Tag Archives: watercolor demo

Painting Cherries in Watercolour – step-by-step demo

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In a virtual frame but not quite finished yet.....

In a virtual frame but not quite finished yet…..

Always a satisfying subject to paint cherries are. I love their beautiful red, claret colour and the  spindly curvy stems. They make a beautiful composition no matter how you place them in readiness to paint.

Brushes at the ready but I only used a 3 and a 6 round really.

Brushes at the ready but I only used a 3 and a 6 round really.

 

Here is a group of 5 cherries with stems. I just used Arches hot pressed 90lbs paper and a Size 6 and a szie 3 round brush plus Cadmium Yellow Pale, Alizarin Crimson, Rose Madder Genuine, Olive Green and French Ultramarine to paint this simple study.

cherries demo

It is not finished yet as I have work to do on the shadow sides and to create more shine on the sunstruck parts of the cherries…watch this space for the final final result:)

I lifted the white "shiners" out with a clean dampish brush.

I lifted the white “shiners” out with a clean dampish brush.

 

I was satisfied with this painting because it went well with the washes looking natural and the forms shaping up nicely. I relished in plunging the deep red/clarets into the wet washes to get the darkest part of the fruits shown.

cherries f

 

 

Art Demo – Watercolour Fly Agaric Mushrooms

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Now I am really hooked – been drawing more mushrooms this morning and painting their fragile, pulpy yet paper fibrous stalks – love them – so tactile and cute.
I love their random nobbliness and charm – carefree and child-like.
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Here’s how I did them.
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Paper is Arches Hot Pressed 90lbs. Unstretched as you can see.
I just paint on the paper and flatten it later.
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Paints Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Scarlet, Chrome Orange, Cadmium Yellow, French Ultramarine, Sap Green, Cerulean Blue. Brushes No. 3 round.
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1. I drew the mushrooms roughly in pencil 3B
2. I wet the entire surface (apart from some teeny dry specks which will be the white bits later) of some heads of mushrooms and added Alizarin Crimson/Cadmium Red here and there and  let it run. I added a deeper mix of this colour on shadow sides of heads to start creating form. The shadow sides I have created are all on the left of the mushrooms.
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I drew another single mushroom as a more detailed study and here you can see the wetness of the head ready to be charged with red paint.
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Let the medium do it !
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OK – back to out happy grouping…
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Now I darken areas of the heads with a deeper red mix.
I also felt the painting was looking overall too cool and not appealing so I added a splash of Cadmium Yellow and Chrome Orange to the Left hand side of some of the mushroom heads and stalks  to bring in some sunshine:)
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Add some sap green to darken the red  off.
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Then I wet the entire stalks and added a thin line of grey made from French Ultramarine and Sap Green along the Right hand side and let it run into the wet part.
This creates a curved illusion on the stalks.
 
 
So this is where I am going to stop now as I need a cup of tea and the Jack Russells are getting restless!
Back to continue soon. I hope you found this interesting /useful? Any comments pop them below:)
Alison
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

How to Paint a Watercolour Crab

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Here we go – for those who want to know how to paint a crab in watercolour -

Here I am using a size 3 round brush to add some New Gamboge yellow to his foreclaw to suggest sunlight

I drew the outline of the crab then painted his entire surface with clean water. This gets the paper ready to accept splashy and watery colour to good effect.

Then I banged in some teal blue and let it run – I tip the paper this way and that and let the medium do it.

The first 4 steps…roughly – it is very hard to paint and photograph myself at the same time!

As it starts to dry a I then went back in to darken shadow areas and start to build form. Finally – when totally dry I add the detail work and spatter – viola. Only problem is I forgot one leg!!!!

Here we have a crab with the correct amount of legs created into a cute pillow -

Crab throw pillow

To see my range of crab artwork that I have in my online gallery – please click here - enjoy!

The last 4 steps. Due to being overly worried about taking shots of myself painting I forgot one of his legs.

GSD Art Demo in watercolour – How to paint an Alsatian

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Started painting this stunning Alsatian a day or so ago for a lady called Katie. Charlie belongs to teh clan MacKenzie and I am building up his Scottish tartan kerchief slowly but surely.

Here are the very early stages of his portrait which will need much more work before completion so watch this space…

Watercolour Cat Demo – The Bengal Cat

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Here we go – I got three fab cats today and decided to go for the Bengal (in the middle)because of its eyes – utterly icy green blue – so delicate and fine.

I drew it first but wasn’t that pleased with my drawing as I made him too short in the body. Oh well. Then I started painting and felt impatient to get the colours creating some form and made myself slow down. Didn’t like him in the early stages as he was so wishy washy. As I loaded more bold colour and strokes of violet here and there that pleased me and developing his mesmeric eyes made me overall happy with his cheeky pose.

Here he is in close up – Result!

How to Paint a Watercolour Crab

by

Here we go – for those who want to know how to paint a crab in watercolour -

Here I am using a size 3 round brush to add some New Gamboge yellow to his foreclaw to suggest sunlight

I drew the outline of the crab then painted his entire surface with clean water. This gets the paper ready to accept splashy and watery colour to good effect.

Then I banged in some teal blue and let it run – I tip the paper this way and that and let the medium do it.

The first 4 steps…roughly – it is very hard to paint and photograph myself at the same time!

As it starts to dry a I then went back in to darken shadow areas and start to build form. Finally – when totally dry I add the detail work and spatter – viola. Only problem is I forgot one leg!!!!

To see my range of crab artwork that I have in my online gallery – please click here - enjoy!

The last 4 steps. Due to being overly worried about taking shots of myself painting I forgot one of his legs.

Art Demo – Watercolour Crab

by

Here we go – for those who want to know how to paint a crab in watercolour -

Here I am using a size 3 round brush to add some New Gamboge yellow to his foreclaw to suggest sunlight

 

I drew the outline of the crab then painted his entire surface with clean water. This gets the paper ready to accept splashy and watery colour to good effect.

 

Then I banged in some teal blue and let it run – I tip the paper this way and that and let the medium do it.

The first 4 steps…roughly – it is very hard to paint and photograph myself at the same time!

As it starts to dry a I then went back in to darken shadow areas and start to build form. Finally – when totally dry I add the detail work and spatter – viola. Only problem is I forgot one leg!!!!

The last 4 steps. Due to being overly worried about taking shots of myself painting I forgot one of his legs.

GSD Art Demo in watercolour – How to paint an Alsatian

by

Started painting this stunning Alsatian a day or so ago for a lady called Katie. Charlie belongs to teh clan MacKenzie and I am building up his Scottish tartan kerchief slowly but surely.

Here are the very early stages of his portrait which will need much more work before completion so watch this space…

Watercolour Cat Demo – The Bengal Cat

by

Here we go – I got three fab cats today and decided to go for the Bengal (in the middle)because of its eyes – utterly icy green blue – so delicate and fine.

I drew it first but wasn’t that pleased with my drawing as I made him too short in the body. Oh well. Then I started painting and felt impatient to get the colours creating some form and made myself slow down. Didn’t like him in the early stages as he was so wishy washy. As I loaded more bold colour and strokes of violet here and there that pleased me and developing his mesmeric eyes made me overall happy with his cheeky pose.

Here he is in close up – Result!