May Flowers
This month I decided to commit to a month of learning to paint flowers. I found 2 fantastic artists on Patreon with Botanical tutorials. Louise DeMasi from Australia and Anna Bucciarelli from Toronto, Canada.
First of all a huge shout out to these 2 amazing artists! Their work is stunning, as is their ability and patience to create tutorials for artists of all levels.
Secondly, a huge shout out to my family and friends for repeatedly listening to my imploring wail that ‘Botanicals are haaaaarrrrrd!’
Here is some of what I learned:
Brush control- especially with the small size zero brush, that make it possible to paint veins on tiny petals.
It was fun to go shopping at House of Fine Arts in Abbotsford and Opus Arts in Langley for new brushes, paints and Frisket. And it was fun to achieve the detail work with the right tools.
Better understanding of varying degrees of wetness and how that affects the paint, and creates softer lines. I learned to wait for the water to dry. I like to rush. I learned to wait.
Realism is hard. I am accustomed to painting with feelings not facts. Feelings make floral watercolours muddy. I was forced to Stick to the facts presented in the photo.
Intentional color mixing.Fun! Louise DeMasse has great insight to colour matching from a small palette range.
Im trying a new brand of watercolour paint called Qor in ‘new to me’ shades: dioxazene Purple and Quinachrodone Magenta.
Oh my goodness. I approached each tutorial like a beginner and followed instructions to the letter. Even with a decade of painting and self guided study this was challenging.
During the Calla Lily tutorial I caught myself muttering ‘I hate calla lilies I should have done the Daisies! ‘ (I actually love Calla Lilies)
My favorite tutorial was The Poppy.
My most successful is The Red Onions, but only the red one, not the 2 muddy ones.
My most eagerly anticipated was the Calla Lilies. My biggest struggle was the Calla Lillies.
I truly enjoyed the Pink Peony and was genuinely surprised at the outcome of the White Peony.
My biggest surprise was discovering that even though I had all the right equipment and tools; comprehensive outlines; videos that I could start and stop and closely examine; with amazing talented artists guiding me step by step, my finished products still look very beginnerish.
For the most part I loved doing this.
I will definitely try more again.
Here are the results of a month of Botanical Study. Do you have a favorite?