Garden Gems: Painting Nasturtiums in Watercolor

1. Welcome: Welcome to my Skillshare class. In this tutorial, we'll explore the intricate process of creating a stunning floral painting step by step. I'm Chris, a watercolor artist, and online teacher here to guide you through the Skillshare tutorial. Today, our focus is on painting beautiful sturtiums capturing their unique shapes, simple leaf forms, intricate veining, and serene color composition. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced artist, this tutorial will equip you with the techniques needed to bring these flowers to life on paper. Throughout the class, I will walk you through each step of painting these beautiful flowers, providing helpful resources and guidance along the way. The tutorial is thoughtfully divided into manageable segments. Each part will zoom in on a specific aspect of the painting, gradually piecing it together like a jigsaw puzzle. Join me on this creative journey, and let's dive in. 2. Project and Resources: Thank you for choosing to be a part of this artistic journey with me. I've prepared some helpful resources for your project, which you can access in the projects and resources section. There you will find a few helpful PDF files. One of them contains a list of the supplies I used for this particular painting, and you'll also find there my finished painting to guide you. Line drawings are available in different sizes that you can print and transfer onto your watercolor paper, allowing you to choose the size that suits your preferences. I painted this on a 12 by nine size. Feel free to explore these resources and use them to create your own unique and beautiful painting. It would be great to see your results. Please don't hesitate to share your progress shots and the final painting with the class in the projects and resources section. I also strongly recommend that you take a look at each other's work in the student's project gallery. It's always inspiring to see others work and extremely comforting to get the support of your fellow students. Don't forget to like and comment on each other's work. Lastly, I highly recommend watching each lesson before you start your painting. This will help you get a better understanding of what to expect in each part of the tutorial. If you find this class helpful, I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave an honest review. Your feedback will help me create better content and assist other students in deciding whether to take this class. Thank you in advance. 3. My Art Supplies: In this video, I'd like to share with you a general overview of my art supplies that I regularly use. I think I should mention first that I'm not the type of person who constantly buys new art supplies and experiments with them. I use the same supplies all the time. They work well for me and I've learned how to make the most out of them, which also helps me save money instead of buying five new colors that I might only use one for creating a color swatch, I prefer investing in books, for example. Don't get me wrong. Experimenting with new art supplies and regularly buying new materials can offer many benefits to artists. Let's take a look at some pros and cons of trying out new art materials. It can spark fresh ideas and inspiration. Different mediums colors and textures may lead to unique artistic expressions and help break through creative blocks. Exploring new art supplies often involves learning new techniques and approaches. This continual learning process contributes to the development of artistic skills and broadens on artists toolkit. Having a diverse range of art supplies allows for greater versatility in artistic expression. A rtists can switch between different mediums and tools based on the specific requirements of a project, leading to more dynamic and varied artwork. Experimenting with new materials can push an artist out of their comfort zone, the willingness to explore and take risks, fosters personal growth, and encourages artistic development. The art world is continually evolving with new technologies and new materials, staying up to date with the latest art supplies ensures that an artist remains relevant in the contemporary art scene. Trying out new art supplies often involves problem solving. A rtists may need to figure out how to manipulate a new medium or adapt their techniques, enhancing their problem solving skills and creative thinking. The excitement of using a new art supply or discovering a new technique can reignite motivation and passion for creating art. This enthusiasm is essential for maintaining a consistent and fulfilling artistic practice. As technology advances, so do the quality and capabilities of art supplies. Trying out new products allows artists to explore improved formulations leading to potentially better results in their work. Different art supplies offer unique ways to convey emotions and messages, and Experimenting with a variety of materials allows artists to find the ones that best suit their personal style and enable them to express themselves more authentically. The least goes on. On the flip side, here are some potential reasons why some may argue that it's not always good. Art supplies can be expensive and constantly buying new materials without a plan or purpose may strain your budget. It's good to be mindful of your spending, especially if you're not using all the supplies you've accumulated. Relying on new and varied art supplies might distract from the development of fundamental artistic skills. A proficient artist can create impressive works with basic tools. The emphasis should be on mastering techniques rather than relying on specific supplies. Accumulating a vast array of art supplies can lead to clatter and storage challenges. Too many supplies can make it difficult to find what you need. Constantly buying new art supplies contributes to waste, especially if the materials are not fully used. It's essential to consider the environmental impact of your artistic practices and try to minimize unnecessary consumption. Some artists argue that working with limitations such as a restricted set of materials can actually enhance creativity. Constraints can force you to think outside the box and find innovative solutions within your existing toolkit. To much emphasis on trying out new supplies may distract from the core of artistic expression. The concept or message you want to convey through your art. Focusing on the meaning behind your work is crucial regardless of the materials used. Constantly seeking and buying new supplies may foster a consumerist mentality where the joy comes from acquiring new items rather than the creation process itself. This can lead to a cycle of chasing after the next trendy material rather than honing your artistic voice. May also create unrealistic expectations about the transformative power of materials. While quality supplies can enhance your work, the key to artistic success lies in your skills, techniques, and creative vision. Relying too heavily on the belief that new supplies will drastically improve your art may lead to disappointment and frustration. Constantly exploring and adapting new art supplies may lead to an unintentional shift towards popular trends rather than developing a unique personal style. As you can see, there are many elements that I believe are worth considering, and ultimately, it's a personal choice. I used to want to buy every art supplies I could afford. However, upon realizing that I didn't need them all, and having found supplies that I'm genuinely happy with, I stopped buying unnecessary items. Instead, I focused on the ones I have and I actually use. So now let's take a look at what I have. Let's begin with paper. Among brushes, paints and paper, I consider paper to be the most crucial art supply. The quality of the paper significantly influences your painting experience and results. Use arches paper, which is made of 100% cotton. Cotton paper is often considered the top choice among artists. It has excellent absorbency, strength, and durability, making it suitable for various watercolor techniques. It provides the best results because paint behaves much better on it than on cheaper cellulose papers. The high quality paper is also more forgiving, making it easier to correct mistakes. Moving on to paints, I use Windsor and Newton Professional Grade paints. Professional grade paints, no matter what brand you use offer excellent quality. They have more pigment, richer colors, and a longer lifespan than student grade paints. While professional grade paints are more expensive than student grade ones, they are truly worth the investment. It took me some time to collect all the colors I needed. I gradually bought one or two tubes at a time until I had a complete set. Now I rarely need to buy new tubes. They last a long time. I buy one or two colors maybe once or twice a year. Currently, I have 17 colors on my palette, although some are for testing purposes. In the class materials, you'll find PDF files with additional information about my colors, why I selected them, and how I arranged them on my palette. There's also a helpful conversion chart if you would like similar colors from different brands. Let me very briefly explain how I choose colors to my palette. I do this in four main steps. My starting point in choosing colors is always a split primary palette, a worm and a cool yellow, a warm and a cool red, and a warm and a cool blue. And here, I think it's a good time to mention that the ultramarine blue I use is the green shade. It's not French ultramarine. There are four main differences between ultramarine blue, the green shade and French ultramarine. However, they are really small. Ultramarine blue, the green shade has a greener undertone. It is cooler in appearance. It creates cooler shades of purple and gray, and it's less granulating. Both panes share the same pigment coat, P B 29. Use ultramarine blue, the green shade mainly out of habit, as it's what I've always used and grown accustomed to. Additionally, I find it less granulating than French ultramarine, a quality that I value. However, again, the differences between the two are really subtle. In the second step, I look for colors from the same color family with specific properties, such as being made with a single pigment, having good light fastness, not granulating, with some exceptions, I prefer using non granulating paints. And being transparent or semi transparent. I primarily use single pigmented paints with one exception, which is paints gray. Colors in this group must noticeably differ from the first group. If they are too similar, I eliminate them. I don't see a good reason for keeping, let's say seven very similar yellows on the palette. I choose the ones that are the most unique and I can mix other shades. The third step, I add colors that I just like, or I know I will use frequently. Burnt Sienna is a must have on my palette because it's a versatile basic brown. It creates beautiful neutrals with blues, mutes down some greens, creates various shades of yellows. It's a very versatile color. Additionally, since green is my favorite color, I like to have two ready made ones that serve as a good base for mixing other shades. The step four is optional. There are three remaining spots on my palette, which are reserved for new colors or colors that I'm currently testing, which may change over time. In addition to watercolor paint, I also have a tube of white guash. I often use it for tiny details or highlights. I keep my paints in a porcelain palette with 17 wells and two large mixing areas. Porcelain palettes are excellent because they are easy to clean and don't stain like plastic ones. Before using this palette, I used a plastic one with 33 wells for a long time, I switched when I realized I didn't use half of those colors. I always fill the entire well with paint, and I refill it when I run out of the specific color. I usually buy five milllire tubes because I can squeeze the entire tube into the well. Let's move on to brushes. My primary brushes are round silver black velvet in various sizes. I found they work exceptionally well for the wet on wet technique which I often use. They also come to a perfect point. A brush I always have on hand, which I fondly call my secret weapon is Windsor and Newton's Galleria brush size four. It's my scrubber brush, and I use it in almost every painting. I also have a smaller Princeton snapshaderh size four, which I use for lifting off very small details such as tiny veins on leaves. I also have spotter brushes from Rosemary and Co specifically from the 307 series. They are small. They don't hold a lot of water, so they are not good for wet on wet painting, but they are excellent for painting small areas, wet on dry, and for adding tiny details. I always use them for creating visual texture with the stipling technique. Occasionally, I use designers brushes, rigger brushes or script brushes. They go by different names and are very similar. These brushes have thin, long bristles and are useful for painting long thin lines or more natural lines like tree branches. Finally, I have a big flat brush for applying water to large areas or sometimes even for painting big areas. I also have to mention about two additional brushes. One of them is a cheap old brush that I use only for applying masking fluid. Applying masking fluid with a brush can damage your brushes so avoid using your good brushes for that purpose. The other one is a cheap flat brush which I use for preparing colors on my palette. If I have to prepare larger amounts of paint, this brush is great for that because it allows for transferring larger amounts of paint from the well to the mixing area. The downside of this particular one is that it is losing bristles, so I will have to buy something a bit better. Gator board, I always attach my watercolor paper to a gator board using staples and masking tape. This board is lightweight waterproof and allows me to move and tilt my painting as needed, crucial for me, especially when painting smooth backgrounds with the wet on wet technique. I always use an office stapler to attach my paper to the gator board. After stapling, I secured the paper on all four sides with tape to create a clean border around the finished painting. I prefer using lavender scotch tape designed for delicate surfaces. I've noticed that it adheres well during painting, and if it ever comes off, it's likely because of my excessive use of a hair dryer. This tape has not caused any damage to my paper. I like its surface. It's slightly sleek, which is very convenient for easily cleaning off paint drops. My only wish is that it came in white. Here are other supplies I use more or less frequently. Light pad, I use it actually for every painting. This one is the cheapest one I've found on Amazon. I use it to transfer an image to my watercolor paper. Masking fluid from Windsor Newton. This is an essential medium for many of my paintings, Tools for applying masking fluid like an old brush, ruling pen, embossing tools and a deep pen. Those tools may be apart from that old brush can also be used to apply paint and create specific effects. A piece of soap and an old cap from an old masking fluid. When using masking fluid, I dip the brushing water, rub it on a bar of soap, creating a protective coat on the bristles, and then I dip it into the masking fluid. This prevents the masking from sticking the bristles together. Always pour a bit of masking into an old cup and quickly close the bottle to avoid dried clumps in the bottle. Rubber masking pickup tool for removing masking fluid, a very handy tool, hair dryer, useful for speeding up drying time spray bottle with clean water for wetting the paper gently or forcing the paint to flow. I also spray paints in my palette before I start painting. Regular HB pencil eraser and needed eraser. I use a regular HB pencil for my sketch and I often use a needed eraser to remove the excess graphite and make the pencil lines lighter. Water container I must have during painting. I often have two, one for clean water, and one for dirty water. Paper towel, always good to have it. Finally, a white towel that it's not so white anymore. Speaking of towels, a large one is spread across my desk beneath my gator board. I do this to prevent the gator board from sliding, moving or rotating while I paint. This not only ensures stability, but also protects my desk and adds a nice field to my workspace. The second smaller towel is always positioned next to my palette and water container, serving as a dedicated space for cleaning my brushes. I let my brushes rest on this towel. In the past, when I placed my brushes on my desk, magic seemed to happen. They transformed into living beings hiding from me, jumping off the desk and moving around so that I couldn't find them. Now I always place them on the towel and they stay in place, always here with me. So these are my current art supplies. Although there may be changes in the future, this is what I'm using for now. 4. Inspiration: Hello, and welcome to this wonderful Tutorial painting Nosturtiums. This painting draws inspiration from two artists. One of them is one of my favorite Polish artists, Stansva Vespinki. Vespinski was born in 18 69 in raco Poland. He was a student of an Mateo at the School of Fine Arts in raco. His work was versatile. As a painter, he specialized in creating art va paintings using the pastel technique. As an architect, he also became famous for creating among other things, polys for the church of St. Francis of ACC in Craco. He also gained fame as the creator of dramas about the history and prospects of Polish society under the partitions. Many years ago, I tried to reproduce his pastel painting motherhood. I painted this with oil paints. Among his notable achievements is the design of the exquisite stained glass window in the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Craco, a testament to his skill in merging artistry with spiritual symbolism. That particular church in Craco is very, very special. Every time I'm there, I visited. The reason for that is because the walls inside that church are painted by Vespinski. He adorned the walls with beautiful polychrom or murals, if you like, depicting floral and geometric motives, but not only. One of those murals depicts beautiful sturtiu flowers which served as my initial inspiration for our painting. Art Nouveau is generally one of my favorite styles. It always fascinates me how simple shapes painted with what we could call flat washes in watercolor painting can create such beautiful patterns. I love patterns. Notice that the leaves are painted with one base green color, and then only veins are painted with white paint. There are no details, lights, shadows, just simple shapes filled with color. Also, in the flowers, we can see very subtle shades of orange and a few veins, nothing more. In his other flowers that we can admire on the walls in the church, he sometimes used a bit more shading. For example, these roses have some shading on the petals, but the leaves have simple flat layers of paint. And yet they are so beautiful. The strength of these designs lies in the composition and the pattern that all those shapes create. They are amazing. Vespanski sturtium reminded me of an artist from Japan Conan Tangami. He was born in the Hyogo prefecture and is celebrated in Japan as a prominent painter. He gained recognition for creating five volumes of picture albums depicting Western plans. These albums were notably published as woodblock prints by the renowned on Sodo publisher in Kyoto. Copies of these albums are preserved in the esteemed collection of the British library. His use of color is subtle yet impactful, employing soft pastel tones and vibrant hues to create a dreamlike quality in his compositions. Similarly to Vespanski's work. In Tani Game's paintings, we see clear edges of the shapes that are filled with color. There are some tonal variations, but still if we look at these paintings through the lens of watercolor painting, we could say that they were painted in one or maximum two layers without going too much into details. More importantly, in his works is the composition. One of Tan Gami's works depicts sturtium. Although the plants are Western, the artistic treatment is distinctly Japanese with a wonderful sense of asymmetrical balance and a fine contrast between flowers and leaves. These two works from spanki and Tani Gami were my inspiration for my painting. 5. Preparing Sketch: First, I began by creating a composition. I applied the rule of thirds dividing my paper into three equal parts, both horizontally and vertically. The points where these lines intersect serve as focal points, which is where I intended to place the main flowers. Sturtiums grow in various directions. I envisioned decomposition as if the flowers were cascading in an arc shape from the upper right to the lower left side. I sketched large shapes to represent the flowers and leaves using orange and green colors to establish the main composition. This allowed me to test different color combinations. On satisfied with the overall layout, I focused on detailing the flowers. Initially, I created rough shapes, not overly detailed. Once I had a solid foundation, I refined the line drawing, paying close attention to the shapes. While I referred to some reference photos to understand the structure of the flowers and leaves, I didn't directly copy any. These interpretations are my own. At this stage, my line drawing was complete. Knowing in advance that I would be working on a 12 by nine size paper, I set the dimensions accordingly in procreate. Next, I transferred the drawing to an app called Affinity Publisher, which I use for designing PDFs. Here I added a black frame around the drawing by creating a rectangle, removing the feel, and leaving a thin border. Once completed, I saved the file. There's a significant reason behind this process. Here is why. I have two versions of the drawing, one with the frame and one without. When I open the version without the border in an app like split print, it becomes apparent that the drawing lacks a clear indication of its boundaries. This makes it challenging to determine where to trim and necessary margins. That's precisely why I included the border. When I open the file with the border, everything becomes clear, making the trimming process much more straightforward. Now within this app, I convert the measurements to inches, revealing that my drawing precisely measures 12 by 9 " fitting neatly on two pages. However, I have the flexibility in this app to adjust the size as needed. For example, if I decide to paint it on a 16 by 12 size paper, I can effortlessly make this change. As a result, the drawing splits across additional sheets of paper. Can arrange them however I prefer, even altering the orientation of the pages, which might reduce the total number required for printing at this size. By accessing the page setup and switching to landscape orientation, I can now see that my drawing spans four pages. However, since I intend to paint it on 12 by nine size paper, I come back to portrait orientation because now my drawing is on two pages, and now my drawing is back on two pages. I typically position the drawing so that any intricate shapes near the center are shifted to one side ensuring they don't span across two pages. Now I can print out my line drawing and in the next part, you will see how I will transfer it onto my watercolor paper. Okay. 6. Transferring the Image: After completing my line drawing, I printed it out. Now I will refine it by trimming off any unnecessary parts. Since the image spans two sheets of paper, I need to tape them together. Okay. I'll be painting on arches paper at 12 by 9 ". The block that I'm using measures ten by 14 ". This additional space around the painting allows room for staples and masking tape. To transfer the image onto my paper, I will use a light pod. First, I'll attach the image to the back of my watercolor paper. Then placing everything on the light pad, the light from below will allow me to see the image through the watercolor paper clearly. With a regular HB pencil, I'll begin tracing starting by marking the four corners. These reference points are crucial as they guide me in applying masking tape accurately. With the corners marked, I'll slowly transfer the image onto the paper. I can clearly see the lines from below, so I can easily trace those lines. Once this step is completed, I'll remove the printed image from the back of the paper, and then I can attach the paper to my gator board. I'm positioning the paper more or less in the center. It's worth noting that I'm opting not to wet the paper beforehand. I believe it's unnecessary because the staples will securely hold the paper in place. As I paint, the paper will naturally stretch and shrink. However, the key here is the staples. Masking tape alone might not provide sufficient strength to hold the paper in place. That's why I always use staples. I'm carefully stapling the paper to my gator board on all four sides, ensuring that each staple is spaced no more than 1 " apart. Okay. Following that, I apply masking tape along all four sides. The marks in the corners are useful for precise positioning, ensuring that the finished painting will measure exactly 12 by nine. Additionally, at this stage, I frequently use a needed eraser. This versatile eraser can be shaped as desired. I prefer to roll it over my sketch to remove any excess graphite, making the sketch slightly lighter and. With the sketch prepared, we are ready to begin painting the background. Okay. 7. Background: Before we delve into painting, let me share my approach and vision for this piece. After some thought, I've decided to aim for a watercolor like look. After all, we're painting with watercolors. But this time, I'm going to paint in a looser style than my usual style. Embracing intentionally created blooms and random hard edges, resulting from a less precise technique. This time, I'm adopting a more relaxed and simplified approach. My goal is to achieve beautiful watercolor textures on the leaves while focusing a bit more on painting the flowers with precision. I aim to strike a balance between loose painting and precision where necessary. In my process, I draw inspiration from the simplicity of spanskis and Tanigams works. We'll begin our painting journey by starting from the background, gradually building up the layers as we progress. Initially, we'll paint the background, followed by faint leaves in the background, then adding stems, main leaves and finally focusing on the flowers which are closest to us. As a final touch, we will delicately add veins to the flowers and leaves. To paint the background, I will use a brush size ten. I've opted not to use masking fluid to preserve the white spaces for the flowers. Instead, I'll paint a background that's very light in tone. Even if I go over the pencil lines, it's not an issue as the flowers and leaves are darker than the background. The darker paint will seamlessly cover any overlaps, creating a harmonious composition. I believe using a muted version of orange, that would be brown because brown is actually a muted version of orange. For the background would be ideal. This color choice should complement the overall composition, creating a soft muted backdrop that mirrors the flower colors. Adding touches of green will further tie the background to the leaves. Repeating colors from the main subject in the background is an excellent approach, fostering cohesion. While exact matches aren't necessary, variations in hue or intensity can enhance the unity of the piece. The goal is for the background to echo hues from the main subject, ensuring visual harmony. Let's begin by preparing burnt sienna with just a tiny touch of winds are yellow deep. Add plenty of water to achieve a very light consistency. Almost like a t wash with a hint of brown. This diluted mixture will serve as an excellent base. Start applying it in the upper left corner. The water inconsistency will help in creating a smooth wash, but don't worry if you encounter any blooms or hard edges. We can embrace them as part of the process. Additionally, if you accidentally go over the pencil lines, it's not an issue. The darker tones of the main subject will easily cover any overlaps. After applying this initial light wash, I'm adding a bit more brown in some areas to introduce variation in tonal values. I'm even allowing the color to flow over the edges of the leaf slightly, creating a seamless connection between the leaf and the background. Moving to the upper right corner, let's paint the background in a clockwise direction. Once again, start with a very light tone of brown and then add a slightly darker tone in specific areas. Near the leaves, I'm considering incorporating a touch of green to reflect the foliage. Mixing burn with green gold initially didn't achieve the desired shade. I'm introducing Windsor green yellow shade for a stronger green hue. Green blended with brown creates a natural harmonious stone. It's crucial to keep all colors. I want the background to serve as a soft subtle complement to the flowers. Especially near the leaves, I'm adding more green than brown to maintain a cohesive color palette and to reflect some greens from the leaves. In the bottom left corner, I'm opting for more brown to create a suitable background for the flower that will be in the foreground. Taking a final look at the background. I'm considering whether to add more color in any areas. For instance, I've decided to drop in slightly more brown in certain spots. It's important to remember that as the paint dries, it will become lighter. Additionally, I'm adding a simple green silhouette of a leaf shape here. Once you've satisfied with your background, we can proceed to dry everything using a hair dryer. Lately, I found myself using a hair dryer more frequently, except in instances where I'm painting larger backgrounds using the wet on wet technique. In such cases where I aim to achieve smooth color transitions and soft plans, I prefer to let the paint dry naturally. Tilting the painting until the paint settles allows for a seamless drying process without the risk of disturbing steel wet paint and creating unwanted marks or uneven of finishes. However, when painting smaller elements with a less paint, like in this case, I prefer to speed up the drying time using a hair dryer. Once the background is dry, we can move on to the next step, painting faint leaves in the background. 8. Background Leaves: Okay. In this short part, we'll paint just a few delicate leaves in the background. I find that the contrast in tonal values between the light leaves in the background and the darker green leaves in the foreground creates a captivating illusion of depth, enhancing the overall visual interest of the composition. To paint these leaves, we'll need more of our natural green. I'm preparing a mix of windsor green and burnt sienna, creating a very diluted mixture that yields a light green tone. In the upper part of this mix, I'm adding a touch of pains gray to introduce a slightly darker shade of green for added variation. Now, with a calm and steady hand, we'll slowly paint this leaf using the wet on dry technique. Aim to stay within the pencil lines, drawing inspiration from Tanigams meticulous execution of nosturtiums where colors were kept precisely within the lines. From now until we add final details, think of it as filling shapes with color. Our goal is simply to fill these shapes with green. This green layer doesn't need to be perfectly smooth. In fact, we're aiming for a watercolor look, especially on the leaves. Embrace any blooms or irregularities that occur. As they add to the organic feel of the painting. The primary concern is to stay within the pencil lines. Notice how the green interacts harmoniously with the brown applied during the background painting process. This interplay adds an additional layer of color variety, enhancing the visual interest of the composition. For added intrigue, use a slightly darker tone of the green in selected areas. This serves as an additional point of interest, adding depth and dimension to the painting. It's important to note that I'm not considering a specific light source here. These sturtiums are stylized and this isn't intended to be a perfectly realistic representation of the flowers. Similar to Vespanskis polychromy and Tani igam's work, the colors are relatively flat. However, because we are working with watercolors, we have the freedom to incorporate that characteristic watercolor touch. My approach is to introduce more color variations within the leaves and incorporate blooms which are quintessential to watercolor painting. This will be particularly evident in the darker main leaves because these light leaves in the background are essentially light silhouettes. A. In the bottom right corner, I'm using a mix of burned Ciena with a touch of pins gray to create texture. Using the side of my brush, I'm applying random brush strokes to introduce variety in tones. Additionally, you'll notice some deliberate gaps that create edges. I find this effect adds interest and dimension to the corner. I didn't want to leave it entirely flat. Here, I'm adding a touch more green to enhance the vibrancy. Regarding the bottom left corner, I thought about adding another leaf silhouette in the background. However, upon reflection, I decided that the leaf tat behind the two foreground leaves is enough as our background leaf. So I'm painting it using our light tones of green and brown. Yeah. After painting these leaves, we can quickly dry them with a hair dryer before moving on to paint the main leaves. 9. Main Leaves: Now we're transitioning to another simple yet enjoyable step where perfection isn't the focus, painting the main leaves. Let's begin by preparing a variety of colors. On the left, I've mixed burnt Ciena with Windsor yellow deep. I will use this mixture just a little bit across the leaves. On the right, I've prepared my primary green using windsor green yellow shade mixed with burnt sienna. In the upper part of my palette, I've added paints gray to the green mixture, resulting in a darker shade of green. Using a size ten brush, let's begin painting from the left hand side and gradually move towards the right side. If you're left handed, it will be easier for you to start from the right side of the painting and move towards the left. Now with our green and brown mixes, our task is to simply feel the leaf shapes with these colors. This step is straightforward. The key is to stay within the pencil lines within the boundaries of the leaf shape. Your interpretation here is entirely yours. Feel free to experiment with different colors. Your layer will likely look distinct from mine, and that's perfectly fine. Aim for a very watery paint consistency and slowly fill the entire shape with colors. We could opt for a wet on wet technique here as well. I'll paint the last leaf using this method just to demonstrate it. However, with the wet on dry technique that we're using now, we have more control over the paint and the edges of the shape we're painting. Additionally, painting wet and dry results in a darker tone initially, as there isn't an additional water layer beneath the paint to disperse it. This allows us to achieve a darker tone more easily. Moreover, the natural variation in wetness across the paper may lead to the formation of blooms, the effect that we actually want to achieve in this painting. A. After applying the green, let's enhance the interest by dropping in some of our browns. These brown spots will add variety to the colors and nicely complement the orange flowers. Moving on to the next leaf, I will repeat the process. Here I've started with a lighter green tone to introduce some tonal variations. This variation can also suggest that the light source is coming from the left, making this leaf slightly lighter. As we approach the flowers, I'm incorporating more brown to add depth and dimension. As the first leave begins to dry, I notice that the surface is still slightly dump. I want to take this opportunity to spatter some water droplets intentionally to create more texture and blooms. Now to the leaf below the flowers, here I'm aiming to introduce more variety in color. I'm additional brown and a slightly darker green, particularly beneath the flowers. A. To further enhance the texture and create intentional blooms, I can load my brush with water and gently squeeze the bristles, allowing water droplets to fall onto the surface. Again, as you can see, I'm not striving for perfect execution of these washes. Typically, I aim for careful painting to achieve smooth washes and flawless color transitions. However, in this painting, I embrace all those watercolor imperfections. This approach grants me more freedom and less stress as I view these imperfections as intentional and desirable. My primary focus remains on staying within the pencil lines and ensuring clear distinctions between shapes. Oh. Returning to the previous leaf, I continue to spatter more water droplets. I'm keen to avoid flat uninteresting washes and instead, aim for captivating watercolor textures. I'm very curious if you like this approach and this effect or not. Let me know. Switching to a smaller brush as size four, I paint the tiny areas between the petals with a dark green signifying the leave behind the flowers. Switching back to a size ten brush. I then proceed to paint the leaf behind this particular flower. I've added a tiny bad here in front of the leaf, so I need to carefully paint around it. Towards the end, I'm dropping in some water droplets, hoping they will create some blooms or textures. For the final leaf, I've chosen to paint wet on wet. There's no particular reason for this choice. I simply want to demonstrate that it's also a technique that we can use here. After applying a layer of water, I start dropping in my colors. The end result will be similar to painting wet on dry, so it doesn't really matter which technique you choose. However, I find that wet on dry is easier and it allows for more imperfections, which we want to achieve in this case. Additionally, you don't have to manage excessive amounts of water. Now, allow everything to dry. You can use a her dryer if you like, but first let it dry naturally for about 10 minutes. Once the sheen disappears from the wet paint, indicating that it has settled down, you can use a dryer to complete the drying process. 10. Stems and Sepals: Since we still have the green paint on the palette, let's finish all the green parts before moving on to painting the flowers. In this step, I'll demonstrate how to paint the stems and sepals of the flowers using a size for brush. Beginning with the stems, I start by applying an extremely light green tone, taking great care to be precise and stay within the pencil lines. Once this initial layer is applied, I switch to a darker town of green and add it sparingly, focusing on areas near the leaves and at the joints. Now, let's focus on the bottom left corner. Here I want to begin with a warmer shade of green, so I add a touch of green gold to the mix. I start by feeling the shapes of the sepals and then move on to painting the stem. To add depth, I include a shadow under the flower and on the stem using a darker shade of green. Continuing with the stems and sepals, I use various shades of green and brown to fill the shapes. At this stage, I'm focusing on applying flat washes without adding details. Later on, I may incorporate some additional details, but for now, I'm concentrating on laying down the basic colors. M. After painting one stem, I noticed it seemed quite solitary, so I decided to introduce two companions. Using an HB pencil, I drew simple lines to indicate the sides of the stems. I only drew one line to represent one side of the stem as the stems are quite thin. These pencil lines serves as guides for the shape and With the brush, I can paint the desired thickness of the stems following the shape of the lines. Finally, I proceed to paint the last stems and sepals on the right side. At this stage, here's how the painting looks. In the next part, we will apply the base layer to the petals of the flowers. Okay. 11. Flowers - Initial Layer: Now let's begin painting those stunning orange flowers. Since we're transitioning to different colors, it's best to clean the palette at least on one side. We'll keep the green for later use, so I'm leaving that untouched. However, I'm cleaning the left side of my mixing area where I will yellow orange and red. This is also a good moment to change the water. First, I will prepare the lovely, transparent orange, a beautiful color that will be perfect for the sturtium flowers. Additionally, I will mix Windsor yellow deep, which will more warmth into the petals. Lastly, we'll need a warm red and I've chosen windsor red for this purpose. We'll use this red in the centers of the flowers. Let's begin with the smaller flower in the bottom left corner, using a size four brush. First, pick up Windsor yellow deep and fill the petals with this color. This yellow will serve as our base upon which we will build more color variations. With the flat yellow wash in place, now pick up the transparent orange and apply it to the petals, starting from the center. The idea here is to make the center of the flower orange or than the other parts of the flower. Apply the same colors to the petals that are visible behind the leaves above. Start with the yellow base, and then add some orange to create depth and dimension. Now let's move on to the larger flowers. The main principle remains the same. Apply a layer of yellow first, and then add orange to the petals, focusing primarily on the center of the flower, which will eventually be darker. Don't worry about individual petals at this stage. Our goal is to fill the flowers with yellows and oranges. We'll focus on refining individual petals in the next part. So for now, apply the paint to the entire flower at once. After painting this flower, let's move on elsewhere. We should avoid painting the flower right next to it as the lighter color may flow into the darker orange of this first flower and disrupt our intended effect. We'll return to this flower later when it's dry. Now onto the next two smaller flowers, there's nothing particularly new here. I'm simply painting them with yellow and adding more orange close to the sepals. For the larger flowers, I've switched to a bigger brush size ten. This will make it easier to cover larger areas more quickly. A. After applying the yellow to the flower on the left, I'm dropping in the orange in the center and at the bottom. It's crucial for the center to be to convey the dimensionality of the flower. Now let's move on to the bottom right flower and repeat the process. I've decided to play around with the tonal values here, so this flower will have a lighter tone on the petals compared to the other flowers. Why not? This is a stylized painting so I can change anything as we. Apply the basic yellow to the three small bats as well. Now, let's allow everything to dry completely. Once dry, we can proceed to paint the two remaining flowers. Let's begin with the flower on the left. There's nothing very surprising here. After applying the yellow, I will in the orange. I will repeat the same process for the flower. Here's the result at this stage. We have a solid base for both the green and orange elements. Now we can proceed to add some details. 12. Flowers - Deepening Colors: All right, let's focus on refining the flowers. While we have a beautiful base, there is currently no distinction between individual petals. In this part, we'll spend a bit more time on each petal to deepen their colors and create differentiation between them. At this stage, we can use either the wet wet or wet on dry. I'll begin with wet on wet just to show you and later, I will switch to wet on dry and discuss the pros and cons of both. Starting with wet on wet, apply a water layer to the one of the petals. Then pick up an orange mix and apply it near the center and along the edges of the neighboring petals to create distinction between them. Additionally, we can add windsor red in the center of the flower to create an even darker tone. It's important to note that to create a darker tone, I'm using an analogous color. In this case, since we're painting orange flowers, I'm using an analogous color with a wider tonal value range, which is Windsor red. This approach allows me to maintain the vibrancy of the color while achieving a slightly darker tone. If the windsor red isn't dark enough as will happen later, I will use another method for creating a shadow color, such as adding a complimentary color or using panes gray. Adding windsor red to the center of the petal creates vibrancy and the darker center provides depth to the flower. Now I will move from one petal to another, spending a bit more time to carefully introduce those orange and red tones. I'm painting petals that aren't touching each other to prevent the wet paint from flowing into adjacent petals. Once I've painted the petals that I could paint, I will use a hair dryer to dry them all and continue painting. The purpose of this stage is to add more depth to the petals, create distinct separations between them and intensify the colors. The second layer should enhance the richness and vibrancy of the colors. Rather than applying a darker tone only near the center, we can also apply it in various areas of the petals. A darker tone indicates either a shadow visible between the petals or an indentation on the petal. Therefore, depending on where we apply the tone, we can alter the form of the petal. Since we're not using any reference photos, this gives us the freedom to create the impression of a flower in a way that we find most appealing. Now, I will switch to a smaller brush as it is four and paint the tower in the bottom left corner. I'll also transition to using the wet on dry technique. Let's load our brush with some orange paint and apply it to the petal. Okay rains and blood the brush and with a clean do brush, gently soften the edges of the applied paint. Repeat this process on the second petal. It's important to note that with this technique, we first create hard edges, and then we have the flexibility to decide whether to soften all of them or retain some for added effect. In contrast to the wet on wet technique used previously where hard edges are impossible to achieve due to paint dissolving in the wet layer. Here we have more control over the edges. We can opt for sharp lines or choose to soften them to create a variety of effects such as additional distinction between petals or stronger cast shadows with sharp edges. For example, on this pot, using hard lines allows us to delineate the folds of the petals effectively. Achieving this level of detail wouldn't be feasible with a wet on wet technique where creating such defined edges is more challenging or just impossible. Continue refining the petals using the same technique, referring to my finished painting for guidance on achieving a similar result. Imagine that there are no veins on the petals. Everything beneath the veins is the result of this painting stage. Stick to the three colors, Windsor yellow deep, transparent orange, and winds are red. Use darker tones, especially more red in the center of the flowers to create the impression of depth and a trumpet shape of the flower. Once you've completed the second layer on the flowers, consider adding shadows and details to the sepals to finish them off. Since there isn't much left to do on the sepals, you can complete the step relatively quickly. Use a darker green tone to paint the shadows on the sepals, focusing on creating a distinction between individual sepals. Imagine the light source is coming from the left, shadows should fall on the right side of each sepal, leaving the left side lighter. Keep it simple and effective avoiding too much detail and just suggesting shadows with the darker green tone. With that, this stage is complete. The next step will involve painting the veins on the petals and leaves. Let's move on to the next, where we'll tackle painting the veins on the petals. 13. Veins - Flowers: In the final two segments of the tutorial, our focus will be on painting the veins of the flowers and leaves. This stage is particularly enjoyable as it's relatively straightforward and the added details will fill our painting with more character. For this desk, I'll be using a size zero designer's brush. This brush is exceptionally thin. This idea for precise work. While it resembles a rigger brush, its shorter bristles offer even more precision. However, if you don't have this bruh, this particular brush, don't worry, a regular round brush with a fine point will do the work. The key is to have a tool that allows for intricate detailing. Let's begin with an orange hue and this small petal situated behind the leaf. This area serves as a perfect testing ground for our lines. As you can see, the lines created with this brush are very thin. The direction of these lines is super important. They don't just make the petals more interesting. They also show us the shape of the petals. Depending on how we paint them, we can make the petals look different. They can curl, bend and twist. At this point, we need to use a bit more of our imagination. I like to imagine how the petal is curved and paint the lines as if I'm painting on the surface of the petal. Straight lines aren't enough. They need to curve a bit, following the shape of the petals. These lines or veins help us turn a flat looking petal into a cool three D shape. If I need a darker shade of red because the winds are red isn't dark enough, then I will add a bit of dark green. Green when mixed with red makes a more muted red or brown. It's just right perfect color for us. I will use this darker reddish brown to paint the veins in the center of the petals. This darker color also makes the center of the flower. We don't need to paint too many veins. Just a few scattered here and there will do the trick. But in this case, I think having veins on both the petals and leaves will create a nice overall design. Now, take your time and paint the veins on all the petals slowly and carefully. Will demonstrate the step on a few petals, but you can follow along with my finished painting if you want to replicate these lines precisely. One important thing to note is that you shouldn't paint the veins too thick. They need to be very thin to show the delicate nature of these flowers. Use a brush with a sharp point and try to paint with just a tip or use a similar brush to mine. This process may require some focus in time, but the result will be a beautiful painting. At this stage, you can also add some shadows if needed. Perhaps you would like to slightly darken the centers of the flowers. This is a good moment to do so. It's truly amazing how such simple lines can bring so much life to these petals. A. This is how my painting looks after adding the veins to the petals. Now we can move on to the last step, which is painting the veins on the leaves. 14. Veins - Leaves: Okay, now we've reached the exciting part, adding veins to the leaves. Our painting is almost ready. For this part, I'll be using white acrylic ink. This is just one option. Normally, I would use white guash, but I know that many of you have trouble finding the right consistency with white guash. That's why I want to show you this acrylic ink because it has a perfect consistency straight from the bottle. Acrylic ink is an acrylic paint, that is thinned down to a nice fluid consistency. It is light fast, opaque, dries very quickly. It doesn't fade and will work great for our purpose. Here, I've painted two similar leaves for testing. If you're not familiar with acrylic ink, I highly suggest testing it before using it in your actual painting. Okay. Let me show you how it works. You can also experiment with white pencils, but from my experience, none of them gave me the result I was looking for because they aren't intense and opaque enough for my needs. However, you can use a white pencil to mark some places if you like. For example, you can lightly draw lines where you are going to paint the veins. Now, let's get back to the acrylic ink. I have a small plate here, and I'm going to use it as my palette. Acrylic ink comes in an eye dropper bottle, so it's very easy to transfer a small amount to the palette. As you can see, the consistency is already fluid and perfect for immediate use. Unlike with guash, you don't have to worry about how much water to use. However, keep in mind that acrylic ink dries pretty fast. At some point, we may need to add a bit of water to make it more fluid again. We can also add some watercolor paint to change its color. It works well with water colors, but ideally, it would be great to have various colors of acrylic ink so that we can mix them to create new colors. Here I added some green, and as you can see, we can slightly change the color to green. Of course, when we add watercolor paint, the resulting color will always have a pastel look because the ink is white. If you want to achieve strong vibrant colors, you would just have to use other colors of acrylic ink. However, for our purposes, white ink is enough. As you can see, this paint covers very well. It's very opaque and its consistency is very nice to work with. I deep my brush in water more frequently if the consistency becomes too thick or the ink starts to dry out. Now, I will move on to my painting. I thought I would add some Windsor yellow deep here and some green to make a nice warm green color. And we can start painting the veins here. I'm not looking at any reference photo. There's no need to. I just have to decide where the veins meet. Starting from that place, I'm painting the lines up to the edges. The lines get and. I think that purely white color is too bright to cool for this. That's why I added some green and yellow to it and I use pure white very sparingly. After some time, you may notice that there are some small clumps on your palette, and that's just dry ink. Now, very slowly, build the vein on each leaf. Start from the center and paint the veins outwards. Don't hurry. Use a designer's brush or a brush or any brush that has a very sharp point. My veins are very prominent, very visible, and they draw attention. That's just how I wanted to paint it. I wanted to highlight those veins because I think they look really interesting. That's just my idea for this design. However, you don't have to follow me. If you think that those veins are too prominent, You may want to water down the ink or guash depending on what you use. Much more to make it much more transparent and paint the veins that are much less visible. You can paint them thinner if you like. Feel free to do whatever you like. It's your painting and I'm just showing you an idea. I think these veins look particularly beautiful, and I love the strong contrast between them and the dark green color of the leaves. Because this ink dries really fast, we can also come back to some areas and reapply the paint if we need to. One thing that I like to do is to round the angles in the centers. When we paint a few main veins coming out from the center, these lines in the center create sharp angles. I like to round those angles. That's just a tiny detail. Now continue working on each leaf. Y. You may decide whether you want to add any veins to the lighter leaves in the background. I decided to add very light thin veins there, but I left some silhouettes without the veins. The leaves in the back don't have to have as much details as the leaves in front. With those veins, we can finish the painting. Now you can sign it, remove it from the gator board, and proudly hang it on your wall or share it online. Congratulations on finishing this project. In the next part, we will summarize what we've learned. 15. Summary: Let's summarize what we've covered in this tutorial. The main lessons that we've learned are drawing inspiration from Stanisva Vespinskis and an Tanigams works. Balancing loose painting with precise details following a layered approach from background to foreground and embracing intentional blooms and overlaps. Preparing color mixes for leaves and flowers. Filling shapes with watery paint and incorporating intentional texture and variation for a watercolor effect. Using wet and dry and wet on wet techniques for control and variation, switching brush sizes for detailed and larger areas, and using a hair dryer for drying between layers, Applying base layers to flowers with a focus on center darkening, separating petals with darker tones and deepening the colors with the second layer and using thin brushes for precise vein painting and experimenting with white acrylic ink or guash for leaf veins. Thank you very much for joining me on this creative journey. I appreciate the time you've spent with me. I encourage you to give this painting a try It was enjoyable to paint, and I'm pleased with the result. If you've already completed your painting, congratulations, well done. I hope you are proud with your result. Thank you very much for watching and happy painting by