Watercolour Floral: Painting Echinacea with Depth and Tone

1. INTRODUCTION Echinacea: Hello, and welcome. In this class, you'll learn how to paint Echinacea in watercolor using a loose yet controlled approach. We'll create a soft expressive background using wet-on-wet techniques. You'll then build the painting in stages, adding stems, leaves and petals, and developing the seed heads in layers to create depth and a convincing three dimensional form. You'll learn how to let colors mingle naturally, control tonal contrast, and develop a floral subject all without overworking your painting. Instead of painting a very realistic botanical painting, I'm going to show you how to create a modern and contemporary appearance. You don't need to be advanced for this class because I'm going to guide you every step of the way. I've included a copy of the drawing in the project resources section so that you can download it and trace it, and then not worry about the drawing because this is a painting class. I am a professional artist, author, and tutor, and over the years, I've sold a lot of work across the world and helped hundreds of people to learn more about watercolor. You can see examples of my work on my website. My style leans towards impressionistic and contemporary rather than photorealistic. I like to explore loose approaches that bring out the color, light, and essence of my subjects. I've tried to replicate this across all the many other videos that I have on Skillshare. I'd love to see your own finished painting, which you can upload through the project and resources tab. I'll give you some personal feedback on it. And you'll be able to see the artwork of other students and get their support. At the end of the class, you'll have your own beautiful artwork to be very proud of. So let's swizzle our brushes and get on with the painting. 2. Composition & Materials: Prepare your Drawing.: For this class, these are the colors and materials that I'm using, but do feel free to use any that you already have. For lots more useful information about brushes, paper, and other art materials, take a look at the document that I've added to the project and resources section. You'll find that really helpful. And I've included a copy of the drawing in the project resources section so that you can download it and trace it, and then not worry about the drawing because this is a painting class. Now you can see that I've kept the drawing very simple, minimal details so that we get a nice, loose free flow painting. 3. Paint background wet-on-wet technique, let colours mingle and blend; seed heads 1st layer: I if you think it might be difficult to paint around the straight edges of the square background, you could always put some masking tape around the outer edges first. I'm starting with the background using the wet on wet technique. The wet on wet technique is simply putting wet paint onto wet paper or paint that is still wet and let it spread into the wet wash. This results in a lovely diffused effect with soft edges. Because the paint mixes into the wetness of the paper, the color is diluted and the tone is paler. Now, as you can see, I'm working this background one section at a time. So I've pre wet this top left section with clean water, and I've already pre mixed my colors, turquoise, cobalt blue, a light yellow, and a little bit of pink, permanent rose. And I'm just dropping those colors now into the wet wash and letting them mingle and spread and blend together. And by dropping these colors in a little touch at a time, we're getting a kind of mottled, variegated effect in this background. And of course, where the yellow overlaps with the blue or the turquoise, I'm also getting a few nice little touches of green. I'm not using my permanent rose, the pink yet, because if I do get any pink paint mixed in with the green, I'll end up with a muddy brown. Now, the other thing that I've got in mind is where do I need some darker tones, and where do I need some lighter tones? Well, the stems of the flowers and the leaves are going to be a sort of a pale green, well, pale tones as well. So where the paint is running alongside of these stems, I'm going to add some darker, stronger paint, same colors, but a bit thicker. And I'm just adding those in down the side of the stem and letting that paint also blend in to the wet wash, so I'm not getting any hard lines. I am getting some contrasting tonal values even within this small shape. I'm also mindful that when I come on to paint the petals of the flowers, they will be in quite a strong pink, the permanent rose. And so I need to leave the top part, the top left part of this section quite light to have that contrast between the background and the pink petals. I'm quite happy now with that mottled appearance in the first section. So I'm going to go on and do the next one using exactly the same process. So I'm pre wetting this shape above the second flower with clean water, and then I will drop in my colors again just as I did before. I've just realized that I forgot to add a little touch of my pink colour into the first section. So I'm just popping over now very quickly. I'm only adding a couple of little small touches of the pink because we're going to have the main pink colours in the flowers, so we don't want too much of the pink in the background, a few little touches to give the composition some harmony. I'm also sprinkling in a few grains of household salt. It's really good for creating the appearance of snowflakes or texture in foliage and rocks. The salt absorbs the paint and leaves behind lovely little sparkles of light. So quickly pop back over to the second section. It's still wet, so it's not a problem. And I'm repeating exactly the same process for this section as I did for the first one. You do need a brush that has a really good point, especially when we come on to the next sections where you've got to get in between those long thin petals. The challenge now is to get all those sections painted in a way that they relate to each other. So they all need to have a similar appearance. What you don't want is one section to be completely different in its pattern and appearance to all the rest, because what we're painting here is a whole background, which is just separated or divided up between the flowers, stems, and leaves. I'm going to let you watch the video along now as I repeat this process throughout the whole of this background. And I'll hop back on when I'm ready to start painting the flowers. Okay. I've just about finished this background now, and I'm quite pleased with the appearance. There's consistency between all the sections, so they hang together as a whole. My background paint has dried quite quickly now, so I can go on to paint the yellow seed heads, the first layer of them. But if your paint hasn't dried, then just give it a couple of minutes more before you do this. I'm going to paint the seed heads, wet on dry, wet paint on dry paper, just using my light yellow. The wet on dry technique is simply painting wet paint onto dry paper. It allows for more control, stronger color, and crisp hard edges where the paint ends. The paint will only go where the brush takes it. I'm lifting off some of the color with a damp brush and some paper towel from the top seed head. Any shapes that are outside of the square are going to be either very pale in tone or completely unpainted. 4. Paint the stems, leaves and petals.: I've mixed a very pale green. It's sort of a pale lime color using my light yellow and a touch of cerulean blue. I'm using a small brush with a very pointed end to stroke the color down the central stem. But notice that I'm leaving the stem that's below the square completely unpainted. And then exactly the same for the little calixes on this bud at the left and down the stem that's attaching that. But again, I'm leaving the stem that's below the square completely unpainted. And then repeating that for the two stems over on the right. I'm painting the leaf on the far left with my pale limey green colour, again, not painting the area of the leaf that's outside the square. And then I'm adding a little bit of darker green just underneath the middle vein to give it a little bit of definition but not overdoing it. And then I'm repeating that same process with this small leaf over here on the right, again, only painting the area inside the square. And then finally, over to the last leaf on the left, the larger one. I won't be painting the two remaining leaves because they are both outside of the square completely and therefore, will be unpainted. Now, I am aware that not everybody is absolutely comfortable with this style of leaving some areas of the composition unpainted. And in fact, quite a number of artists who use this style do prefer to fill in all the shapes with colour. At the end of the day, it's your painting, so do whatever feels right for you. I'm using my darker green now just to darken the area of the stem that is protruding from underneath of the flower, where they will be in a little bit of shade. I'm using my permanent rose color now to paint the long thin petals of these lovely flowers. You can see from the reference photograph that there are different tones of pink in the flowers. So we've got some very light pale areas, particularly where the petals are towards the light or on the top, and we've got some darker ones where they are maybe underneath another petal or in the shade. So you need several different mixers of your permanent rose color. Add a little bit more water to it, so it's about the consistency of tea, where you want to use it for the pale tones and less water. So it's about the consistency of single cream, a bit thicker, where you want the darker tones. And have a good look at all the petals to see which ones are on top, facing the light, which ones are underneath, and need to be a little darker as you work around each flower head. And most of the petals are a little bit darker where they emerge from the seed head. So you can always drop a little bit of extra color in there where the petal meets that seed head. As you can see, I'm working alternate petals one at a time, because if I paint all the petals next to each other, the color will run, so I won't get that mix of tonal value. I won't get some lighter and some darker. All the petals will look the same. So I'm hopping about from one flower to the other, as well as in between the same flower so that some of the petals are able to dry before I paint those next to them. You don't have to stick rigidly to this concept of only painting colour in the shapes that are inside the square and leaving anything outside of it unpainted. I've decided that I am going to paint all of this flower at the bottom. I'm going to paint all of the petals, even those that go outside of the box. That's because the flower at the top is very much outside of the square altogether, and so will be unpainted. But that means that the pink echinacea will almost take a backstep to the background, which is not what I want. So I am going to add the color on the petals going outside of the box on this lower flower to keep the impact of the strong pink. 5. 5 Paint the seed heads 2nd layer; use tonal values to create 3D effect: I've got a dark brown mix of burnt umber and a lighter brown mix of burnt sienna, and I'm going to now use my small pointed brush to use these two colors to paint the seed heads. I'm using the darker brown to paint the little seeds around the bottom edge of each seed head. That's where they will be darker and in shade. And in fact, at the bottom, they will be very dense, so you'll see very little of the yellow poking through. But as we move up towards the top of the seed head, then you do need to leave little spaces in between your dots so that that yellow shows through where it's lighter. It's a little bit of a labor of love getting all these little dots onto the seed head, but I actually found it quite meditative. But don't rush it too much because in the seed heads, we've actually got the strongest area of contrast. We've got the really dark darks from that burnt umber against some really light areas just above. So the viewer's eye will naturally be drawn to these centers. Because of that, you might have noticed that I'm keeping the seat head on the top flower much paler than these two that are inside the square. So the main focus of visual interest will remain on these two pink flowers. I hope you can see that as they're building up the structure of these seed heads with the different colors. So dark brown being the darkest tone, the light brown being the mid tone and yellow being the light tone, it's actually giving these seed heads the rounded three D effect. It can be easier to assess the tonal value of a subject by converting it to black and white, as shown in the example of an apple here. While the dark brown paint is still wet, I'm just flicking it ever so slightly into the petals. I'm going to add a little bit more definition to the seed head at the top, but still nothing like as much as those below it. I wasn't really sure what to do with this flower at the top regarding how much pink to put on. So that's why I've left it till the end. And I've decided I'm going to put the darker pink on the petals that are in the square. But instead of leaving it completely white above, I'm going to just fade that pink so it becomes paler as it goes towards the seed head. So I've got a much more natural gradation from the dark to the light. Again, as I said before, it's entirely your choice, how much color you want to apply to these shapes that are outside of the square. There are absolutely no definite rules on this. You don't have to follow exactly what I'm doing. It really is just a matter of personal taste. Now, some artists like to leave these types of paintings with just the pencil outlines, and that would be absolutely fine. However, to give it a little bit more umph, I've decided to go over all my pencil outlines with a black waterproof pen. And I think that's just helped to pull everything together and give it an extra bit of zinc. I do hope you've enjoyed this painting and that you've learned some tips and techniques along the way that you can incorporate into your own paintings. And why not pop it into a mount and a frame, and you'll be amazed how good it looks when you do that? If you've enjoyed this class, it might encourage you to look at some of my other videos. I've got lots of lovely subjects loaded with more tips and techniques to help you with your own exciting art journey. I'd really love to see your own finished painting, which you can upload to the your project section. And if you could just take a moment to leave me a short review, that also would be really great. In the meantime, thank you for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time Happy painting. A 6. FINAL THOUGHTS: Well done and completing our lovely Echinacea painting complete with the contempor background. We've covered quite a few different techniques, as you've been following alongside of me. Instead of just copying the reference photos, we've used them in a more loose and imaginative way. Use the wet-on-wet technique, putting wet paint on wet paper. We used the wet-on-dry technique, putting wet paint on dry paper, and we looked at the importance of tonal values to create a three D rounded effect. And, of course, we had to go at trying out a very different and contemporary composition where some of the shapes remain unpainted. I hope you found it both fun to do and useful in your own art journey. If you've enjoyed painting the Echinacea, you may also like my watercolor floral class on painting hellebos where we explore laying for richness and tonal values in more detail. Now, don't forget to upload your own painting through the Project and resources tab. After all your hard work, I'd really love to see it, and I'll be sure to give you some personal feedback. And if you've enjoyed this video, do have a look at my other classes on Skillshare, which are packed with more tips and techniques to help you on your own art journey. If you click the follow button, you'll be able to follow me, and then you'll be the first to know when you upload a new video or any exciting updates. And if you could just take a moment to leave me a short review, that also would be really great. In the meantime, thank you for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time Happy painting.