Intermediate Watercolor March 2024 – Session 2

Thursday Apr 4th 2024 – 1pm-3pm EST

Click here when we’re due to start Zoom link

Flowers this week which are always tricky. The value changes are subtle and the colors can be surprising.

I will record the drawing ahead of time and send out a link to it (it will also be on the youtube playlist too). Please do the drawing ahead of time please go ahead. I know that often people want to take time over this and it gives us more time in class for painting.

(All session materials are linked off the main page)

Materials:

  • Student paper for mixing color swatches
  • 100% cotton paper for the full painting (I’ll be using 10″x10″)
  • Value scale (See the Useful Tools page)
  • Pencil/Paint/Palette/Water/Paper towels/masking tape
  • Brushes: A larger brush for the background washes. A slightly smaller (10 or 12) for the buildings and more detailed areas.
  • Colors: Cobalt blue, Ultramarine, Burnt sienna, Vermillion/napthol/cad red (orangey red), Cad lemon/hansa yellow (greenish yellow), yellow ochre, black.

I will be using the new ChromaMagic app for mixing. Definitely not necessary for the class and the free version is always available. The app does have a nifty new feature for showing swatches that you can mix from though which will be handy in class.

Reference Photo (click to enlarge and right click to download)

daisies in blue
daisies in blue

Reference Photo with grid

Daisies in Blue Grid Reference
Daisies in Blue Grid Reference

My version

Daisies in Blue Watercolor
Daisies in Blue Watercolor

This is actually a crop of the full reference. There’s a surprising amount of painting in here for such an unassuming subject.

Drawing Video:

YouTube player

The Drawing:

Class Video:

YouTube player

Bonus video – short rescue mission for the background.

YouTube player

(All Videos)

7 thoughts on “Intermediate Watercolor March 2024 – Session 2

  1. I knew this would be a tough one. Keeping the faith with the shadow and background values really helps so when the darks go in they bring everything together. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s work.

  2. Hi Michele
    I loved this for the Daisies and the colors.. I feel I did a decent job on the main two flowers. The background is not great but again.. love the colors:)

  3. Two of 3 attempts offered here. I did 2 from the reference photo, and then I did a third of the other half of the full photo — mostly in an effort not to try to copy so directly your beautiful finished piece, as is my inclination. I think overall I could tone down the gray of the daisy petals in both efforts, and strive for broader planes of shadow. I think several flowers in the “other half” painting look a bit too pinwheel-ish. Overall, I liked this exercise very much.

  4. Thank you for the bonus video! I reworked the background and I think it looks better.. I was too chicken to add more color but I did expand a little on the table shadows:)

    1. Yes I think the flowers pop a little more now. Don’t think it needs any more color to be honest. The contrast between the blue background and the petal shadows is perfect.

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