Loose Abstract Intuitive Florals In Watercolour

1. Abstract Intuitive Florals In Watercolour: Hi, I'm Sarah, and welcome to my class. In this class, we'll be painting a watercolor that I like to paint intuitive florals. So I don't use reference photos or anything. It's very loose. It's abstract. And we throw some paint around on the paper and see where it takes us. So in this tutorial, we'll be painting something like this sort of thing. This is some of my work. Abstract florals. Okay. And we'll be working with watercolors. So we'll talk to you about some of my favorite colors and the ones that I'll be using today, there's Daniel Smith, but we'll go through that in the supplies section. We'll talk about some of my favorite brushes and how I use them. And there's lots of tips and tricks along the way of how I lift the water and play with the water and the water content on the paper. I use a palette knife, as well, so it's probably one of my favorite tools, particularly as a watercolrist. It's not your usual tool, but I certainly love using a palette knife. So we'll be painting on 300 GSM or 148 pound paper, but that's entirely up to you. So if you have 600 GSM, that's lovely. Wouldn't go much lower than 300 GSM because we do use a lot of water in this kind of paintings. So it's very loose. There's a lot of water and pigment, and we build it up from a very pale staining, almost staining on the paper, and then we build it up and see where we find the flowers from there. So I'd love for you to join me and enjoy the process. Please share your works that you do use in the chat. I'd love to see what you create. So let's get into it. 2. Supplies & Tools I Use To Create An Artwork: Right, before we get started, we're going to be painting on here, look, we've got a mess. That's right. We'll fix that. Before we get started, I thought I'd go through with you what the tools that I like to use before we get started. So we're going to be painting loose, intuitive floorls, pretty much nothing, no specific flower, something of floral form and floral shapes. So we finished this, and I have written in the names of the paints, so I know next time when I'm looking for a particular color, um, what I'm working with. So I'm liking this more and more. The more it dries, I'm liking this. This is still going to take some work, but we'll work on that as we go. Um, tools, paint brushes, of course. These are my watercolor brushes. I keep them all together, so I'm not tempted to use them for anything else. Um, these are probably my favorites, the Princeton brushes, um, bits and pieces. And, of course, I love a palette knife. So you can see me probably using the palette knife, as well in today. I've put out my paints into just a custom plates. Certainly not the amount that I'm going to be needing, but this will get us started. Okay. Alright. Um, let's get into it. 3. Swatching Colours: Okay, so I've stretched my watercolor paper back here. I'm just going to do some color swatching of the colors that I'm thinking of using. I've gone to my color cube to give me some ideas, trying to push myself to use colors that I don't normally gravitate to. The blue greens, I tend to not go there. I tend to go for more yellow green. So I am trying to come out with the colors. So what I'll do is starting off, I'm going to try the Daniel Smith in the cascade green. But I'm also going to try some Pains gray to get the darker color with it as well. This is my book that I use to do colors watching in quick a flick through. There we go. Colors watching that I've done. I make notes of what I've done, what I've used, and everything. Let's start a new page. So we'll start off with the greens because I know that the greens are fairly important to me and how I want this to look. Just the tiniest dame of that. That's cascade green, and the pins gray. Well, there we go. And then the pinky reds, Quin aquedoneRd was my first choice for the deeper color. Um, so I'll try a little bit of that tiny bit. Um, and Quin Rose maybe for this color. And I was kind of lost after that for an apricot. I really didn't have much at all. That might be a bit dark. So I'm going to try a few things. The handsome yellow medium from Daniel Smith. I'm going to put that in the middle. I'm trying to figure out a peachy color. I've picked up the art spectrum, brilliant red. I'm not sure. It's not a color I use but then that was the idea. Let's try a little bit of that. And the Mijello, I've got a permanent red in the Mijello. Try that. I see. It's probably a better red. It's more a blue red than this is more an orange red. Not sure. Right. So what we do next? I happen to my brush. It is clean water. I want to get that. There we go. And I just make some lines down from the colors. Okay, and then picking up the colors. See what I get there. So the panes gray. I think it's going to be okay. I probably needed more on my palate. Move this out of here. Um, I'm going to put some more in the palette just to see exactly what I can do with that and that together. It certainly gives me the dark. I think that I'm going to need. Okay, so the next color is the pink and the red. Let's see what we get here. That's kind of too bright. I want something a little more muted. Let's see how that mixes in. It's getting closer. Mixing with the green. Bit closer. And something in a pink. Oh. Um, I actually think the what was it? QuinacdRose is a better all round color in here and see. Yeah. Maybe not the quinacidme red. Let's put that aside. So we're looking at those. Let's see what we can do with an apricot start with yellow. I'm thinking this is the right. Maybe not. Okay. I don't mind that. Let's see if we got a bit of that. We bit of that. Well, it's hard to know. Hmm. Hey, maybe we'll use all Oh, okay. Let's use them all. I think that's exactly what I wanted. Yeah, let's do it all. Let them mix on the paper and see what we get. I'm thinking the Quinn rose and this as just a bit of a highlight in it. Okay. Let's pop some colors out, and let's get started. Oh 4. Loose Florals The First Layers: Okay. Let's throw some paint around. What I do is pick up my very biggest brush. Let's get rid of this blue on here first. I'm not overly worried about it. Let's just lighten that up. Okay. There we go. Just lifting it a bit. Ro. A lot of water. A lot of and I forgot to say, my tools, I also have a roll of toilet paper which mops up, puddles and just keeps control of the water. So before I get started, I might just grab some of that off. I'll keep it in my hand. But in this stage, there's a fair bit of water. Work in layers, going from very, very pale. Then I'll build up where I see the flowers forming, and we'll take it from there. So, let's start off with the leaves Leaf sort of colors, so a lot of water on my brush, and we'll just just touch a little bit of that and a little bit of the dark as well. It's a really light washy color. So when I pick that up, everything's just gonna go where I wanted to go. Green. I'm gonna change brushes. In go for a bigger, much bigger mop. It's gonna hold a lot more water. That's better. Okay. Okay. Much better. Okay. Now we're getting there. Uh, this did it quite liked this color, so we'll go straight with that just to get some beautiful. Whenever I'm working with an abstract, it's about placing the color around the artwork to draw the eye around. Doesn't have to be even. It just has to be some light, some are darker, and then we'll start working on the composition once we get a bit more of this done. Okay, let's have a look what we can do with this color. Here. Oh, I'm liking it already. Yeah, I'm liking that. It's very light. Let's just go be light. Oh, a bit lighter, as well. Yes, liking it. Whoops, when we go back to my colors here. And what I wanted to create with the colors. Yeah, I'm happier with that. It's getting there. It's just a bit of that around as well. I don't want as much. I probably want more of the pinks. Then again, I tend to paint in pinks a lot. It's pick up a bit more of the green. This isn't working. We're gonna have to start mopping up. Okay. What a So all we're going to end up with is some staining of the color, then we start building from here. I don't want puddles, particularly. I just want some staining of the colors where I can bring it back. Let's get back. I know. I. Oh, yes. And don't forget to always try and leave some white. I leave some through here just to bring the eye through. I think very pale over here. Really pale. There we go. Yeah. Liking that. Okay. Let's just tease some of these harder edges out. Things that aren't kind of working. Start very gently. Teasing out some of the edges. Okay. I'm gonna pick up my palette knife and the green. Two ways I use the palette knife flat and making lines. More room. Just do that. Oh, yes. Through the wet gonna give me some really nice subtle lines. Well, I'm liking that. Yeah. Let me go. Right. I think we need to let that dry, and we'll come back and have a look at it. Let's give it a moment. 5. Middle Florals: Okay, it's certainly not dry, but we're going to go on. Now, I've taken the blue tape off because I was getting some fairly major buckling and I want to have more control of moving the paint and the water around. So that's why I've taken the blue tape off. Let's There we go. Oops. It's one of my favorite brushes. So we might just crack on and just see what I'm going to start picking up a bit more into the flowers in here and just saying where I'm seeing the petals. So there's a petal here. Um, I pedal here. Holding my brush way back, and I'm really just um, rolling it across the page. I'm gonna do that. Um, I out here. Same again. He's gonna go off the page, but softening where you're not liking the hard edges, with some water. Uh, let me go. Gonna leave that for now. Right. Being gentle and mindful and just seeing where I'm seeing the flowers, here, here. And there's one in here that I'm going to build on as well. And of course, this one out here, which kind of might be more like a bud. Yeah, I'm luck in that. Although now I have, um, four, which I don't like, so I'm gonna have to think of something else. I'm thinking one more bud up here in this direction. Let's just let's just pick it up and go like this. Okay, let's see. Having. Yeah, that works. I'm happier with that. Um, something way out. It's still there. It's in the distance. Um. To the green. Same again. It's just a rolling? Oh, no, we don't want that. And pulling back where you don't want it. Okay. I'm going to change brushes. I'm going to a rigger, really fine rigger. Um, more pains gray. I'm not liking the blue. Um, pick up a bit more of the pains gray and possibly quite a bit more pains gray into it. Let's see. Actually, I'm gonna go straight prans gray and just getting some lines. Ah. Same again. End of the brush. Some of it's just pulling straight through the wet. But Okay. I'm happy with the really darkness here. I think it needs some really dark. Ah, yes. Okay. Hmm. Okay. I'm gonna try, um, Princeton brush. These are really great for mopping up, um, and pulling back. I'm feeling. There we go. Yes, marking that. Okay. It's just breaking up between these here. There we go. I do like I'm liking the blue green, which is certainly a color that I'm not drawn to a lot. There we go. I've still got the really dark dark here and the really dark through here. Oh Okay. Let's get some of this apricot in. Mm. That's pretty. Yeah, there we go. Mm. I like that dropped in here. Yeah. Hush Look. Okay. Ah, like that. I want to separate these two petals just a little bit. There we are. Just by bringing some light dark between the petals. There we are. Just separates the petals out that little bit. Um Yeah. Liking how this is looking. I'm actually really liking this as well. This one might need to be pulled back quite a bit. Okay. Okay. What that is in there. Go ahead. It's very much push and pull. So more hard and soft edges, softening off things that you don't like, and finding the harder edges that you do like. A lot of push and pull. Liking this one even more, but to give it a needs to be a really dark center.Excet What I say about mixing the colors on the palette? There we go. Bring in a really dark center because I didn't like where the green was there. So we can bring bark into the center there. Better. Better, but not happy. Hi. There we go. Okay. It's getting there. Let's soften that up. There we go. And to find an edge here. Just a bit of lightness on each petals. Thinking this is gonna need stamens coming out here when it's dry. Um, I got go out here now. I give this sort of um base. Some leaves. Understem. The ring is really good for doing, um, you know, loose leaves out the bottom. There you go. I'm pretty happy with that. I'm actually really happy with how that one's looking up there. Maybe a bit more definition, perfect. Something that's like a petal. I don't even know. I don't have a feeling of what even they are but. There we go. Let's just brought a bit of definition into a couple of petals to give it a front. I'm liking this one. Let's give it some. Okay. Okay. Okay, this one needs um That's perfect. Okay. All right. I think we'll leave that to dry and come back in a bit. Okay. 6. Floral Deatils: Okay. I'm happy with how this is looking. I've had a really good look at it. It's probably not 100% dry but it's getting there. What I do at this stage is get my phone out and just open up the camera. Oh, yeah. We'll go there. I'll certainly look at it through the camera and get an idea of what I like and what I don't like. Also, I'll drop this back. Um, here we are this one and change it to gray scale so that I can look at the value and the tone of the artwork. Okay, so you can see that what I am pretty happy with it with how it's looking in gray scale. There's some things that I want to work on. That's what I do. When I'm working towards finishing an artwork, I'll check the tones and the values as much as the color and the movement of the color around the artwork. Let's get into this. What I'm thinking from what I've had a good look at it, I want to pick up some of the harder edges of the green. Um, I've got hard edges here, so I want some hard edges here that I'll pick up as well. I think the grain needs to be deeper, as well as a few other bits and pieces. I'm really happy with this I'm loving. This one I'm loving and this one, this one needs a bit of work just in definition, and I think it needs a center of some sort as well. And this one needs a bit of work. But we're heading towards getting there. The green was troubling me, so it's always best to walk away, have a good look at it, and see what you can pick up. That's exactly what I've done, and what I'm going to just it shouldn't take long to finish it off at this stage. Back to my rigor. I'm going to pick up a lot of the green in my rigor and the blue of the palette. So I've got both colors and it's going to give me some depth, a lot of depth. There we go. And I'm just pulling it through. And I'm liking this one as well. Very loosely, really loosely holding my brush. Give me a little bit here. I'm feeling here. Okay. Wash it out, and then I'm just going to soften, to work with that. Let's go with this crush. Working quickly to soften that out. Okay. Just touching the edge of it. Left with a hard and a soft edge. I was gonna bring that out like a leaf. Same again on here. Just softening one side of that mark. And here. Softening out one side. Um, to my rigor. Mm. It's about not doing too much, as well. Restraint. Ah, Gone. That's my. Let me go. Okay. All right. So we can do with the center of here. I'm just going to pick up the red and perhaps drop it in. 7. Finishing Details: Okay, so this is completely dry now, and I've had a really good look at it. I'm feeling like it's close. I'm just not I'm not happy with this flower with what I've done. So I really don't think it's gonna take much, but I'm just going to have a bit of a play. I just feel like it needs more petal definition. I'm not even sure where, but we'll have a play with it. See if I can bring this in really dark. Actually, like a petal at the front here. Mm. A fair bit of, like, really straight, almost straight. Watercolor paint and some highlight. Let me just see what I can bring up. It's always a bit of a push and a pull, you know, laying down the paint, pulling it back. Trying to find a bit of an edge there. Perhaps something, really dark. Ah, yeah. Just be in keeping with the other one as well. I don't want that to touch. Okay. Yeah, I think I'm liking that already. Just soften this and let places. There we go. Yeah, I think I'm liking that. There we go. That should be pretty good. I'll give that a bit of a dry now, with my head gun. And, um I'm feeling pretty positive that that is about it. So I'll have a chat about it in a moment. 8. Loose Florals Completed: Okay, pretty happy. I've done a little fiddling off camera. Couldn't help myself, pretty happy with how it's come together. I want a quick check on my phone. Quick look through my phone. Always, even looking at it through my phone to give me an idea, removes me from actually just looking straight at the artwork and what's working and what's not. Um, pretty happy. Go back to the black and white. There we go. Yeah, I'm I'm calling it enough to I'll walk away from it now. I may go back to it. Not sure how this is, but it's not dry, it's a little bit of backwards and forwards. When you get an artwork to this stage, there's a lot of backwards and forwards. I really liking this blue in here. It's really pretty. Love this low. I worked really well. I really like this one and this one too. This one, I'm not so much tempted to possibly play actually. It's probably I'm standing up to paint now. I do vary between standing and sitting, standing up, which also just pulls me away a little bit, and it makes me loosen up. So a longer arm. I hold my brush way back makes me loosen up. I'm pretty happy. Let's let it dry and we'll come back and have a chat about it.