The Iris: Part 1 - sketching and blocking with watercolour

Hello my lovely friends

Welcome to our first painting session together, where we are going to focus upon sketching in our subject and blocking with watercolour.

Overview

As this painting will include watercolour, acrylics and (potentially) pencil, the first stage of my painting is to sketch the image onto my page and to establish the foundation for the direction in which I would like my painting to take.

What this simply means is: 

• I am going to draw my flower first, then make sure that I paint the way I like.

This is key for your painting: you have to paint like you!! Not like me, or the person you may be painting with during this process. A painting represents your personal style: so if you like realism, go for it!! If you like more of an impressionist style,...it's your painting!! If you want to paint this like a stained glass effect...off you go!!

Let's start

1. Sketch in your image:

The first element here for your painting is sketching in your image. This is about placement of the image on the page (for composition) and for the perspective.

The lovely thing about flowers is that unless someone is standing over your shoulder, comparing your work to your reference photo/still life, they aren't to know that it isn't "exactly the same". The only necessary element really is the proportion of the flower to itself and within the page.

What this simply means is: 

• Don't stress if your drawing isn't "exactly like" the photo.
  
• Make sure that your flower is in balance with itself (or it will look wonky), and
  your flower is in balance with your paper (not squished down the bottom corner)

Questions:

Are you sweating on this first step?  

Are you feeling less than confident about your ability to draw this image?

Answer:

Head on over to Hints and Tips, because I have the trick for you.

2. Blocking in:

This next stage is about laying down the foundation for your painting.  You will be painting with watercolour for this stage, washing in complimentary colours that will suit the colour or our final results.

Have a look at your image, beyond the purples, blues, greens and white.  If you look closer, there are tinges of pinks, yellows and a little orange.  Can you see where?

What this simply means:

We are going to paint the "under colours" for our painting.

Important:

blocking means washes of colour - no details at this stage!!

Practice first!!

Before we start painting directly to our paper, we need to first practice with our watercolours.  This will help you establish your preferred look and style for your painting.

I had at my disposal water colour pencils, crayons and paint:  add these to either wet or dry paper and there are some very different results!

The above practice paintings are with watercolour paint.  On the left is dry paper, painting with wet watercolour.  The right is wet paper, painted with a mixture of dry watercolour paint and wet watercolour paint.

 The first row below is using watercolour crayon.  On the left again is the dry paper, on the right the wet. 

The bottom row is the watercolour pencil.  Left is dry, right is wet.

So, before you start I would like for you to practice with whatever watercolour you have to work out what you want your painting to look like.

1.  Select one part of your image: eg a section of the flower, then sketch two outlines onto a separate piece of paper: one for wet and one for dry.  I did this for each of my watercolour applications: pencil, crayon and paint - so had six in total.

2.  Now, wet one of your sketches with water.

3. Using a mixture of "dry" watercolour - eg pencil or crayon direct to paper, or watercolour in an "acrylic" style, paint in some of your sketch.

What do you think?  

Try wetting your brush and stroke this over the top.

Different again? 

Try this:

4. Using a mixture of "wet" watercolour - eg pencil or crayon dipped in water, or watercolour applied with a wet brush, paint in some more of your sketch.

It's different again, yes?!

Keep playing...

• draw with a wet pencil onto wet paper and pull this out with a wet brush.
• paint with a wet brush loaded with watercolour onto your wet paper.

What did you find: were the colours more intense when added "dry" to the wet paper?  Did they "bleed" and spread through the wet paper?  When you added "wet" on wet, what happened?

As you would have found, there are some amazing results through this process and a really clean way of blending colours directly to the paper.

Now, on your sketch that is on the dry side of the paper, try the same again:

• Sketch your pencil or crayon onto the paper, then pull it out with a wet brush.
• With a water dipped brush, select some paint and apply to the dry paper.
• The more water you use, the more transparent your paint.
• The less water: the more opaque and intense your colour.

This is all about playing, experimenting and working out what YOU prefer.  It is much better to do this on a separate piece of paper than on your "good copy",  yes?

As a result of my testing, I am going to use a combination of the methods.

1. watercolour paint onto dry paper;
2. watercolour crayon onto wet paper.

Two very different looks.

Once you are satisfied how you are comfortable using watercolour, start blocking in the painting.

Remember: blocking, not detailing!

Once this stage is complete, we will move onto the next stage: using watercolours and acrylics together to add depth and dimension.

Please email me with any questions that you may have, particularly if the instructions are unclear.

Happy painting!!