The Iris: Part 3 - background

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"Welcome!"

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The previous sessions for this subject

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Hi guys!!

I am so excited to be back, but more importantly, to receive the wonderful comments and questions that are coming through!!

I will update the FAQ with questions that will benefit everyone, so remember to take your peepers over there from time to time to make sure you don't miss anything important.

Last session we looked at introducing our white acrylic into our flower. How did you go? Did you experiment first...or did you launch straight in and onto your flower? What did you find with your results? Like them...?

Yes, I know you may not have, but remember when you Paint with Me, there are no mistakes or bad results - I find I am constantly learning through the gaffs I make and I hope you do too. In fact, here's a secret just between us - I find it is when I DO make the mistakes that I actually start painting more freely - instead of painting in such a tight, serious fashion, I tend to think "oh well...I've done it now!" and just keep on going...and when you let it all go, and you care just that little bit less about the "perfect" result, you are free to try anything. And that's pretty exciting! Just be sure that you take a "note to self" on what you did that you didn't like, so that you can be sure not to do it again. :-)

Well, that's my take on "the silver lining" theory.

Right, let's get busy!!

Overview

Background

Last session we focussed upon bringing in more colour to our flower with our watercolours - be it, crayon, pencil or paint - and defining our lights and darks with the use of white acrylic.

This week, we are going to focus upon our background - we want to push it back so that our flower is the focal point.

When I chose to paint this image I did not include every detail of the background - in fact, I didn't paint the "detail" at all; preferring to wash in lights and darks in the general vicinity of where these occurred within the leaves and foilage.

But before I get too carried away, let's have a look at our image again, just to refresh our memories (yep, even I forget to go back to my reference image).

Stop looking at the flower....look at the background. :-)

When it gets darker

My preference is to never, ever, use black in my paintings. There is no true black in nature and if there is anything called black, it has a "hole" after it and the life is being sucked right out of everything around it. Not pretty for our lovely colourful paintings.

My preference is to use shades of cooler colours, primarily blues or, the best option: Paynes Grey!!

Go out and get yourself some right now, or at least once the shops open, because a lovely light wash of Paynes Grey over any "too bright" background colour will dull your colour right back, but will keep the undertone of colour still visible where it doesn't pop and fight for attention. If your preference is to use a blacker colour, use your Paynes Grey with a little less water. Happy darks all round!

If you have used black, that's okay!!

This is about your style and taste too,

but just so you know now why I rarely use it.

A touch of colour theory

Back to our image: see those orange flowers in the background - yep, I left them out entirely. See, the basic theory is that blue recedes and red comes forward. Put another way:

Cools recede and Warms come forward.

So what would have happened if we popped a big orange blobs as part of the backdrop to our "cool" coloured flower? Yep!

POP!!

Hello!!

So, no orange in my background.

Details to pick and choose

Do you see that extra, random, floating Iris at the top: Gone! It didn't serve a point to my painting. And that's the point to painting!! It's your painting! If you feel that something is distracting from your focal point, don't add it!! Whose to know?! If you wish to crop the image entirely and focus only on one part - way to go!!

The point is, if there is no point, let it go because it will only cause you grief later - you know, you will look at it and wish that you had just not included it...you thought to leave it out, but thought "no, it's part of the image"...remember, when the painting is complete, the image goes in the bin never to be referenced by "comparitive critics" again. End. Of. Story.

Did you already...?

Now if you have chosen to leave in the orange and all the details that I didn't, don't break out in a cold sweat - remember Paynes Grey? As part of your background, give it a nice light wash...and they should recede.
The other thing I did with my painting is to make the background "blurry"...There was no sharply focussed detail because that makes it seem important. So my tip, keep the background simply as a "hint" to what's there.

Before we start: my Numero Uno tip

If you like it, don't touch it.

Just because I am rambling on about colours, lights, darks and black holes: it doesn't mean that you aren't, or shouldn't be, already happy with what you have achieved.

Like all advice, mine is to be taken only when needed. The rest of the time just file it away in case it comes in handy some other time.

Down to business....

Practice

Before you get into your real painting, remember to try out first on on a different piece of paper. If you feel comfortable of course, just launch right in.

Practice your wet-on-wet (paper) or your wet-on-dry (paper).

Same as for previous sessions, practice, practice...play,...work out first how you want your paint to work for you.

Assess your current tones and values

Do you have lots of green in the background? Make sure they aren't cheery yellow greens, because those babies will pop. Tone it back with a wash of Paynes Grey, or even a touch of blue.

As we need to bring our flower forward, we need to consider the opposites to make this happen. To do this, lets break our flower up into sections:

1. The very top petal area of our flower is mostly lilac, mauves, blues and white - very cool. We need to make sure our white pops here against the contrast of the background. I decided to make my background darker here (remember, in paintings we can do what we like!)
2. The left hand petal is primarily purples, blues and more white - Cools. We have the advantage that purple includes red, so if we make our background foilage here more green, it will work in contrast to the purple.
3. The petal in front is coming forward and has the benefit of a touch (and I mean a smidge) of orange, yellow and pink - no bright white here as it is in shadow - these are warm colours, so works to our advantage by naturally coming forward.
4. The stem of the main flower is green, but trust me when I say if you add a wash of orange to this, it will help to bring this forward of the other green stems in the background, which will be dull and cooler in comparison.

So consider all of these elements as you put some depth and extra layering of watercolour into the background....if you think you need it.

See, nothing special! Just wash away with your colours...see what happens.

The next session will be all about getting into the detail...pencils and white acrylics (again!)...we are almost finished!!

And remember, I am always at hand if you need help!

Happy painting team!