Final Project:

I am thrilled with this result, and so excited to have learned this wonderful process! I learned SO much. I am not confident with the dip pen, but love playing with it. I kept the pen lines to the minimum, but really I would have been happy without any of them for this particular flower. These are garden “Rocket” Snapdragons. I had 4”x24” scraps of Strathmore watercolor paper from a different project, which works out well for this tall flower. I found it easier to paint it in the bottle standing up than laying it flat on my table. 

Warm-ups to final project - I did one shape and one value study of the flower heads.

Exercise 3: 

I did the ink warm-ups over the 3 clover value studies. I need practice with the dip pens…lots of blobs! But I look forward to using these pens more and improving these skills.

Exercise 2:

I did 3 value studies of the wild clover. 5 min each. Really enjoyed this. Used Prussian blue and a darker value blue/indigo.

Exercise 1: shape warm-ups. 

I’m still getting comfortable with the brushes and trying different ones that I own, as well as with making washes. One challenge is finding wildflowers that aren’t wilted (we are having a heat wave). I tried the exercise with Canada Anemone, one of my favorites, and also some wild clover. 

Super helpful exercises!