Transcripts
1. Introduction: I'm always so amazed
how drops of paint on a wet surface can
appear so magical. More drops of paint blend together with a
piece of cling wrap. A fine spray of gold at sparkle, and a few simple brush
strokes I'll come together to create colorful,
whimsical watercolors. Have fun with me exploring and experimenting with
this magical medium. Hi everyone. My name
is Sharon Margolis. I'm a professional artist
living in and coming Georgia. I painted for most of
my life and I have enjoyed painting in
several different mediums. About eight years ago, I started painting
exclusively in watercolor. And I'm so glad I did. Watercolor is such a beautiful
medium to work with. The way the pigment reacts
with the water on the paper, how it bleeds and mixes
with other colors. The way you can create
a knife sharp edge or a soft fading edge. There seems to be
endless techniques that produce
fascinating results. One of my favorite subjects
to paint our flowers. And lately I've been
having fun exploring a more loose and abstract way to paint flowers in watercolor. I thought it'd be
a great class for those beginning in watercolor. Maybe wanting to find a
very enjoyable pastime. And also for those watercolor
artists that might want to try a more loose abstract
way to paint in watercolor. In this class, I'll
demonstrate how to look at photos of flowers and
simplify their shapes. And in doing so, create a reference page of doodles to refer to time and time again. I'll provide you with my page of doodles to use as
a reference guide. We'll experiment with a few different
watercolor techniques that let the water and paint do most of the work by itself with very little
manipulation from us. In just a few
supplies are needed, a detailed list of
supplies will be provided. I will demonstrate that with an inexpensive set of
watercolor paints, some watercolor paper,
and a few brushes, you can create
beautiful watercolors. There are two projects
that we will be creating. Each one with a slightly
different approach. You can complete both are one, the choice is up to you. You can watch over
my shoulder as I find shapes that resemble flowers and leaves from drops and splatters
or watercolor. Then we'll go on to
include a caption or short phrase to invoke a
positive and calming mindset. However, if you would rather not include a word or phrase, you will still have created a unique work of art
that can stand alone. And also you will have
acquired the skills to produce many more wonderful watercolors and also provide you with
an enjoyable pastime. I hope you'll join me as
I show you why watercolor has become one of my
favorite mediums to use. So let's get started by
gathering your supplies.
2. Supplies: A detailed list of supplies is provided in the projects
and resources section. I'll be using this
inexpensive set of watercolor paints by praying, professional or
student grade tubes of watercolor paint
can also be used. Also a tube of gold gouache. I'll be using Winsor and Newton. You'll need three different size round watercolor brushes. I'm using sizes to 812. Also a flat wash brush for
wedding, the watercolor paper, stiff paintbrush
or toothbrush to produce a fine paint
splatter effect. A pad of tracing paper and
cheap paper for practice. A £140 cold press
watercolor paper. I like using the six by nine watercolor paper
by B Paper Company. And pictured here are some other supplies you'll
want to have on hand. These items will be
necessary in preparing the watercolor paper
for our projects. The acrylic t square and the acrylic triangle
are optional. The cutting surface you
see here is a tech tool, self-healing mat,
but a thick piece of mat board will be sufficient. I will be using this
light pad to trace my image onto my
watercolor paper, a window with light
coming through. It will also work just as well. These templates you see here are provided in the projects
and resources section. Pictured here are the pens and markers I used for the projects. You can choose other pens
and markers but have one black permanent
waterproof marker that is smudge resistant. I liked the micron
markers by sicker. The supplies pictured here are optional and depends on how you choose to display
your finished projects. You can skip to the
lesson on ways to display your projects to help you decide which supplies
to purchase.
3. Let's get inspired and learn how to simplfy: A good place to
start and gathering reference material is
doing a Google search. Looking at the numerous
flower and leaf photos and illustrations give
you a sense of how flowers and leaves
can be simplified. This illustration shows
several different types of leaves in a simplified way. Here is a gingko leaf. Look at how fun this shape is. Pixabay is a website
consisting of free stock photography
and royalty-free images. It's a great way to research
all types of subject matter. If you have a tablet that allows you to write over photos, it's a great way to practice simplifying flowers and leaves, such as I'm doing here
with this lavender flower. Some of the shapes are
nothing more than ovals. Here I'm using one outline
to form an open flower. Again, using one outline to see what some of the other
shapes look like. On this one, there
are just a series of oval shapes doing more of the same with
these ginkgo leaves. Notice how I use these
sketchy lines sparingly. Give them the leaves just
an indication of texture. Besides using a tablet, another way to practice simplifying your
subject matter is to print out to photograph of a flower or a leaf
and trace over it. See how just a few simple
shapes make up this cosmos bud. These are parts of a big flower, which I'm not sure the name of. But I love these little
spiky curly leaf parts. Here is my compilation
of doodles from looking at a wide range of different
flowers and leaves. I suggest you make
a few pages of your own doodles to serve
as a reference guide. You can also find this page of doodles and the projects
and resources section.
4. Prepping the Paper: Here is a look at
the supplies needed for prepping our paper
for the projects. Keep in mind there
is a detailed list in the projects and
resources section. This is a cut-out
piece of foam board. It will provide a
hard surface onto which we will tape
our watercolor paper. There are other options
besides foam board. The important thing is to have a sturdy surface that
will not warp or bend. Be sure to cut out
the foam board big enough to allow for the
one-inch tape around the edges of the
watercolor paper and cut at least two of them out. Have your six by nine
inch watercolor paper in the landscape position
and cut it in half. This will allow you to
create two projects from one piece of the
B watercolor paper. The project will measure
4.5 inches by six inches. Next, we'll measure
out the painting area, which will be a square measuring four inches by four inches. The painting area will be
in the upper portion of the paper to allow room for a
caption under the painting. And keep in mind, you also have the
option of tracing over the template using a
light pad or window. Although it's not necessary to have a triangle or t-square, it does make it easy to
make straight lines. After centering your piece of watercolor paper
on the foam board, try as best you can to tape evenly along the
outlines. You've created. Tape all the outer edges first because we only want the pain to on the
four-by-four area. We will need to tape over where our caption will
eventually be written.
5. Mixing Colors of Paint: In this lesson, we
will be getting our paints ready for
the next lesson, in which we will
explore and practice different ways to
splatter the paint. I will be using strictly the praying watercolors
for the projects. But as mentioned
before, you can choose other watercolor paints such as these by Winsor and Newton. This opera rose by Winsor
and Newton is a lovely pink. Keep in mind most often
the white you see in watercolor paintings is the white of the watercolor paper. Also to lighten the color when using these tubes of paint, it requires just the
addition of water. I'm using some of my scrap watercolor paper
here to show you the lighter shade of pink that
this opera rose produces. Shown here are the
colors I will be using to make my
puddles of paint. To make pink, I will use white, red, violet, and red. I'm using this
plastic pipette to add a few drops of
water to the pans. You can use it heavily
loaded brush with water to add a few drops. I'm experimenting with
different amounts of the three colors to
make the shade of pink. Of course, no need to mix
if you already have a tube of pink watercolor paints such as the upper row is
by Winsor Newton. Before mixing up a
large volume of pink, I want to make sure I'm
pleased with the shade. And then checking how it looks when mightn't
with a bit of water. Now to make what I like to
call the puddles of paint. Hopefully large enough volumes
of paint with which to use while working on a
specific part of a painting. I'll start by mixing the
pink puddle of paint. You'll see that I
dab my brush off on the paper towel quite
often after rinsing, I want to avoid the mix
from becoming too watery. And I will be adding
mostly undiluted pigment. At this point. Just two more puddles of paint. One will be yellow, green, and one will be blue. I'll speed things
up just a bit here. Now that we have our
puddles of paint ready, let the splatter and begin. In the next lesson.
6. Splatters and Drops: When you have mixed
all your pain. So it's time to experiment
with splatters and drops. In addition to practicing
with the brushes, will also use a stiff
paintbrush or toothbrush. Also makes sure to protect
the surface you are working on with a used
cloth or newsprint. The use of a vinyl gloves will keep your index
finger free of paint. In addition to the two
containers of water. Rip off a few sheets of the cling wrap and have
your spray bottle ready. Also some paper towels. And to what the watercolor
paper we'll use a relatively large
flat watercolor brush. Use some scrap paper or cheap printing paper
for this practice. Start with the
large brush and use your finger to produce bladders. See which way this
bladders go depending on how in which direction
you hold the brush. Next, fully load
the brush and try dropping the paint
onto the paper. You'll find there
are ways to produce large drops and small drops by the amount of pigment and water that are on your brush. Move on to the smaller brush
and try the same techniques. Keep in mind, you may
have to clean off the glove between the
use of different colors. The toothbrush will
produce a fine splatter. I have an old stiff oil
brush that I like to use. They both produce
similar results. Experiment holding the brush
in different directions to see which way the splatter
lands on the paper. Draw a few lines to
represent stems of flowers, and then practice flattering or dropping the paint
along these lines. With practice,
you'll learn ways to control where the splatters
and drops will land. Here you can see I probably do not have enough
paint on my brush. I find I have greater control
and determining where the splatter will go by holding
the toothbrush this way. Why most of the
paint is still wet. Experiment with some cling wrap. At this point you can lead the cling wrap in
place and let it dry. This ensures your shapes
remain as they appear. Now. After you have used up several
sheets of the cheap paper, it's time to practice on some of the watercolor paper you'll
be using for the projects. It's important to know
how the brush and paint respond on the watercolor paper. And yes, we'll be wasting some sheets of the
more expensive paper. But keep in mind, nothing is ever wasted. And it's always a
learning process, gaining knowledge of what
works and doesn't work. Replenish your paint before beginning the practice
on the watercolor paper. Let's start in
this section here, given the paper a
few spritz of water, the paint would have
probably reacted more with the water if I had sprayed
the paper a few more times. If you want a bit more control after fully loading your brush, you can dab the brush
tip to the paper, placing it directly
where you want it to be. Now play some clean
wrap over the top to see what happens. Pressing down on it and moving
it around a little bit. We'll use this section now, make sure to replenish your paints and to have
some clean water ready. And it looks like I'll
have to replenish my pains before proceeding. Wetting the paper
with clean water. Make sure the section
is uniformly wet. Using a wet on wet technique, I load the brush and dab
it on the wet surface. Watch how much more of
the paint spreads and bleeds with the
brush fully loaded. Continue to practice some more with this wet
and wet technique. Wedding another section to try some splatters on a wet surface. Before the colors dry experiment
with some cling wrap. See what happens when
you move in scrunch the cling wrap on the surface
while it's still wet. You can also use a
scrunched up piece of cling wrap like a cotton ball
and dab the paint. I did this here
because I didn't like the horizontal band of color. It left. I decided to have a bit more practice
in this middle section. Having a bit more fun
with drops of paint, then some cling wrap.
7. Brush Strokes: Once you have your
puddles of paint mixed, It's time to see what
your brushes can do. Start by using
scrap paper if you have had or cheap
printing paper, which is what I'm using here. Practice strokes that might resemble blades of
grass or leaves. Practice moving the brush
in different directions, loading the brush
with a lot of paint and then with very little paint. See what happens when you start the stroke with the
side of your brush. You may have noticed I mixed a fourth color, a dark green. Practice using the very
tip of all your brushes. After using the big brush, go on to experiment
with the other sizes. You several sheets of the cheap paper to get
to know your brushes. I'm going to be speeding
things up a bit here. One way to reduce the amount
of water and pigment on the brush is by gently
dabbing it on a paper towel. After you've used up several
sheets of the cheaper paper, it's time to practice on some
of the watercolor paper. Before doing that, make sure to replenish your paints
if you need to. It's important to know
how the brush and paint respond on the watercolor paper. And yes, you will be wasting some sheets of the
more expensive paper. But keep in mind nothing is ever wasted as it's always
a learning process. Gaining knowledge of what
works and doesn't work. Here I am practicing what is called a wet on dry technique. The paper is dry when
I apply the paint. What I'll be using now is
called a wet on wet technique, wetting the paper with clean water before
applying the paint. Just in this section
here on the paper, you'll notice how
the paper buckles and is why the watercolor paper is taped to a hard surface
before beginning the projects. But for practice, I'm going to step notice how the paint bleeds or spreads when I apply
it to the wet surface. I'm drying my brush
off thoroughly so that I will have mostly
pigment on my brush. And you can see what
happens when the brush is not loaded with a
large amount of water, the paint will spread
or bleed less. When applied to the wet surface. I realize mostly is
will not be blue, but when applied to
the wet green paint, it will make another
shade of green. Now let's give the paper a
few spritz of water with a spray bottle in this
lower right corner. You'll notice how the
spread of paint will be more random where it
hits the drops of water. Dabbing some of the paint
off my brush to less than the spreading or
bleeding effect. In this area here
let's start with a wet and dry approach and then we'll use the spray bottle. You can see the
paint spreads a bit differently than the
other ways we've tried. I love the way these colors have mixed and the soft bleeds that were created interior. The end result is a mix
of lovely pastel colors. Here I like the interaction of the different sizes and shapes. My advice is to practice on at least four to six
sheets of paper, practicing the splatter and brush techniques before
starting the projects.
8. Project 1: Creating the Abstract: The first color I'm
mixing is pink. I'm mixing red violet with
a small amount of red. Testing the pink shade out on a piece of scrap
watercolor paper. Next is blue, green,
and light green. Again, using my scrap of watercolor paper to
test out the colors. I'm also mixing black
and some purple to make a gray that has
a purple tone to it. I'm not quite sure
I will use it, but I want to have
it at the ready. Here are my puddles
of paint ready to go. You might want to consider
using the ceramic palette, which has deeper wells to hold a greater volume of paint than the praying watercolor paint. In addition to a
piece of cling wrap, make sure to have a couple of
paper towels at the ready. Before I begin painting, I envision three large round flower shapes
in this painting. The first step is
to wet the paper. Here I took the
paper so I can see the sheen of the
water on the paper. I don't want any pools of water, but an even distribution. I know I want the largest
flower slightly off center, which is where I placed the
first application of pink, followed by the other
two smaller flowers. I've loaded my brush with a mix of pink that has more
pigment to water, so it will be more intense. To reduce the amount of bleed
or spreading of the paint. I dab the brush on
the paper towel, reducing the amount of
paint on the brush. I envision small blue flowers
around the pink flowers. I give them an
asymmetric shape to avoid them appearing round
like the pink flowers. Just a few drops of
blue to represent some even smaller flowers
or buds in the background. Before the paper dries, I want to get in some
green strokes to represent leaves on the lower
portion of the painting. When painting large
strokes for large leaves, I found that I had loaded my
brush with too much paint. I'm able to go back and remove some of the paint
with my paper towel. Doing so also helps maintain
the pink flower shape. Picking up some of the
bright green paint to add a few more leaves. When adding some of
this dark green, I dab my brush on
the paper towel so the strokes are
thin and wispy. I know I will have
less spread or bleed with less amount
of paint on my brush. To give more interests to
the three main flowers, I'll be adding some
more shades of pink. You'll notice the pink is a
bit darker and more intense. That is because there is
more pigment to water. While the painting is still wet. I placed the cling wrap
over the painting and push down on the cling wrap in some areas to encourage
the mixing of colors and to create a bit more abstraction in the painting. Leaving the cling wrap in place, it's time to let it dry. Depending on how
wet the paper Is, it may take several
minutes to dry. You can check it by carefully lifting up a corner
of the cling wrap. Now that it has
completely dried, we can sketch out our flower and leaf shapes
that will make our painting.
9. Project 1: Creating the Composition: In this lesson, we'll be finding our flower and leaf shapes that will make up our painting. The painter's tape
can be kept in place. We'll be using a
piece of tracing paper to map out
our composition. Cut out a piece that covers the entire painting and tape it at the top part only so
you can easily lift it up. As I said at the
beginning of the project, I envisioned three
large flowers. Keep in mind your abstract
will not be exactly like mine. You may have slightly
different shapes and colors. Part of the fun and
intrigue is to explore what shapes work into
your abstract design. The three large shapes I have here remind me of
big sunflowers, a large center
with small petals. With that in mind, I'll be referring to my
sunflower reference photo. It may take some time to
decide what flower shapes your abstract painting
mimics or reminds you of. This would be a good
time to refer to the flower and leaf
Doodle page you created. Or you could refer to the one provided in the project
and resource section. There are some people
who can simply use their imagination and create
their own flower shapes. For me, it helps to look at reference material to
jumpstart my imagination. Now it's a matter of drawing the shapes on the tracing paper. Keep in mind your drawing at
this point is not permanent. And make sure not
to draw too hard. So you can erase the pencil
lines easily if necessary. I'm wondering at this
point if I want to include that inner circle
or leave it out. The inner circle that I have
in the other two flowers. In my painting, the stems of
the flowers will be visible. So I'll play around
a little bit to see which way I want
the stems to bend. It's important to always
have your stems appear as they are originating at
the center of the flower. I'm now starting to draw
in the leaf shapes. As long as you're tracing over
different shades of green, you shouldn't feel obligated to draw around any
particular shape, although there may be some
leaf shapes that are obvious, it will be helpful to decide which flowers will
be in the foreground so that you will know
which leaf shapes should overlap others. Since I have dedicated the center flower to be
the one in the foreground, its leaves will overlap in front of the left flower
stem and leaves. I have found a nice shape
of a leaf in this section. The irregular blue shapes in the background remind me
a bit of cosmos flowers. I'll refer to its flower
shape and petals. I think I'll give the blue
flowers, small simple leaves, which differ from
the correct leaf shapes that cosmos
flowers actually have. But the smile, these will not compete with the large
leaves I have drawn. Sometimes it helps to lift
the tracing paper up when it's difficult to see this
shape, you are outlining. Some of these small blue
shapes I'll make into buds or flowers that
have not fully bloomed. Eventually, I want to add some small leaves to the
stem of this blue flower. So I'll need to find a
better placement for the large leaves in this area. I've decided to have the stem of the small blue flower join the stem of the
adjacent blue flower. So there'll be two flowers
coming off from this stem. I'll sketch in the small
leaves to see how they fit in. Now I'll work on the placement
of the large leaves. I don't want the top of these two leaves to be at
exactly the same height. I feel it looks better to vary the height of
the two leaves. I think I'll add just a
few more blue flowers in the background. I'll be speeding
things up a bit here. I want to avoid adding
too many elements. I think many artists
myself included sometimes find it difficult
to not overwork a piece. I think I like the look of the flower without
the center circle. I may add a smaller center
circle to the flower. Not quite sure at this point. This part of removing the
tape can be so satisfying. Go slowly in removing
a tape though, to lessen the risk of pulling up some of the surface of
the watercolor paper. We now have the
final outline draft. Although you
certainly can change a few things even at this stage. Keep in mind not to
draw too hard in case you want to erase
some of the lines. To give this piece a
more whimsical look, I've decided to put in a few currently
vines to the stems, similar to what you'd see
on the vines of sweet peas. I'll be adding them to the
blue flower stems only. At this point, all your
elements should be outlined in pencil and is now ready to
trace over the lines with a permanent
smudge proof marker.
10. Project 1: Outlining the Composition: This part of the project
should go relatively quickly since it's just a matter of tracing over your pencil lines. I'll be using this micron
marker by Saqqara. I like the look of
a thin outline, so I chose the 00 A5 size. Then as I said before, it's now just a matter of
tracing over your pencil lines. Hi, I'm still unsure
if I want to have a center circle in the
middle of the flower. I'll probably wait
until the pieces almost completed to see how
it looks without it. Remember, it can
sometimes be easier to outline by turning the paper
in a different direction. You can see in the end, I chose not to include the small circle in the
center of the flower. With just a couple more steps, you could choose
to stop here and make this your
completed project. Simply make a line a quarter
inch from the bottom of your painting to achieve
equal borders on all sides. Then cut along the line
with your cutting knife. In the next lesson, we will be adding a
caption to the painting.
11. Adding a Caption: There are a variety of ways
to add a caption to your art. Writing it free hand, using a rubber stamp or even
cutting out the letters or words and pasting it to your art as you
would in a collage. I plan to use my
own handwriting. I have a good idea how
tall I want the letters. So I've made three
guidelines on a piece of tracing paper that are
three-sixteenths in height. I also know the word or words cannot be more than
the width of my art, which is four by four. I start out by writing the word in a few
different styles. When writing in block letters, the spacing between each letter called kerning can
be a bit tricky. All I can say is to make corrections and the
spacing when it looks off. There are mathematical
ways to achieve the correct spacing
between letters. But I'm not looking for that
kind of perfection here. I'm looking at the
first style I wrote in all capitals and
thinking it would look better spaced out more. I have cut the words out in a way that will make it easy to lay over my art and determine
what style I like best. You may notice that I have
changed the cross of this T. Now I can compare the words on the artwork to choose
the style I like best. I think this style
looks the best. I think the lines in
this style go well with the curves of
the curly Q vines. I want to center the
word horizontally. I find it easiest to find the
center of the paper or art. And then no equal lengths of the word will be on either
side of that center. Here I placed a mark at
the center of my art, which is the
four-by-four square. The length of the word is 2.5. So half of 2.5 is
one and a quarter. So I know I want
to start the word one-quarter inches
from the center mark. I'll make a mark one
and a quarter inches left of the center mark so I know where to start the word. Sintering the word vertically
here is a bit easier. Mostly I go by what
looks the most pleasing, and sometimes it's not always
directly in the middle. So here is where I eyeball it. I now have the guidelines for the word I have chosen
for my caption. I'm using my light pad to
trace over my lettering. You can see that I've gone over my pencil with a black
fine tip marker, so it will be easier to see
through the watercolor paper. I have my tracing paper
taped to the light pad, and we'll also secure
the watercolor paper after I have correctly
placed it over the word. If you don't have a light pad, a window with sufficient
light shining through, we'll do I'll be using a pink serosa
clip mark or by zebra. You could also use a Sharpie fine tip marker in
the color of your choosing. The important thing is to
use a marker that does not smear when using an eraser. I'm using my kneaded eraser
to lighten the pencil lines, but making sure I don't
erase them completely. And now it's a matter of
tracing over my letters. My advice is that before you write the word under
your artwork is to spend some time experimenting
with the pen or marker on a scrap piece
of the watercolor paper. Sometimes you'll find there
are ways to make the pen work better or that it may require going over the
lines a few times. I know what this
particular pen it will require going over the
lines a few times. I'm going back over
some of the lines that appear lighter
than the others. And now you've completed the first project
with the caption. Congratulations.
12. Project 2: Creating the Abstract: The first step is getting
your paints ready. I plan to use three to four
colors for this project. I'm starting by making
a blue violet mix. Picking up a small
amount of violet. I think I'm okay
with this shade. In addition to the blue violet, I will mix a very
small amount of black with the blue-green. This will grade down
the green color. I'll also want to
light shade of blue. Here. I'm adding clean
water to the well, hopefully from the
earlier brushstroke and splatter lessons, you've learned what the
right amount of water to pigment should be when
adding the water first, though, it's best to err on
the side of too little water. Getting my blue-violet
puddle of paint ready? This is the puddle of blue-green
with no added colors. Now, to add a bit of black to make a darker
shade of green. It only takes a
very small amount of black to darken the color. Getting the puddle of
light blue ready now, in this project we'll be
adding a bit of gold wash, applying it as a fine splatter. It will add a bit of
sparkle to the art. When applying the gold pigment, I'll be using an old
stiff oil brush. A toothbrush will
produce the same effect. Testing out the colors on a scrap piece of
watercolor paper. I've decided to add one
more shade for the flowers. It's a red violet
in its pure form. Be sure to have on hand
a couple of pieces of cling wrap and a few
sheets of paper towels, giving the paper a
few spritz of water. Starting with the
blue violet mix. And I envisioned
a few tall stems for the small blue
and purple flowers. Now some drops of
the red violet. Notice how I am trying
to keep the drops and splatter on the upper
portion of the paper. You could place a
paper towel over the lower third of
the watercolor paper. Adding some light blue by splattering the
paint with my brush. I decided I wanted a few
drops of light blue using a bit more control by dabbing the paint to paper
instead of dropping it. Wedding the lower portion of the paper with the spray bottle. This will create just
a bit of bleed when adding some brush
strokes for the leaves. Starting with the
blue-green color. And now the darker
shade of green. To add some variety
to the leaves, I'll use the small brush to
create some thinner leaves, or what might resemble
tall blades of grass. Extending a few strokes up a little higher
in the painting. Now, use the cling wrap just in this lower portion while
the paint is still wet, leaving this clean rap
where it is and using another piece of cling
wrap like a cotton ball, dabbing the drops of water. If your paint is dry, you can use your spray
bottle to wet it slightly again to limit the mixing of colors periodically
dry off the cling wrap. You can see I'm picking up
some of the wet paint off the tape and bringing it into the painting where I feel I
need some additional color. After lifting the cling wrap, I see this horizontal
band of color it's created and find it
to be distracting. One way to resolve this issue
is to break it up by adding a few more thin leaves using the small brush and the
two shades of green. Using the spray bottle
again to give it a fine mist to help the colors and strokes
bleed out a bit. To create a bit of sparkle. I'll be adding the gold gouache, creating a fine mist just around the border in the lower
portion of the painting. I like how the gold paint has mixed slightly with
the green paint here. I feel this edge needs
just a bit more sparkle. And of course the
flowers will need stems, and that is what we will be
doing in the next lesson, finding our flower
and leaf shapes. But for now we'll give it
just a bit of time to dry.
13. Project 2: Creating the Composition: First tape a piece of
tracing paper over the entire painting to use for sketching the flower
and leaf shapes. Here I'm deciding what clusters of blue and
purple shapes will make up the main flowers by drawing in the stems that
will connect them. I'll be using this photo of some lavender
flowers as a guide. Here, I'm deciding
how many flowers this area of shapes will become. I think this area
here needs a flower. And I'll likely put in a few more drops of
blue and purple. I'm referring now
to this close-up of the photo to see the
flower shapes better. As I draw in the flower shapes, it becomes a bit easier to tell where the
stems will appear. I see these two clusters of
shapes belonging to one stem. Now to add in one more flower
here to fill the void. I plan to keep the flower small with just a few
shapes to the stem. Peel the tape off
slowly and carefully. Using our outline
draft as our guide. We'll pencil in the
flower and leaf shapes now on our watercolor painting. Now, I'll find a
few leaf shapes. See you in the next
lesson where we will go over all our lines with
the permanent marker.
14. Project 2: Outlining the Composition: I'll be using this blue
sharpie to outline the flower shapes and the small brush to
outline the leaf shapes. Speeding things up
just a bit here. You can see that not
every shape is outlined. A fair amount of splatter
is left untouched. I've decided to use the
number two brush to outline the leaf shapes you
could choose to outline with a green
permanent marker. I'm using some of the
green paint that I have leftover from
the initial painting. This initial stroke
was way too dark, so I'll lighten it up a bit. It would've been better
if I had tested it out on a scrap piece of
watercolor paper first. Keep the lines then avoid
having a fully loaded brush. Most often you'll find you have too much water
on your brush. And remember some leaves
will overlap others. To add some variety, I plan to use some
of the gray down green for some of
the leaf outlines. Testing out the color first. Then adding some water
to lighten it up. Then keep in mind
just as you didn't outline all the flower shapes, you don't need to outline
every leaf shape that you see. Best to leave some just as
they are without the outlines. I see this bit of blue
I want to get rid of. For this, I'll use
my exact dough blade to carefully scrape it off. Using just the very
edge of the blade. Then lightly scraping
the surface of the watercolor paper to
remove just the color. This method is only
successful if using watercolor paper that
is £140 or greater. Thinner papers will not be
able to take the abuse, then take the kneaded eraser
and go back over the area. I have to use the exacto
blade in this area as well. Thinking about adding
some wispy lines to add some interest
among all the leaves. Now to work on the stems, which will be a bit
more controlled. If you have lost
your pencil lines, you may feel better putting the stems in with pencil first. Notice how I practice
where the stroke will go before actually painting it. Also knowing where a stem will be behind or in front of a leaf. This stem here, since
behind the leaf. This area here is
a bit confusing. So I'll really have to pay
attention to my outline draft. I don't want this line going
over this leaf to fix it. I can take a clean brush with clean water and go
over it a few times, lifting up the pigment. I think I need to connect a few of these flower
shapes to the stem. Keep in mind not every
single shape needs to have a stem in this type
of loose watercolor. In the next lesson, we will add the caption.
15. Project 2: Adding a Caption: I have written the
word serine in three different styles
on tracing paper. I've cut them out in a way to make it easy to lay each one over my artwork in order to
choose the one I like best. I felt this style looks best. The tall, narrow
capitals and mimic the long slender
stems of the flowers. I am winding up vertically
where to place the caption. Just trying to find what
looks the most pleasing. After marking the
vertical placement, I'll use my straight
edge to make sure my lines are perfectly straight. Lining the caption horizontally
is a bit trickier. You can measure the length of the word and divide by half, which will allow
you to know where the word should start
left of center. Here I have lined up my ruler at the edge
of the painting, which is four by four. I'll then mark the center. Sometimes you have to go with what looks pleasing to the eye versus lining it up with
the exact measurements. I will be using my light pad
to write out the caption. Remember you can
also use a window to be able to see
through the paper. I am now comparing a couple of different colors of ink and
choosing the one I like best. I think the goal looks the best. I will be using the gold
serosa clip pen by zebra. Now it's just a
matter of tracing over my lines with the pen. Make sure the ink is dry before attempting to erase
the pencil lines. This is why it's important
to use a marker or pen that does not
smudge when erased. And just like that, you've completed
the second project.
16. Ways to Protect the Watercolor: If you are not planning
on framing your project, a couple of ways to protect the watercolor or
to spray it with a clear acrylic
fixative or cover it with a self-adhesive
eliminating sheet. I gave this watercolor
three applications of fixative allowing some
drawing time between coats. You can see it hasn't changed the appearance
of the piece. This will provide
some protection, let's say if you were to
splash a little water on it, however, probably not
sufficient protection against, let's say, spilling
some coffee on it. As you can see from looking at these projects side-by-side, the mat fixative has not changed the appearance
of the watercolor. Applying a self-adhesive
laminated sheet over the top of the watercolor can
provide greater protection. And this is a quick
demonstration of how I have applied
it to my watercolor. These nine by 12 sheets
will allow you to cover the front of two completed
projects with one sheet. You could also choose to
cover both front and back. Here you can see that the
laminated covering will have a slight sheen when the light hits at
just the right way. Of course, framing
the watercolor behind ultraviolet protected glass will provide the greatest protection.
17. Displaying Your Projects: In this lesson, I'll be showing you a couple
of ways to display your projects that
will allow you to interchange them easily. Keep in mind our
list of supplies is provided in the projects
and resources section. I'll be using the
double-sided tape to attach the clothes pin to the wood
panel to make it permanent. You could use a glue gun or Elmore's craft bond
permanent tape. This side of the
clothes pin will be the side I attached
to the wood panel. These be stickers have an
adhesive backing to them. I have marked the
center of the top of the wood panel for the
placement of the clothes pin. The double-sided tape sticks
quite well to the panel. You could choose
other stickers or other embellishments such as
these cutout paper flowers, which I am attaching here. This pine slanted panel can be used like an easel
or hung on a wall. Having come to the
end of this class, you now have two beautiful
unique watercolors. But keep in mind, you
have at the same time acquired the skills to go on
and produce several more. How about going on to create five more watercolors
as I have done, and have one for each
day of the week. I really hope you'll
give it a try. When I embarked on this class, I envisioned a number of equal-sized watercolors with
uplifting or calming words. Thinking to create seven
for each day of the week, or even 31 for each
day of the month. These small,
inexpensive easels are another way to display the
completed watercolors. Either way you choose to
display your watercolors, they will certainly add a
nice accent to a bookshelf, a countertop or a small table in your home will be one of a kind.
18. Final Thoughts and Bonus Video: I hope you've enjoyed learning this loose and experimental way of painting in watercolor, and that you'll continue on to explore this magical medium. And also please let me
know Any thoughts in regards to what
you might want to learn in my next
Skillshare class. You can leave them in
the discussion section along with any other
questions you might have. Make sure to post your
finished projects. I, as well as all
the other students will enjoy seeing them. Keep in mind I have other
skill share classes and I hope you'll
check them out. You can also follow me on
Instagram and YouTube. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share my
artistic knowledge with you. I'll leave you with a
short demo video that I posted on Instagram
not too long ago. Maybe the making of a
future Skillshare class. I hope you enjoy it.
Sharon Margolies, Artist | Watercolor + Lettering
