Loose Watercolor Florals Using a Dagger Brush

1. Introduction: [MUSIC] I always say this in my class that when you are painting with loose watercolor florals, do it as dancing with your brush. Just let your hand move freely to create expressive strokes. Know me today as we explore how to use a dagger brush to create loose watercolor florals. [MUSIC] Hi everyone, my name is Joly and I'm a watercolor artist based in the Philippines. I'm also known as Jolypoa on Instagram right here and that's where I post my paintings, my time-lapse videos, my processed videos, and I consider it as my digital art journal. We will first talk about the materials that you need; the paint, the paper, and of course, the brush. A dagger brush is a sword-shaped brush and in this class, you will learn how to create different stroke, that you can apply not only to florals but also to other subjects as well. We'll also do some brushstroke exercises that will help you develop that muscle memory in your hand. Another fun topic is painting two-tone leaves and I will teach you how to load your brush with two colors. You will also learn how to paint different leaves and fillers and for the flowers, we are going to learn how to paint a top view rose, a side view rose and you're also going to paint a dahlia where you will paint it with a two-tone stroke technique. First, we will be painting some more expressive florals. This class is suitable for beginners and also for other artists who want to explore painting with a dagger brush. At the end of the class, you will be able to learn how to paint two floral bouquets like this and also a painting of the bird-of-paradise flowers. My goal is to teach you the basics of using a dagger brush and using all the techniques that you have learned, you'll be able to paint your own style of loose watercolor florals. I hope that you are as excited as I am, so let's get started. 2. Class Project Overview: [MUSIC] Hello, again. This is just an overview of the entire class, because I'm so excited. I wanted to show you the things that you can create after gaining the skills from this class. First up, this is the bird of paradise. Don't be pressured to finish all the projects in one sitting, you can do it at your own pace. This is the bird of paradise, and then you're also going to paint some roses using a dagger brush. We have here the three rose. We have three roses, and then we added some leaves and some fillers, and then we also have the combination of dahlia and a white rose. Not really aiming all the projects easy to follow and all the videos are in real-time, so it means that you can follow along as a paint. I'm also going to upload the images here on Skillshare, so that you can download the photos of the final paintings, and you can use it as your reference photo. Let's move on to the next video. 3. Materials: [MUSIC] All right. So for the materials, let's start with the dagger brush. Right here I have the Silver Brush Silk 88. This is a dagger brush. As you can see here, there's a number. So that is where you will see the size of the brush. This is a 1/4-inch dagger brush. I prefer this size because I'm only painting smaller size paintings, so 1/4-inch is a good size. I want to show you other brands. This is from the Princeton line. This is from their mini-detailer series. So as you can see, the brush handle is quite small. It's shorter than the brush from Silver Brush Silk 88. So this is also a nice brush. I also have this dagger brush from Singapore, it's from the Ashley brand, and it's also 1/4 inch. I wanted to just show you different brands so that you can choose which one you would like to buy in the future since I know that not all the brands are available in certain countries. [MUSIC] So we will talk more about dagger brushes in a separate video later on. [MUSIC] So for the paper we are going to use two types. I'm going to use student grade paper and artist grade paper. So let me start with the student grade paper. This is the Canson XL. This is quite easy to find, that's why I also decided to use this for the class. This Canson XL, we're just going to use it for practicing our brushstrokes. So later on, we're going to use this just to tutor and just try out our dagger brush. This is a good paper to practice with then. For the artist-grade paper, we are going to use the Fabriano Artistico Extra White. This is 100% cotton paper which is really good for painting loose florals. We're also using the cold pressed paper. So if you're wondering, cold pressed has some texture and it's really good for loose florals. But if you're painting some realistic florals, I do suggest to get the hot pressed paper, which has a very smooth texture. So this is 300 GSM, which is a good amount of thickness for the paper so that it can handle a lot of water when we're painting. As you can see, this is a block style of watercolor paper which means that all the sides are glued except for one area so that that's how we will take out one sheet. We just need to put a cutter or even a credit card and just slide here so that we can take out a sheet of paper. But if you want to save money, it's cheaper to buy just a large sheet of watercolor paper and then just cut it into smaller sheets for your practice. So this is what I did here. For our final projects, we are going to use a square-shaped paper just like this. So this is nine inches by nine inches. This is also Fabriano Artistico and it's also 100% cotton paper. Sometimes you might have some extra small sheets like this. So this is really good for practicing or if you want to swatch some colors, so I suggest keeping the scrap papers. If you don't have a large sheet, what you can do is to get your block style of watercolor paper and perhaps you can just put some masking tape here so that your frame will be just this one, it's nine by nine, and then you can use this area to swatch some colors or just use this as your scrap paper. For the paints, we are going to use the Art Philosophy Watercolor Confections. What I love about their line is that they have different palettes. But if you're a beginner, I would suggest getting the classics because you get the basic colors in this set. If you already have a basic set at home, you can opt for using the Odyssey set. It's also one of my favorite palettes in their series. This is their latest set, this is the current set. They have a lot of nice blues and greens in this set. I also love Essence. So let me show you the colors inside. It looks very pretty. We're going to use this later on. Of course, you don't need me to follow the brands that I'm using in this class. You can definitely use the brands that you already have at home. Of course, we need a jar of clean water. Then you also need some tissue paper to bloat the excess water in our brush. Lastly, this is optional, you can use a ceramic palette like this so that you can use it to mix your paints. [MUSIC] So that's it for the materials. I hope that you're as excited as I am to start painting. [MUSIC] So that's it for the materials. I hope that you're as excited to start painting 4. What is a Dagger Brush: [MUSIC] So before we start the class, let's talk about a dagger brush. So what is a dagger brush? A dagger brush is a sword shaped brush just like this one. This is from the brand Silverware Brush and it's their Silver Silk 88 series. If you notice, let's look at the parts of a dagger brush. We have here the pointy tip. A dagger brush has a longer side, which is this part, and it tapers down to the shorter side over here. If you're wondering why the color of the bristles is green, this is supposed to be grayish-white, but because I've been using it a lot, the course, I've stained the bristles. But the performance of the brush is still the same. What does a dagger brush do? Well, you can paint long, thin lines using this brush, and you can also paint some grasses and leaves. You can even paint ocean waves and also different shapes of petals. So later on we'll discuss about the brushstroke exercises that we'll do using this brush. Just to show you a bit of a comparison between different brushes that are similar to the dagger brush, I'm going to show you first the bigger size. So as you can see, there's a number right here, it's 1/4 inch, so that is the size of this brush, it's the width of the bristles right here. So I have here a slightly bigger brush. So this is 3/8 inch and you can see that the width is definitely wider. Then let's compare it to an angle brush, so you've probably heard of an angle brush. You can see that the shape is different so it doesn't have that curved shape. So this one is just slanted and it's like a flat brush that you just cut at an angle and it looks like that. But the dagger brush is tapered like this. So it has that curve shape right here. Also, the angle brushes have a stiffer feel to it compared to the dagger brush because the dagger brush has longer bristles. Once you press it on the paper, you can create nice expressive strokes as well, but with this one, it's a lot stiffer compared to the dagger brush. So let me show you another brush that is similar to the dagger brush. This is a striper. So as you can see, they are both 1/4 inch. But the shape is quite different, the bristles here are longer compared to this one. This one is also nice to use for some expressive florals. But for today, we're just going to use the dagger brush. So now that we have compared some of the brushes let's now head on to painting the brushstroke exercises using the dagger brush. [MUSIC] 5. Brush Stroke Part 1: [MUSIC] To start this exercise, we need our paper. I'm using the Canson XL and then for the brush, I am using my dagger brush, the silver brush silk 88, one-fourth inch. For the paint I am using Art Philosophy. This is the current set, but definitely you can use any color that you like. And then we have here my jar of water, then I have some tissue paper over here. Let's start to paint some thin lines using our dagger brush. I'm going to hold it like this. It's quite near the bristles because I'm going to paint thin lines and I need that precision. I need to have control over my brush so I'm going to have to hold it near the bristles. I'm just going to rinse my brush then let's grab some paint. Any color will do, it doesn't have to be green. Just going to move this. Let's try to paint some thin lines. I want just the tip of my brush to touch the paper just like this. Let's repeat it again. With this trope you can paint grass like this. The longer part is facing me. The shorter side is facing the paper. If you're painting landscapes, this would be a good brush to paint some grass. What I love about painting with dagger brushes is that you can create some really interesting strokes if you just try to change the angle of your brush, if you try to change the pressure on the brush. With the thin lines, we applied just light pressure so that we can achieve thin lines. Let's try again using a thin line and then we are going to change the angle of the brush towards the end of the stroke. Let's try again a thin line then apply pressure. As you can see, we have created a broader stroke at the end. I'm going to start again with a thin line and then just change the angle. This is a good exercise to get to know your brush. You can do it on the other side. Like this. I'm just applying more pressure towards the end as well and I'm also changing the angle of the brush. Don't be afraid to do these exercises, there's no correct pattern. We can definitely just doodle and play around with the stroke so that you can get more acquainted with your brush. For the next exercise, we're going to paint a horizontal line but we are also going to apply different pressures in different planes. I'm going to show it to you now. I've loaded my brush and let's start painting. I'm going to hold my brush like this and just drag and sketch a thin line then let's paint downwards, upwards. Downwards, upwards. We're just going to wiggle our line. Every time you paint downwards, you add more pressure then when you lift you create a thin line. It means that you have applied less pressure going up. Let's try it again. That's a good exercise for you to try so that you can create thin and thick lines, you can also be able to control your brush better. During this part I'm applying pressure and then I'm going to slowly lift. That's why I can create a thin line because I'm lifting and then applying less pressure. You can press again downwards and then lift then press again and then lift. Another exercise that we can do is that we can actually create ocean waves. I'm using the color ocean from the current set of Art Philosophy. And you're going to paint some horizontal lines but you're going to apply less pressure. It's less exaggerated compared to this one. We can just apply a light pressure. Start with a thin line. Just press a little bit, a thin line again, and just press. Let's do it again. This one might not make much sense right now because we don't have a background, but if we have an ocean scene, we can definitely add some texture to the water painting by doing this stroke. Well, pf course since you're painting florals in this class, you definitely need to learn how to paint leaves. We can use our dagger brush to paint some leaves like this. We can start with light pressure and then just press your brush and then lift and you'll have a separate video for painting just leaves. Right now, I just want you to practice some strokes. You're just going to play around. Okay. Now let's move on to a different stroke. [MUSIC] 6. Brush Stroke Part 2: [MUSIC] Now let's move on to strokes that are related to painting our loose florals. Because the brush has a tapered side over here it's very easy to create some C strokes. Let me just grab some paint. You can use any color that you want. I'm just going to tilt my brush like this and you're going to paint some C strokes. I'm going to paint just small strokes. It's really easy to paint these strokes compared to using a round brush because you already have a nice pointy, triangular shape right here. When you press it, you get that pointy tip, and then just move in a C motion. We can also paint bigger petals. We can do this. I'm just sliding my brush. They don't have to look the same, and that's what's nice about painting loose florals because you can paint florals in your own artistic interpretation, and it's actually nicer if the petals are not all the same size and same shape. It will look more organic and more natural. We can also paint it from this angle. We can drag it. We painted a while ago the small strokes, and now we are going to drag our stroke. You can press it even harder, creating a fatter stroke. Just play around with the angles. For the brush we can change the angles and see what you can create. You can also paint from the bottom going up. Let's try that. Then we can also paint some S stroke. The longer side is facing me. This is for exercise purposes, and it's a nice way to control your brush. You can even try to drag your brush upwards, just pull it up. You can also create an S-shape using this stroke, and later on we will use the stroke for our florals. We can also paint some dots, and just remember that it is as if you're dancing with your brush, so you're creating different strokes. It's also nice to create some quick strokes. You can create some really expressive strokes. Don't be afraid to try different things using this brush because it's really fun to play with this brush, and I find it easier to actually paint some florals using this brush. I think it's really good for beginners. I think we are done with the brush stroke exercises. Just remember to always practice so that you can develop your muscle memory. 7. Leaves: [MUSIC] So before we start painting leaves, I am going to show you how I mix my greens. Usually, I start with sap green. What in this case, I'm using green from the art philosophy set, I'm using sea green. So let me just grab some paint. Let's try to swatch it. It's a beautiful green color. But I usually like adding a different color just to get a different shade of green. Here I'm going to add a bit of Payne's Gray. This is deep sea in this set. By mixing these two colors, I will get a deeper shade of green, which is something really lovely when you add it to your greens, it just gives that extra contrast. As you can see, this is a brighter green and then you have a deeper shade of green. Then one more color that I love adding to my green is the burnt sienna or you can just add any brown that you have. I'm just going to add some brown to this green. It will just give off that earthy green color, a very natural green color. So that looks great. That's how I mix my green. You can definitely experiment. You can add some reds or even violet. You can add that to your green so that you can get a more interesting shade of green. Start with a light pressure and then just press and drag the leaf so you get pointed tips. You can also create leaves with those strokes. So the position of the brush is that the longer side, the bristles is facing me. Then you're going to paint one stroke first. That's one stroke, and with the same angle, we're going to paint the second stroke. Now you have two strokes and you get a feather shape of a leaf. Let's try it again one more time. I'm doing an S shape now. Then let's add one more stroke. You can always go back to fix it. So you can do a different variation of this stroke. Another leaf we can do is the long and slender leaf. So let's try to paint the stem. Then we are going to drag our stroke just like that. Sometimes I want to change the color of the greens and I can add a bit of yellow, green. You can also add a bit of Payne's gray, let's try to change it up a bit. Then on the other side, you're going to paint the same stroke. This is a little difficult because the angle is different. But my tip is to use this side of the brush. So the longer side is facing you and the shorter side is facing the paper. Just put your brush over here, then just drag it to the left. So let's try to change the color and then we have a complete set of leaves. This will look nice if you have different shades of green. Another way to paint these is to paint it from top to bottom. So I have paint in the brush, and you're going to start here. We have one stroke, then another one on the right. You can leave the white space as is, or you can try to fill it in with color. So let's try it again. One stroke there, and then on the other side. There you have it. Let's now try to paint leaves that are more expressive. So let's just grab some green and I'm going to paint the stem. Then let's try to paint one leaf. I'm going to start over here and I'm going to paint downwards in a U-shape. Let's start with light pressure and then press down and then release. Let's try another one. So start with light pressure and then just press and then release. As you can see, you have an uneven shape, which looks really pretty. Let's try to paint on the other side. It might be a little difficult. It takes practice to do this on the other side because it's not the right angle for the brush. But I'm sure that you can definitely do this style with a lot of practice. So let's try it one more time. I'm twisting my brush and let's try another one here. Then one technique that I love doing is add Payne's gray or indigo to the leaves. Usually like adding it towards the tip of the leaves just gives a lot of character to the leaves. Then you can add a bit more weight to the center. So add one more stroke. Just wanted to be a little fatter so let's add more paint. That's our expressive leaves. It's really pretty because it's all even, it looks more natural. So let's try one more style. I'm going to try to paint leaves with more water. So let's just add a lot of water to make it more expressive, more loose, and that's what you want. So you can just change the shape it doesn't really have to look like what I'm painting right now. I'm just showing you how you can try to create your own style and hold your brush right at the tip of the handle so that it's easier to move. So as you can see, I'm throwing a lot of water and this is good if you are painting on cotton paper. This paper is not 100 percent cotton paper. This is the Canson XL. But since we are just practicing, it's okay to do this. But I would highly suggest that you use 100 percent cotton paper for this style. So let's just add a bit of the Payne's gray, just like to add some more color. Then you can also add some stem sticking out like this and it will look more expressive. This is just a doodle. Again, they're still paint there and you can definitely play around and just add different colors if you want. Then I think I wanted to add something darker over here. You can add a bit more of the Payne's gray. I just wanted to have a more expressive stem. Then another technique is to add, if you want, you can add a bit of red. It just pops up and looks really pretty. Because this paper is not 100 percent cotton paper, it will not dry up that pretty compared to 100 percent cotton paper. But that's okay. I'm done with this painting. I know it doesn't look like a perfect set of leaves, but the point in painting this is that we want it to be expressive and really loose. So I just want you guys to have fun. I think this is the last portion of this topic. Let's now move on to the next video. 8. Two Toned Brush Stroke: [MUSIC] Now let's try to learn how to paint with two tone colors in our brush. I have here my Fabriano Artistico, I have a small piece of paper, and for the paint I'm still using art philosophy so I've just mixed up some green and Payne's gray right here. I'm going to rinse my brush. [MUSIC] Then first off, I'm going to show you what it looks like if we have too much water in our brush if we have a very diluted paint. I'm going to dip it first in the green paint. For two tone colors ideally you start with the lighter color. In this case I have the green one. I'm going to dip my entire brush here and then to make it two tone we have to dip just the tip of the brush into the darker colors. In this case I'm using the Payne's gray. Let's try to dip and let's try to swatch. [MUSIC] As you can see nothing happens so let's try it again. [MUSIC] What happens is that because they are both very diluted they end up mixing with each other in this brush. Let me show it to you. You do get a little bit of blue here but it's not as prominent so we don't really see the two tone color. Let me show you the proper way to do a two tone color right here. [MUSIC] Let's grab some green paint. [MUSIC] Then we are getting a darker color which is Payne's gray. We want it to be quite moist but we don't want a big puddle of water. We just want it to be damp. Then I'm going to dip just the tip of my brush. I want the mixture of the pastry to be quite thick. I don't want it to be too watery. [MUSIC] [NOISE] Here is my brush. Let's try to swatch this. [MUSIC] Now you can see that we have two tone here and we have the green paint and then we have the Payne's gray underneath. [MUSIC] The key to achieving two tone is really with the right amount of water that you mix into your paint. [MUSIC] Usually the second paint or the darker paint should be quite thick so that it will show up. [MUSIC] Let's swatch it again. [MUSIC] Now let's try a different color so you can see it better. Now let's try to grab some yellow and for the tip I'm going to add a bit of red. [MUSIC] As you can see we have some yellow right here and also a bit of red over here. Let's try to swatch it. [MUSIC] Now we have achieved it. Because if you mix yellow and red it becomes orange you'll see that the color here have mixed so you get that orange color over there and if you actually look closely you'll also see the red color at the bottom. [MUSIC] This exercise is good for painting two tone leaves and also we will use this technique when we paint our dahlias. [MUSIC] Let's just try to paint some leaves using what we learned today. I'm grabbing some turquoise and let's add a bit of the purple over here. [MUSIC] Then I'm going to paint right here. [MUSIC] That is just so beautiful. I love how it just blends. Let's do it one more time. I just rinse my brush and then let's grab some turquoise and then add some purple again. Let's try to paint on the other side. [MUSIC] It just looks so magical when you mix two colors. Let me just show you up close. [MUSIC] You can see it better. [MUSIC] It just looks so pretty when you mix two colors together. Let's try it again. This is turquoise. It's quite difficult to paint on the other side because the angle is just quite different. But let's try it again. [NOISE] I love that it's quite unpredictable when you paint the two tone colors because sometimes you'll have more blue and less of the purple. Sometimes you'll have more of the purple less of the turquoise blue and it's just very pretty. This technique we will use this neither for the dahlias. We are going to be mixing some yellows and oranges and you will just have fun creating flowers using this technique. [MUSIC] 9. Fillers: [MUSIC] Let's try to paint some fillers. I am going to start with a yellow-green color right here and I'm going to paint over here, just some thin lines. I'm going to paint this until I get a roughly round shape. Let me try to zoom it in so that you can see it better. Let's continue. Just add some thin strokes and then after this, I'm just going to leave this to dry because we want to put another layer over here. Let me just put a stem. We're going to add a deeper shade of green once this is dry. Let's leave this one first and let's move on to the next filler while this one dries. I'm going to rinse my brush and next up we are going to paint some simple flowers that we will be using as fillers for our project later. You can use any color, but right now I'm going to use some pink. We're just going to paint three petals right here. Let's add one more, and another one, and then let's add a stem. Now we have filler number 2. This is filler number 3 and they have a purple color here, so let's start. I just want a more elongated strobe. Let's get the green color. This may look like a cup that holds these three petals. This is already dry, let's add a deeper shade of green. I'm just going to add on top of the strokes that we painted earlier. This will just give it more depth. We are done. The next filler is a four-petal flower. We are just going to paint it like this. Get 1, 2, 3, and then another one, 4. You can also change the shape and the size. I like adding this to my bookcase just to add more volume. When you try to paint a lot of these flowers, it will look like hydrangea. In some cases you only need to paint just three petals. I just wanted to fill in some gaps just so that it looks fuller. Now we can add some stems just connecting them like this. I just love adding these fillers because they look great when they're together, so I'm going to add one more over here, one more over here. You can also put some dots at the center just to give it more depth. We're done with this filler. Lastly, I'm going to show you a simple five-petal flower that you can also use as a filler for your bouquet. I have here a yellow paint. Let's just try to paint five petals. This is what's nice about a dagger brush. It's so easy to paint petals. This is the fourth one. We have one more. For the center, I'm just going to grab some paint spray and I'm going to put thin lines over here. I'm going to let the paint scrape bleed into the yellow. Of course, you can fix the shape of the petal. You can always go back and try to fix it, but this is a very easy way to add more flowers to your bouquet. I want the pointy petals, so I'm just going to try to fix the ends of the petal. We are done. It's that easy. 10. How to Paint a Top View Rose: [MUSIC] Let's start painting roses. We are going to paint a top view rose. To start this video, let's prepare our paper. I have my Fabriano Artistico. Then I'm using the Art Philosophy watercolor set. This is the Odyssey set. Let me just rinse my brush. Let's grab the color Tokyo. You can definitely use a different color depending on what you like. But I like pink colors. Here I'm going to use a pink paint. You can use a permanent rose. It's a very nice pink color. Usually, for the center of the rose, I prefer it to be the darkest or the boldest color. This pink paint, we're going to add just a bit of violet just to get a deeper color. But another tip is to add the complimentary color. The complementary color of red is green. We are going to add a little bit of green, and you'll see that the color will get deeper. Did you see that? This is lighter, this is the natural pink color, but if you add a bit of green, it will get that deep purplish color. Now let's start painting the center. For this exercise, we are going to do some small c strokes like this. We want some pointy tips. Let's try to zoom in so that it's clearer. This will be the center of the rose. I'm going to start with a c stroke. Notice that the longer side is facing me. We want pointy tips. Then let's paint another stroke right here. Then now I'm going to paint some thin lines just using the tip of my brush. I'm also leaving some white spaces. I'm just going to go around the center. Now we can paint another broad stroke over here. Just go around. Now I need to rinse my brush. By rinsing my brush, I'm also diluting the paint that's in my brush. Let's try to paint it here. As you can see, we have a very light color because we have introduced more water. I'm just adding more strokes. You can definitely turn your paper to get a right angle. I'm adding more water to my brush. I just want the outer petals to be loose, and leaving white spaces. Notice that I'm also holding my brush in the middle so that I get that loose stroke. We are actually almost done. We are just painting some faded strokes towards the outer part of the rows. First of all, the strokes, I'm just going to paint lines like this. It doesn't really have to be a full stroke. We just want to connect some gaps. I'm going to try to paint on top of this. Then just let this dry, and we can add another layer just to get more details. But if you're happy with this, you can definitely stop at this point. This is already dry and I'm just going to grab some paint over here. Let's just try to swatch it first. This looks good. I'm going to add a second layer just to add more details around this area because we have lost some white spaces over here. We just need some c strokes like this. I'm just going to go around this area. Then I'm going to just rinse my brush, and you want to fade some parts of the stroke that we just did so that it's not too harsh. Then let's just add a few more. This is completely optional. You can definitely choose not to do this anymore. But sometimes you just want roses that have more depth. We're almost done. I just like adding extra strokes. Just gives it a more natural look. Let's fade this up. I'm pretty happy with this part because it's quite dark. But if you want to add extra color on top of this, you may do so. Just add a more concentrated pink color, just add a bit of green to make it darker, and you can paint on top of it. Just like this. Now we are done [MUSIC] 11. How to Paint a Side View Rose: So after learning the top view of the rows, let's try to paint the side view, and just going to grab some Tokyo, which is the pink color in the Odyssey set of Art Philosophy. I can also use permanent rose. Let me just wash this for you. I want the center to be the most pigmented. Let's try to swatch. Okay. That looks great. Then let's start painting, I'm going to paint a C stroke. I want this to be a pigmented color, but at the same time, I want to load my brush with a lot of paint. So let's start with the C stroke, one over here and then two at the bottom. Then I'm going to rinse my brush. I just want to extend the petals here. So I just did that as a marking. Now let's try to extend. Then let's try to paint some thin strokes right here. They'll look like the folds of the flower. I'm going to rinse my brush again. Then let's try to paint C strokes. So the longer side is facing us. So we're going to do the stroke and making sure that there are still white spaces. Then just add a bit more. Let's get some paint and we can add some petals over here. So now I want to fix the shape, and I'm going to add a few more strokes. So if you feel like the shape looks funny, you can just add a few more strokes. Then let's grab a more pigmented pink color again. Just going to drop it here because I want the center to be quite dark just to give it some shadow. Let's just try to get some green color, add the stem. Now we can rinse our brush and just dab the excess water. Then we can try to fix some areas. Let's just move some of the color so that it doesn't settle in a weird way. I'm just grabbing some of the excess paint and just plotting it on the tissue paper. Then you can grab some more paint and just bring back some of the colors. So I think we are done. 12. Dahlia: [MUSIC] So let's start painting some dahlias and I have here my Canson XL. I just wanted to play around with some strokes before we paint on the Fabriano paper. So I'm going to rinse my brush and grab some yellow and then as you can see, the red color here is quite damp. I'm just going to dip my brush, just a tip of the brush into the red color. Okay, so let's just try to paint some strokes. So we can do an escrow like this. As you can see we have a beautiful blending of yellow and red and then it also mixed right here, so it became orange. So you can do a stroke from up to down. Then you can also do it from down to up. Okay. One more. We're now going to be strict about this. You can change the angle of your brush and that's okay. I think we're ready to paint on our Fabriano. Let's switch the paper. Okay, so now I have the Fabriano here and I'm going to grab some yellow again. Okay, so I'm just going to fill this brush with some yellow. Then let's dip the tip of the brush into the red pin. Okay and then we start painting. So this will be the center. You put the small dot. Okay. So let's paint an S-shape. Okay. That is beautiful. Another one. Okay. Now I'm going to rinse my brush. I'm going to grab yellow again, and dip it into the red color. So now we keeping count of the petals. You can do this one with six. You can definitely do just four or five first and then let's try to paint more petals right here. Then let's grab some yellow again, then some red. I'm just going to fill in those gaps in between the petals and every time I run out of paint, I can either rinse my brush and get some yellow again or just continue painting with the yellow paint. Because sometimes I like to mix it up. Some petals have two-tone strokes, some petals have just one color. So it really depends on you. Let's try one more time. Okay. Let's try to just zoom it in so you can see it better. Okay, so I have a gap right here. I'm going to turn my paper. Let's paint. Well, that's what you can do. You can actually just turn your paper so that it's easier to paint the strokes. I actually like mixing up the angles of the petals. Let's add one more here. Just continue adding all around. Some petals can be longer, some can be shorter. Let me add a bit more here. In some cases, I do overlap my petals. Like this, just so I can fit in the right length of a petal that I want. Okay, almost done. What you can do to check the shape of the flower, just hold it far away from you so you can see it from a different perspective. Then you will know if the shape is already correct. Because sometimes it will look too much on one side and just less on the other side so you have to adjust the petals. Don't be afraid to add some petals. It's nice to experiment the shape and the angles. So yeah, don't be afraid. Just have fun. Okay, I think we are done. [MUSIC] 13. Expressive Orange Flower: [MUSIC] Now this is one of my favorite flowers to paint using a dagger brush. This is like an imaginary flower for me. Lets just grab some yellow and I just put a dot right here just so you know where the center of the flower is. Let me just grab some yellow. I have yellow paint here and I'm just going to paint some thin lines until I create a round shape. I'm also leaving the center open. I'm going to paint some green details there. Now we're done. I'm going to rinse my brush. Let's grab some green color. I'm just going to dab some green in the center. Just like so and then I rinse my brush again and you'll grab some orange color. I'm going to change the shades of this color. I going to add some reds and yellows later. So let's start painting the petals. I'm going to keep this pretty loose and also try to observe my hand the way I hold the brush, the way I paint the stroke, and the angle of the stroke. Let's try to paint some petals. I'm just going to try to have fun and also try to add some more water because I want it to be really loose. Let me add some more orange. I'm just twisting and turning my brush, just so I can get some really interesting strokes and some strokes can be broader, some can be just a thin line. Just try to mix the shape of the strokes. I'm also leaving some white spaces in some areas, and I'm not going to be quite strict with the number of petals. Just because I continuously just add some strokes and just let your hand dance. Of course you can change the color, you don't really need to use orange. I'm going to add a bit of yellow in some areas. I also like keeping the sides quite open and very wispy so you have some pointy tips right there. I'm going to try to add some burnt sienna. I'm adding this burnt sienna color while some of the petals are still wet [NOISE] just to add more detail. Let's now add some more reds just to give that contrast in case you want more depth. If I painted this with just one shade, it will look quite flat. We're actually almost done. I'd like to add a little bit of blue color to the center. I'm just going to dab this blue-green color and then we will let this dry and we'll add the second layer. So that was easy, right? It's very fast. This is already dry and we are going to bring back more details to this flower. I'm going to grab some burnt sienna and I'll just add a little bit of orange to the burnt sienna. Then we are going to add some thin and wispy lines on top of the petals, let me just try to zoom it in. So we're going to hold our brush like this to create thin lines. If you know this, you've lost some of the details in this flower because they just blended in with each other so you can't really see the definition of some petals. This is one way to do it. To separate the petals I'm just going to paint some lines. They will look really expressive. Try to make the lines also curvy. Every time I paint lines, I make sure that it's not just one straight line, so you have a line that some parts are thick, some parts are thin. So you want to do that just to make it look more interesting. Actually just place some random lines and that will be okay. Now I feel like I need to add little bit of red to my mixture. If you also notice I'm holding my brush right here just to keep it a bit loose. I'm going to rinse my brush and try to fill this stroke because it looks a little harsh on the camera. Let's just try to tone it down a little bit. I think that looks a lot better. You can add a bit more. It look like the folds of the petal. Then let's just try to add more details, we're going to grab some orange and just put some thin lines right here. This is optional. You can skip this part but sometimes I like adding more details to the center because it just creates an entirely different look. I'm pretty happy with this. [BACKGROUND] For the center, just to make it look like a bit more 3D, I'm going to grab my brush, this has water. I'm just going to put a tiny bit of puddle in the center. My plan is just to lift the paint in the center and you're going to use a tissue paper. This is my use tissue paper. I'm plotting all the excess paint, I'm going to fold it like this, but I guess you can also use cotton buds if you would like. I'm just going to lift and I'm just going to try to rub it in and as you can see there's a green color right here. We have lifted some of the paint. Did you notice a difference? It now looks a bit more 3D compare it to our painting a while ago, so that's just a tip and we are done. [MUSIC] 14. Class Project: Bird of Paradise: [MUSIC] In this video, you're going to learn how to paint a bird of paradise and you're going to use the two-tongue brush stroke. To start this project, we need the Fabriano Artistico so that's what I'm using for this project. I just have a pencil here and I'm just going to sketch the shape of the bird of paradise. It has a large beak right here. At the top of this beak, there's a crown. This is really fun to paint, I'm just going to show you one of my sketches here. It's really pretty, this is what we're going to paint. It's just that the shape of this paper is square, but definitely can get a different size of paper. To start painting, I'm going to grab a turquoise color. You can use a different color if you want so I'm going to do a two-tone brushstroke. We have here my turquoise and I'm going to grab some purple, which will be my second color. Let's just get a tiny bit. Then let's paint the beak first. You're going to do just one stroke and I am going to fix this area. Let's just try to extend this stroke. Just going to add one more stroke just to make it fatter. I'm pretty happy with the shape. Let me just zoom it in. Then at the top, I'm going to add a pink color. Just to close that gap. Just going to rinse my brush and I will try to mix these colors, with that they'll blend well. [NOISE] Then let's add this stalk. I'm just going to connect it to the beak. You want to add the stalk while the beak is wet so that they will seamlessly blend over here so let's extend this. You can use a round brush for the stem if it will be easier for you. Then I will add a little bit of paint gray just right here. Just to add shadow, to stalk. Now it's time to add the crown let's get some yellow and I'm going to add red for the tip. Let's start right here. Then you can also paint downwards. Lets' rinse my brush and let's add some more strokes. I usually add about five or six petals. Then I think I'd like to add a blue-green color just to give some contrast to these orange petals that I'm painting. We can add it over here. I'm making this part a bit pointy. Then let's add this very thin stroke over here. I'm using a purple color. Just have fun and add different colors that you want just experiment. Then this feels a little lacking so we're going to add one more over here. Let's add just a yellow stroke here, just a small one. We're done with the first flower I'm going to do the second one. It's quite tricky because it's facing the other way, but I'm going to grab turquoise again. For the tip, I'm going to add a bit of purple and then this start painting. The longer side of the brush is facing me. I'm going to press it and then just drag it. This one lacks color. I'm just going to dip my brush again in the purple paint. Let's paint on top of this stroke. [MUSIC] I'm going to rinse my brush. I want to add purple as well on top just to change the color of it. We're not going to be strict here. We're just going to add what we feel like adding at the moment. I feel like adding some purple. Then let's add the stalk. Just grab your green paint and then let's just connect it. You're going to drop down the stalk. [MUSIC] Yes, add some more green. You can actually add a bit of orange right here just to make it a bit more colorful. Let's paint the crown. I'm going to zoom it in again. Let's just grab my yellow. I'm going to fill in my brush with a lot of yellow paint. Then let's grab this red. I feel like I want to start from the top. Let's start from the top and paint downwards. Then I'm going to go back because the shape doesn't look right. We are just going to fix it. Now it has a different effect. We have yellow in the center and then there's an outline of orange. Then let's add some more of the yellow. Let's add another stroke here. Then I feel like adding blue color. Let's try to grab some blue paint. Let's put it right here. It has that very pretty contrast. We'll add one more and one over here. Then there's also this thin stroke. I'm going to grab my purple. Then let's add another stroke over there. I'm going to grab a red orange color. We're almost done. You can always go back and fix the shape. It doesn't really have to be just one stroke. [NOISE] One technique that I like adding is just to add some tiny lines. I'm going to grab some orange. I just like adding these lines just to give it more texture, but it doesn't really look like this in the actual photo of the bird of paradise. I just like adding some extra details. It's just always nice to interpret things with our own artistic interpretation. We all see things differently. This is actually optional. If you don't want to add this, then it's definitely fine. We are almost done. I'm just going to grab some purple and just wanted to intensify this part. I just painted some purple color and now I'm going to rinse my brush. I'm going to make sure that it's clean and I'm going to fade this side. I will just touch the tip of the brush on the edge of this stroke and just let it bleed. I will try to soften this part. That technique is called fading. We are done. I just love painting this flower because it just looks so pretty and here we can add different colors if we wanted. Congratulations for painting this. I hope you had fun. 15. Class Project Trio Flower Part 1: Now that we have learned how the paints and angle flowers, let's now move on to our class project. Now let's try to paint a bouquet and I'm just going to quickly show you a painting. This is our reference for today and if you're wondering what this paper is, this is the Caddy Journal. I painted a bouquet right here and this is a simple three-flower bouquet. If you're just starting out, I would suggest painting just three flowers first for the composition and it's also very easy to paint on a square shape of paper. What you need to do is just to put the flowers in a triangle shape. You can start with that shape and then later on when you're painting a bit more often, what you can do is you can move the flowers. For example, you have two flowers here and then this flower, you can move it right here and just observe what it will look like. That's what I did when I was first starting out. I would paint something more straightforward like this, just three flowers. Then after some time, I'm going to change the placement of the flowers just to see what it will look like because that's how you will learn about the composition. You really have to try how to experiment. I'm going to start first with the main flowers, and then we are going to add the leaves and also the fillers just to fill in this square shape. For this exercise, I'm going to use my Fabriano paper and I'm also going to use my art philosophy paints. You can use any color that you like. You can opt for just two colors for the flowers. Just so it's easier for you, or sometimes it's even easier if you just use one color for all the flowers. With the brush, I'm using the silver silk 88 from silver brush. Let's start painting. Let's mix up my pink color. As you can see, I love using pink color for all my florals. I'm going to add a little bit of purple just to get the deeper shade. Again, I want the center to be really pigmented. I think I'm happy with this color and then paint the main flowers. One flower will be right here, another one right here. One over here. Let's start with this flower. You can also use pencil, you can draw some circles right here so that it's just easier for you to navigate within your painting. Let's try to start painting. I'm going to put a dot right there. You can also do that. Let's paint a side view rows. I'm using my dagger brush. I'm going to paint a C-stroke. We don't have to be really strict about the number of strokes. This is just a guide for you. Now I have three C shapes here. I'm going to rinse my brush because I want to dilute this portion and whenever I'm painting, just try to observe how I hold my brush and also observe the angle of the dagger brush. I'm now going to add more strokes over here just to close this up. Rinse my brush again. This longer side is going the other way. The shorter side is facing me. I'm just using whatever is left in my brush. As you can see, the paint right here is quite fit compared to the paint in the middle because I have introduce water to my brush. With watercolor. To create a lighter color, just add water to your paint. You don't need to add white. I want this to be pretty loose so I'm adding a lot of water. Since I'm using cotton paper, it's okay to add a lot of water because it can really handle a lot of water compared to student-grade paper. What you can also do right here is to add a bit of yellow to my mixture. Just to give it up a pop of color, I'm just going to mix it with my pink. Again, think of it as dancing with your brush. Just let your wrist move like this and just create those quick strokes. It will create a very expressive floral. I want to add darker paint over here just to give it the shadow. You can also add some petals right here. To make it more expressive, I usually add some wispy strokes and we do that by using the tip of the brush and just moving like this very quick. It's like you're just flicking your brush and you'll create really wonderful strokes. I'm done with the first flower. Let's proceed with the flower over here. I think I may need to tilt the paper. I've tilted the paper and I'm just going to paint the center again. You can actually create more strokes. A while ago we just painted three but you can actually add more. There's really no rule. There's just a guide for you. That's why I taught you the three strokes, but you can actually add more. Now let's try to make this better and bigger. Then let's add some strokes over here. I can just do this motion for the strokes on top. Just go back and forth and then I'm doing to rinse my brush. I feel like we need to make this flower bigger so let's paint some C strokes. Paint like this. In this case, I'm going to grab more paint. We're almost done. Let's just add the more pigmented center. We are done. Let's proceed to this flower. For this flower, I'm going to use some blue color and we're going to do a top view. That's my center. I'm going to rinse my brush to get a lighter color. Just create some C strokes. I'm going to try to zoom in that so that you can see it better. I'm just going to rinse my brush again because I want a looser outer petal. Later on, we are just going to add extra petals as a second layer. You will add more details. Don't worry about messing up the first layer for this because we can definitely cover it up. All right, I think I'm okay with the size. Now let's move on to painting the leaves and the fillers. 16. Class Project Trio Flower Part 2: [MUSIC] For the green color, you can actually use sap green, but for this one I'm going to add a bit more of the brown because I want an earthy green color, so let's put the leaves in-between the flowers. I wanted to be really loose and expressive, try to turn your brush in different angles, so you can create very interesting strokes. You can also paint on top of some of the petals of the flower, so we can also add a bit of blue to our green leaves and I'm going to add some filler flowers over there. Let's grab some pink paint and let's paint some three petal fillers, so let's try it here, it's like an S-shape. You can also rotate this paper so that it's easier to paint and let's add the stem and I like doing this when the flower is still wet. You want to add the stem because you want them to bleed into each other and it will look more seamless. Another tip, when you're painting bouquets and you don't know what else to add, what you can do is just to add these thin lines, they would look like stamps sticking out and that's one way to fill in a small gap of white space. Right here I'm going to add some blue fillers just to balance it out, let's add it right here. Then I'm going to add some green again, can add some leaves right here, then let's add some more leaves over here there's a gap. Now this is really a lot of fun, you can add different colors to your green, sometimes I even add some purple like this, you'll be able to create really interesting strokes, interesting colors. We can add one more here and then you can add some small leaves over here, let me just move my paper, so you're actually almost done. Let's just wait for this blue flower to die and then you can add the second layer just to add some details, I'm just filling in more gaps in this bouquet. Don't be afraid to add different colors, your leaves can even be red or purple if you want it. Let's just add some more character here, so we can add some thin lines, it makes a lot of difference and you add those thin lines. We can add that detail, it looks like a bulb. Don't be afraid to try out different shapes, so I think that we are almost done with the leaves part and now let's try to add some more detail for this flower. For this flower, let me just zoom it in so that you can see it better. Now I've mixed a more pigment in blue color and then you're going to paint on top of this center. As you can see it has that contrast now, I am going to paint with the C-strokes and just to show you guys the shorter side, this facing me, the longer side is facing the paper. As you can see, it looks like this area has blurred up and you can't really see the strokes anymore, so I'm just going to create a long C-stroke just to create the illusion that there's another petal. Now I'm going to rinse my brush, just going to fade out this part, just so it's not as harsh. Anything you can add a bit more here, I just rinsed my brush again, just going to soften some edges right here. I'm pretty happy with this, but I think we can add more detail for this flower, let's add in a more pigmented pink and add a bit of purple just to get a deep color. These are just some finishing touches that will create just a really big difference to your painting if you add these extra strokes. I'm just painting some thin lines because some of the areas have blurred out when you are painting a while ago and just wanted this to pop up again. This is what we need to do, we need to add some extra strokes. Let's try to zoom out again, as you can see it looks a lot better compared to our painting a while ago. Just these extra tiny details, it really makes a big difference. I rinsed my brush again and just going to fix this area is going to blur out the stroke that I made because it's a little harsh. We are done, congratulations guys, this is your first bouquet and now we can try out the other bouquets [MUSIC]. 17. Class Project Complementary Color Part 1: [MUSIC] In this project, we are going to paint this bouquet and one tip when you're painting your bouquet and you don't know which colors to use, you can use complimentary colors. We can grab a color wheel and choose the colors that are across each other. This is an example. This is yellow and violet. That's why when you look at this painting, it just looks good and it looks pleasing. Let's try to paint this. For the paper, I'm using [inaudible]. This is nine by nine inches, and I'm using my dagger brush. I have here some yellow mixture. You're going to do a two-tone stroke. I'm going to grab some yellow and add some red at the tip. I have just put some dots right here just to mark where the flowers will be. You can use a pencil or you can actually just draw circles so that it's easier to see where the flower should be. But right now, I just put some dots. Let's try to paint some dahlias. Just going to paint a small dahlia for this painting. [NOISE] Just going to rinse my brush and grab some more of the yellow. [NOISE] Every time you run out of paint, you can clean your brush, just rinse off the paint, then just grab some fresh paint like this. I'm grabbing some yellow and adding some red at the tip. Let me just turn my paper. Right now, I just want to add more yellow. With some strokes, I'm just overlapping. [NOISE] Let's grab some more yellow. I'm not going to put a lot of petals here because there's going to be a big rose over here. We might cover some of the petals right there. Let's just add some more petals over here. Let's proceed to the next flower. For the next flower, I'm going to use a yellow-green color. I'm going to put it here, this will be the center. We are going to paint a rose. I'm going to stop right there [NOISE] because I want to paint some gray petals which will look like they're white flowers. I have here Payne's gray. You can actually just dilute Payne's gray to create a really light color. You can add some C strokes like this. Just go around the center. Another tip is to add a little bit of brown so you can get a more neutral color. I've mixed too much brown right here. Lets add in a bit more blue. I'm quite happy with this color. Now I'm just going to paint more strokes. [NOISE] Let's just add some color. I'm also leaving some white spaces just so that when you look at the flower, you'll know that they are separate petals. I just paint some C strokes. I'm okay with the shape. We can add just a tiny bit of green to some of the petals right here. Lets add a bit of blue as well. Then for the center, I'm going to grab my Payne's gray. Just going to drop it in the center. [NOISE] Let me just add a bit of brown because it became too blue in color. Let me just try to neutralize that color by adding a bit of brown. [NOISE] Let's just spread some of the color from the center and then we can flick our brush. Now I'm going to leave this and we can go back to it later, and we can proceed to the next flower. For the flowers here, I'm going to be using creation. That's the shade of this beautiful blue violet color. It's from the Essence, set of Art Philosophy. Let me just paint some four-petaled flowers. As you can see, that it's very opaque. I'm going to put my brush in the water. Let's dilute it. This looks very pretty when we mix the value of the colors here. Some of the flowers will be really bold and very pigmented like this, and some flowers will have that very faint color. I'm just going to mix it up. With some flowers, I'm not really going to paint four petals. For some, I'm just going to paint two, or even just three. Then we're going to add some stems later just to keep it all together. Since these are just filler flowers, feel free to have fun and just paint some random strokes. You can also add some blue to this paint. Let's just try to add some blue just to change the color and just make it look more interesting. At this point, I'm just going to add some green stems. I can use sap green for this project. Let's connect them all together and put those green stems in the white gaps. It's also nice that the petals that we painted are still wet. So once I touch the green into the petal, they will just blend and it will look very nice and very seamless. In some areas, we can actually put some leaves. Let's try to add some leaves right here. [NOISE] I think we're done. Let's proceed to the next flower. [MUSIC] 18. Class Project Complementary Color Part 2: [MUSIC] Let's paint a flower that's hidden at the back. I just need about two petals, one over here and another one over here. Now let's add the center, I'm going to grab payne's gray or any dark blue color will do. Just paint some thin lines over here. We're done with that and now let's add some more fillers. I'm going to add some fillers like this. Let me just show you, so we're going to add this. There's a space right here. Let's just add some thin strokes until we create a ball. This is one ball and then we can add another over here. I'm just going to put some stem just so I know where it will go. We'll just have some fun painting this, it's very easy. It feels as if you're just slicing something to create that thin stroke. After doing this, we are going to let it dry and we'll go back to this to add more depth. You're going to add another layer. But in this area, we can add another filler too, so let's add here. There are no rules when it comes to the direction of the stroke. As long as you create thin lines, then we're good. Let's add. We can add one more over here. Let me just try to zoom in. Now we have some fillers. Lets go back later. I'm going to add some leaves just to close in some gaps. You can add some leaves right here. For the leaves, you can use sap green, just add some blues to it or add some browns. In this area, we can add some violet filler. Let's just add some stroke. I will just turn this paper. Let's put this stem right here. You can add a another filler here. You can add some pink to make it more interesting and because I really love pink. You can also add a different color that you prefer. I'm just dabbing my brush to create those pointy strokes. We're trying to keep it really loose. Let's just dab and just don't be afraid to add colors. Add some blue and just let it mix to the pink so that we can create a violet color. Then let's add the stem. If you want your painting to be really loose, just hold it at the end of the handle so that it's easier to paint. This is already dry. Let's add a darker shade of green, then let's add some more thin lines and now there's more depth to our filler. It's a very easy technique, but it makes a big difference. Now onto the last filler. Now let's add some more greens, more leaves. I think we can add a bit more here. You can also add some stem sticking out, it will make this look more expressive. We can add few more leaves over here. Let's just add some water just to spread this leaf. All right now. I'm just going to shape this white flower. Did you notice that when I painted this stroke, it looked like you had edges for the white flower, so now it looks a lot prettier. Then you're just going to extend that. Let's add some leaves. For some leaves we can overlap it, so I have two leaves here and just paint on top of it and just add more volume. Here we need to add something so we can add blue filler here. Looks like a bud. I think it looks better now. Then you can add a few more stem sticking out. Add some leaves. You can add some slender leaves right here. We're almost done and then let's go back to this. I have here my gray mixture. Let's paint on top of this. I'm just painting some C strokes. I am painting it around the center. As you can see now that you've added the second layer, the flower has more depth. This one just takes some practice to do. I usually try to just underneath the strokes. You can start with that, so we can paint one here, another one here, and one more over here. Just alternate the strokes and then look at the painting from a far just to see if the strokes are enough or if you need to add some more. For this part, we need to make it more intense, so I'm going to mix up some payne's gray. I just want it to be really darker. I'm just going to rinse my brush. Pretty happy with the color. Now I'm just going to spread the edges so that it doesn't look so harsh. I think we are done. Congratulations. This is another great project for you. It's a bit more complicated, but it's definitely doable with a lot of practice. [MUSIC] 19. Final Thoughts: [MUSIC] This is the end of the class. Thank you so much for watching. With the skills that you have learned today, I hope that this gives you confidence to start painting with a dagger brush. We have three projects in this class, and you can choose to paint just one for the day, and then another one next week. Just pace yourself and remember to always have fun while painting. I hope to see your paintings in the class project section of this class. If you're going to upload it on Instagram, do use this hashtag so that I can see your beautiful paintings. Also, please do follow me on Skillshare so that every time I upload a new class, you will be updated. That's it. See you again and happy painting. [MUSIC]