I don't know about you but some days my energy levels are at rock bottom. I have been chatting to a few good friends and they too seem to be tired , perhaps it's the muggy weather or the menopause !! Who knows but we all take a dip in energy from time to time.
I find a walk in the Devon countryside is always a good idea.
So in this blog I thought we'd try a smaller more manageable painting ,maybe a hour or two of watercolour will take you away from the world.
I wanted to show you all again how I go about exploiting watercolour's extraordinary properties, to make a lovely watercoloury piece. And sometimes something small feels less daunting....
So I sketched out the foxglove and the bee. Then sprayed the paper with a fine mist, from a water bottle. Then I tapped from my watery brush, droplets of watercolour pinky paint, I used alizarin crimson.
Then I dapped the bits I didn't like with a tissue and let the whole thing dry completely
Some watercolourists would carry on wet in wet, controlling the paint and buildling up an impression of the flower. I like to go in with some detail to have a contrast between the loose and the tight painting. So I began on the small leaves at the top of the flower. Nice bluey greens
Then onto the flower itself. It's amazing how many colours are in one flower. There is blue, orangy red and yellow, as well as pink
I like to leave parts for the ridges on the flower. Getting darker as I go
Then to begin on the inside too, building up colours and shadow. I carefully paint around the white spots with a very small brush. If you're not confident you could use masking fluid.
See how I am using blues in with the pinks to reflect the colours around the flower
Then the bee, yellows first then the 'black' parts which I really paint in cerulean blue and paynes grey.
Small brushes and attention to detail.
Finally the wings and the legs.
Now I add a hint at the other foxgloves around and add a few finishing touches, now back to the jubilee.....
