My aim is to create paintings that look loose and spontaneous, belying the thought that went into the layers and the persistence to create that result. Take this flower painting:
From a distance the loose brushwork blends together in your eyes, then dissolves into abstract shapes of colour as you get closer.
The brush strokes add an energy, vibration to the painting. The layers create visual intrigue and depth.
This was my starting point (don’t adjust your eyes, the photo is fuzzy). The cerulean blue background was dry before I started painting the flowers. Notice that I have already used two yellows, to create a vibrancy in the yellow rather than having a flat yellow shapes.
The next photo I took was a fair bit further along:
And further still in the next photo, the most obvious being the pink flowers. I’ve also added to the centres of the daisies and a bit of “background blue” into the petals:
Here’s a detail:
At this stage I left it overnight so I could see it with fresher eyes. I made a note of two things I definitely wanted to do: glaze the background with a transparent blue to eliminate the chalkiness in that area from having white in the colour mix (more evident in real life than the photo) and add a touch of lemon yellow onto the centres of the daisies to have two yellows in there.
When I picked up my brushes again I added white to the petals of daisies with a rigger brush and a touch of lemon yellow to their centres. The point of the rigger gives the fine line. Flattening the hairs against the surface and moving it sideways gives the scratchier marks.
I added transparent blue to the background and a few of the flowers to darken purples and greens, as well as layers to the squirly foliage (using a sword brush). I gave up getting the handle of my beloved yellow jug looking comfortable, so mixed up an opaque blue to paint it out (artistic licence!). When that had dried, I added a transparent blue once again to ensure the background didn’t look patchy.
So how many layers and colours are there in my white daisies? I don’t know because I didn’t count them as I painted. I didn’t write out an “ingredients list” before I started as I am familiar with my options (if you’re new to layering it can be time well spent) so pick and choose as I’m painting. It’s a juggling act of colour, tone, and brushwork that risks tumbling in a mess whilst trusting my process.
Wondering if this would work with Watercolour. Maybe give it a try x
Giving it a try is the best way to discover, and I encourage you to give it a try. The one difference with watercolour is the lack of a strongly opaque white for a top layer, but gouache, a gel pen or an oil pastel will give you that.