Paint Watercolor Flowers: A Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide

by Birgit O'Connor

Overview

You can paint beautiful blooms, step by step!
 
Sunflowers, orchids, daffodils, lilies...your brush can bring these and more to life with Paint Watercolor Flowers. Master watercolorist Birgit O'Connor guides you every step of the way, from selecting essential watercolor supplies, to practicing basic painting techniques, to capturing the unique details of a variety of flowers, to showing them off in striking, color-rich compositions. Learn how to paint nine different flowers, with each demonstration covering important concepts you need for successful results. Friendly, easy-to-follow instructions make flower painting fun and doable for any artist, whether you are new to the medium or simply want to try a subject you haven't painted before.

   • Detailed instruction on color, value, creating shadows, composition and more
   • 3 negative painting demonstrations
   • 9 start-to-finish flower painting demonstrations exploring topics such as creating backgrounds, layering color, values in white flowers, values in colored flowers and much more

Learn to play with gorgeous color and water effects, expressing yourself with the unparalleled beauty of nature's bouquet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440349966
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/26/2018
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	891,393
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Birgit O'Connor, a popular workshop teacher and online instructor, is also the author of Watercolor in Motion and Watercolor Essentials. For more on Birgit, visit birgitoconnor.com.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Getting Ready to Paint

When I first started painting, I began with a colorful sixteen-pan watercolor set by Prang along with a pad of student-grade watercolor paper. At that time, I really didn't think there would be that much of a difference in the quality of the materials, only in price. The color set looked bright enough and came with what seemed to be a suitable brush, and the paper I bought said it was for watercolor, so that must be all I needed and I was on my way.

Then, when painting, I just couldn't understand why my colors did not look clean — in fact, they always appeared muddy. When I struggled to keep them light and transparent, they turned out weak and wimpy, and any that I tried to darken ended up thick and pasty.

I didn't realize that many of the problems I was having were actually in the materials I was using. As with anything, the tools you use contribute to the outcome of your success.

When starting out, if possible, begin with the best artist-grade materials you can afford. This doesn't mean you have to use the most expensive brand of brush, the highest quality of pigment, or the heaviest weight paper, but use materials that fall somewhere in between beginner and professional quality.

Student-grade supplies can be cheaper to purchase, but they can also make it challenging to get the results you want. They just don't react the same way artist-grade materials do.

If you're thinking that you'd like to try the medium before making a large investment and you need to work within a budget, start with a good student-grade brand of paint (tubes, not pans), at least one good sable/synthetic blend brush (a no. 12 or no. 14 round), and artist-grade paper in a lighter weight or even a block. One reason to buy better paper is because the student-grade often contains mostly wood pulp and has a tendency to curl, so when layering color on it, the surface does not accept water and paint in the same way. Color can lift easily and mix with previous layers, resulting in a muddy, unattractive look.

How to Set Up Your Studio

Your studio space doesn't have to be huge or cost a lot, it just needs to be some place where you are comfortable. Here are some other studio considerations.

Work Surface

Since most watercolor is done on a flat surface, all you really need is a table to work on. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive; it can be a folding table or, if your studio space is smaller, an easel that can lay flat. Experiment and see what works for your environment.

Storage Space

Every artist needs a place to store art supplies. It doesn't have to be huge, it just depends on how much you have. For storing paint, consider using fishing tackle boxes or clear plastic containers where you can easily see inside. If your studio is in your home, you may prefer something that's more pleasing to the eye, such as baskets.

A bookshelf with clear containers works well, or perhaps a small table or cart where you can store your supplies underneath. You also don't need to store everything in the same room; for instance, you might paint in one room and hang paintings and store your supplies in another.

Lighting

Natural light is best but not always available, and you may like painting at night, so consider using lamps with daylight bulbs or color-corrected fluorescent lights. See the next page for more on lighting.

Running Water

Running water is a must, but not always available in the room where you paint. If you have a sink, kitchen or bathroom close by, that is really helpful, but if not, you can always dump your water outside and fill your water bucket using a faucet or hose.

As far as hardness or softness of the water, some artists may have a different view, but work with what you have. Don't worry about it.

Always use a large water bucket, about 1–2 gallons (4–8 liters), and make sure that you fill it up about three quarters of the way full. Change the water often, but having a large amount of water ready to go means you won't have to change it quite as often.

Ventilation

Some watercolor papers can be a little stinky when they get wet, so remember to open a few windows or have a fan to circulate the air.

Floor Covering

Watercolors are not terribly messy, so in most cases you are probably fine as is. Just to be safe, however, you might want to consider putting down a fabric dropcloth or plastic sheeting. Plastic can be slippery, so be careful.

A Place to Rest

Consider having a comfortable chair where you can sit down, rest, reflect, contemplate your composition and just take a moment for yourself.

Studio Lighting Conditions

When it comes to the kind of light to have in your studio, it's best to have full-spectrum natural light, ideally from north-facing windows. The reason for this is the light will stay fairly consistent throughout the day without direct light coming in.

For many of us, that's not always possible. The windows may be facing the wrong direction, your studio space may have no windows at all or perhaps you like to paint either at night or early in the morning. Sometimes you may even start a painting in the day then continue to paint at night, which can greatly affect your color choices. Other people find the only time they can paint is with a group, and with that, lighting can be questionable. In any case, you don't need to wait for the conditions to be perfect or for the sun to be facing the right direction in order to paint.

We all want the lighting where we paint to show the colors as accurately as possible. If your painting style is more realistic, then full-spectrum light is very important to you, and if you're a little more free-flowing, you may have a little more flexibility.

All of our situations can be corrected with lighting fixtures, lamps and bulbs. If you paint in a group or travel from room to room, workshop to workshop, consider a portable full-spectrum tabletop, craft, hobby, desk or clamp-on lamp. You can even find full-spectrum collapsible lamps. One brand popular with artists and hobbyists is OttLite, found at hobby, craft and big-box stores or online. Some are wireless and battery-operated. You just want to make sure you have enough light when painting.

Let's talk a little about studio (light) temperature created by the light bulbs you buy and how to create the environment you want. Studio temp is measured in degrees of Kelvin (K) on a scale of 1,000 to 10,000.

• Warm white light (2000K–3000K): Produces a warm white that ranges from orange to yellow-white in appearance and creates a cozy, calm, intimate environment and is best for living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms (not a painting light).

• Cool white light (3100K–4500K): A cool or bright white that will emit a more neutral white light and can have a slightly blue tint. It's good for work environments like basements and garages, and it makes an okay painting light.

• Daylight (4600K–6500K): The closest to daylight, this appears crisp and clean and is the best painting light. 5000K is better for artists because it is less blue and cool and is closer to what most galleries use.

Don't worry if you feel overwhelmed by too much technical information on lighting — you don't need to change all your fixtures, you just need to learn a bit about bulbs.

• Incandescent bulbs use too much energy and give off a yellow light that can distort colors.

• Halogen bulbs are acceptable but produce too much heat and are expensive.

• Compact fluorescent bulbs use less energy, are brighter, last longer and come in a larger range of color temperatures. Just understand that they brighten up a little more slowly.

• LED bulbs are usually more expensive but use the least amount of energy and are said to have the longest lifespan. A 60-watt bulb uses 10 watts of electricity and is equivalent to 5000K.

Basically, all you need is a clean white light that is closest to daylight without being too blue — 5000K should do fine. Many artists prefer compact fluorescent or LED bulbs because you can simply replace the bulbs in your lighting fixtures to get the proper studio lighting.

Paints

In order to have the best results, it's always good to start with the best materials possible, because they will help you have a better understanding of how the watercolor medium works, and you are less likely to create muddy color. But if you are just starting out or need to be more economical, student-grade paints are a good place to start. They are less expensive but not as many colors are available.

Student-Grade Watercolors

Student-grade paint is not as finely ground and is made with cheaper materials, so you can't expect the same results you might get with artist-grade paint, and you may find some noticeable differences with student-grade color. Depending on the brand, some may not be as rich and others may even be chalky. They can have more filler (that clear, gooey substance you see when squeezing a tube of color onto your palette) and less pigment load, meaning you may have less coverage and a weaker tinting strength, and color will not be as lightfast, meaning less likely to fade.

Student-grade paints may have the same color name as some of the artist-grade paints, but the color will not be the same, and color choices are limited. You may notice that the word "hue" appears in the name of many student-grade paints; all it means is that alternatives have been added to replace some of the more expensive pigments or those that are toxic, and their tinting strength may not be as strong or may be less predictable. (With today's concerns over toxicity, even some artist-grade paints are now starting to include more alternatives, so you can see the word "hue" there, too.)

If using student sets, I suggest tubes over pans, but if you plan to do more outside painting, pan sets will be fine. Some good beginner student sets to try are Sakura Koi, Van Gogh, Grumbacher Academy or Winsor & Newton Cotman.

Artist-Grade Watercolors

When painting, the best choice to use is artist-grade or professional watercolors. They can cost about twice as much as student-grade but are well worth the investment. Artistgrade paint is heavily pigmented and more finely ground, which means it has the richest color. It will flow the best when applied to water and is more lightfast.

Many brands of artist-grade paint are available. Prices will vary, and the pigment load and extender or filler may vary slightly, but the biggest difference is the range of hues each brand offers.

Picking Brands

With so many brands of paint available, the variety can sometimes be overwhelming. The place where you are purchasing your supplies can determine what's available to you. Art stores will carry the most popular and best-selling brands. Online art supply companies will have a wider variety. In reality, you don't need to worry about all the different brands that are out there; just start with what is readily available.

To get advice on which brand to choose, consult art instruction books or videos, or ask your retailer for options. Talk to other artists or join art groups or social media groups to find what colors and brands they like to use.

Mixing Brands

You can mix different brands together, but some artists believe you should stick with only one brand for the best results. When mixed, different brands may give you unexpected results and appear dull or muddy. They may also move or interact differently than when mixing paints of the same brand. This is why having a scrap piece of paper handy to test a color or blend is very important, and making color charts is even better. When mixing, consider labeling your mixtures so you can return at a later time and use what you like.

Colors With the Same Name Are Not the Same

No matter what brand you buy, not all pigments are created equal, even the ones bearing the exact same name. Each manufacturer's interpretation of the pigment color can differ, and there are many other variables, such as shade and lightfastness, which can vary from brand to brand. So don't expect all brands with the same color name to be the same.

Tube Size Matters

The most common tube sizes are 5ml and 14ml, and now some of the more popular colors are available in the 37ml size, but for general purposes I suggest buying 14ml.

You might think that getting the smaller tubes of paint will save you money, but that's not true. With smaller tubes, you will find yourself being stingy with the amount of color you put on your palette or worried that you will run out. Plus, using less can leave you with a painting that is weak in color. Buying larger tubes of the artist-grade paint not only gives you better-quality paint and color, but you will have more freedom when painting to explore without being inhibited. So, in the long run, the larger tubes will save you money.

Organizing Your Tubes

If you're like many artists, over time we start to accumulate different colors or more and more tubes of the same ones we like. With so many tubes, how can you organize them so you can easily access the colors you want when you need them?

If you have just a few colors, they can fit nicely in a box, but if you have lots of tubes, you will need some kind of inventory system. They can be sorted into color families or into primary and secondary colors or even by brand or type (transparent vs. opaque, granular vs. non-granular, etc.).

Tool or tackle boxes can store tubes nicely, but if you have a lot of colors, you might try using a clear-pocket shoe organizer that can hang on a door (where you can easily see the tubes of color), clear plastic boxes or bags or rolling bin organizers (label the outside with swatches of the colors or families of colors inside) or attaching tubes to a board using binder clips.

Storing Extra Tubes

Sometimes colors get discontinued, and you may find yourself purchasing more color than you need for fear of running out. For some artists, one way to keep a lot of paint at its peak is to vacuum seal the color into bags and freeze it.

Tubes vs. Pans

Artist-grade tube colors are rich and vibrant. They're ready for mixing and dissolve easily in water, blending and flowing effortlessly. Some artists like to use the color right out of the tube without diluting it. Tube colors are great for mixing large batches of color or when working on large-scale paintings, because you have control over how much color you squeeze onto your palette. You can fill your wells with as much color as you like and even refill pan colors or make your own sets.

Tubes can take up a lot of space, so some artists prefer to fill all their palette wells with entire tubes of paint. This can make it more convenient to transport and easier to travel with. Like other artists, I prefer to squeeze out fresh color when starting a new painting and take advantage of that smooth, creamy consistency.

Pan colors are dry pigments that come in a set or individual pans, which you activate by re-wetting them before painting. Color choices can be more limited though, as most manufacturers do not have all colors available in pans. You can make your own pan sets by purchasing empty pans and filling them with tube colors of your choice; these work well for collapsible palettes or travel sets.

To re-wet, simply spray dried pigment with clean water. Be aware that some colors may appear light and washed out if you're using larger brushes and more water.

Pan colors do present some challenges. Depending on the brand, their tinting strength may not be as strong. Depending on the brush size you want to use, you may be a little limited with smaller pans. There can be a tendency to want to dig into the paint with your brush to pick up more color, which can damage your brush and also jam pigment into the ferrule, carrying the potential to contaminate other colors. Pan colors can also become crumbly and bits of pigment can hide in your brush, only to be found again when working on a large wash.

Using Transparent Colors

Make sure you are using transparent watercolors rather than opaque. Transparent colors are best for glazing and tinting and make for some of the cleanest color blends without turning muddy.

The transparency of a color is determined by how much light can pass through it. When transparent color is applied in thin layers, you can see through it to the reflective paper surface underneath, where the light is able to bounce off of the white paper, creating jewel-like effects similar to stacking one layer of colored glass on top of another. Not only is this a wonderful effect, but the technique can alter the hue.

A color's transparency is stated on the side of the tube. Even when a color is labeled as transparent, its transparency will vary depending on how finely ground it is and the heaviness of the pigment load.

Choosing Paint Colors

Earlier in this book you were provided a list of the watercolors I use, which you will see later in the demonstrations.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Paint Watercolor Flowers"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Birgit O'Connor.
Excerpted by permission of F+W Media, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction, 4,
Chapter 1 Getting Ready to Paint, 6,
Chapter 2 Basic Watercolor Techniques, 28,
Chapter 3 Understanding Color, 42,
Chapter 4 Designing Strong Compositions, 58,
Chapter 5 Lessons and Demonstrations in Watercolor, 74,
Daffodils, 92,
Orange Cactus Flowers, 98,
Hibiscus, 102,
Tree Peony, 106,
Rhododendrons, 110,
Sunflowers, 116,
Calla Lilies, 120,
Orchids, 128,
Apple Blossoms, 134,
Index, 140,
Acknowledgments, 142,
About the Author, 143,