the two complementaries that is neither leaning towards red green and use that to paint our friend. Okay. For the rest of the body, I added white to make a pastel version. You can also vary how the neutral mixture looks by adding either more green or more red. Again, we're doing some negative painting here since the flower is sitting in front of the bird. But I trust that you can do it. It is a bit challenging, yes, but it is not impossible. You've got this. Now, go darker by adding more paint and use that at the top of the bird's head and to paint some scattered feathers. Left this to dry and let's finish the other parts of the wreath. With a thicker rose matter paint, you can now draw the details of the flowers. This is also the part where you can use a colored pencil or a pen as a substitute. But if you're in for the challenge, then use a smaller brush and apply the lightest pressure that you can to paint a thin line. If you want to scratch instead, you can then re wet the flowers, drop darker paint near the center and scratch with a pointed tool. Use the same dark red color to paint berries here and there. It is now coming together, like how it looks. What about you? Of course, don't forget to add some leaves where the bigger flowers are. It balances the composition more. Isn't it amazing how much a limited palette can do? It also teaches us patience in achieving the shade that we want. It might take more time when you're mixing new colors for the first time, but with practice and experience, everything will be easier later. Now, I am painting some shadows to separate the three flowers from each other. Don't forget to soften the edges if needed. As a final touch, we can work on the facial features of the bird by mixing a thicker neutral mix of the two complimentary colors. The bea, paint the eyes. Retouch some feathers, don't forget the highlight of the eyes. Use pure white paint for that. But you might need to wait a little more for the darker paint to dry before adding in the pure white pigment. If you want, though it is not logically accurate, you can also paint the bird's claw. I know with the bird's weight, it should not be able to perch on this dainty flower without the flower being tore or folded. But this is a fun illustration, have a go with it. Of course, work on the details of the last flower too. You'll have to wait for the bird to dry completely before you can add this one. Here's the last project idea for you. In the next video, let's discuss what we can do from here and how you can claim your gift for finishing this class. See, 10. Claim Your Free Gift: Thank you for letting me teach you. I hope you had fun testing out the different factors discussed such as controlling the edges, considering timing, and paint consistency, choosing the appropriate size of the brush, deciding which paper texture to work on, altering the base color, lifting with the pigment spread farther than expected, experimenting how to add details and working with the limited palette to mix your own muted colors. If there's one key lesson that I want you to take away from this class, that would be to give yourself lots and lots of time to experiment, fail, and then learn. Pain is a great teacher, as they say. Now that you know the different techniques in painting soft and dainty florals, go ahead and choose another flower that you like and create your own artwork. Don't forget to upload your project and share it so that your fellow classmates could appreciate it to leave a class review to help me improve my future classes, and then you can e mail me to claim your free gift. My pink and green color combination book to help you choose which colors to pick. I hope to see you in my other classes and together, let's make this world a little bit more colorful with our artworks. Okay. 11. Bonus: Pink Peonies: Now, here's a bonus video where we will paint flowers only. If in case you prefer not to include our little furry friend. As always, I will sketch circles where I plan to place the flowers. A light one will do. Here are the brushes that I will use and for the colors, my favorite trio. We acrid red, hookers green, and Chinese white. Let's start with the biggest flower and use a pastel pink color for the base. Okay. If these flowers seem too intimidating for you, just remember that we are only painting the silhouette and dropping darker paints on the shadowed areas. So that's what I'll do. I will paint the overall shape of the pony then with thicker paint consistency, drop on the darker areas. Of course, here's my hand this stiff brush to soften the edges. Don't forget to switch brushes if needed, so that you'll also load it with less paint. The process is basically the same for the other two flowers, so I will speed up this video a bit. Next, the middle flower. Same approach. Focus on the silhouette shape and cover that with the base color. Then load your smaller brush with thicker paint and drop on the darker parts. Soften the edges, if you see any feathering and lift up some paint with a clean, damp brush, if you need to show separation of the petals. The same goes for the little bod here. You know the process, right? Once the flowers are taken care of, let's work on the leaves. This time, I'd like to connect them while the flowers are still wet. Makes a slightly mutant green color and prepare a pale version of that by adding more water. Then start painting the silhouette of the leaves. Drop darker paint on some areas for visual interest. It might take some time before you figure out which paper or brush works best for the wet on wet technique, and maybe a bit of experience is also needed in observing the wetness of your paper. But it is not entirely impossible to get the grasp on how to make this work. You got this. Don't give up just yet. Right. You'll notice that some of the green pigments mixed with the still wet flour, but the paint didn't really go too far since I made sure that this is not soaking wet before I connected them. Okay. Perhaps that green is spreading not so nicely, so let me lift up some of that paint. You'll also observe that I'm using pure hookers green on some leaves and on the others, I'll paint with a muted version. Just to make it more interesting and visually appealing. Don't forget also to drop darker paint on the still wet leaf shapes. Scratching on another leaf, and the effect might be subtle, but I like it. I can always retouch with a brush later if that is still not too visible. Now, leave this to dry before adding details. The first layer has completely dried now, so we can add more details. The flowers are looking soft and dainty and the blending is still smooth. But we need more defined lines like the veins of the leaves to balance the composition. Make some parts darker too, and do the same for the flowers. You notice that I also grabbed an even smaller brush for this. I will use the technique called negative painting and make the center of the flowers darker. Leaving out the petal shapes to add complexity. A few more touches and were done. I hope to see your version of this flower and thank you for taking this bonus video lesson. Sea.