Irises in progress

Inspired by the incredible work of Rosie Sanders I decided to start a large (half sheet) watercolour of the bearded irises in my garden.  The background will be the white of the paper which is a challenge in itself!  The first image is a detail showing where I'm up to so far, the other three are progress images showing the whole thing.  So far, so good!

Poppy play (WIP)

The poppies are still looking amazing in my garden, the bright red flowers shouting "PAINT ME!!!"  It would be rude not to!

I'm enjoying a basically analogous palette for most of my paintings at the moment, loving the way red and pink interact, and that was the starting point for this watercolour.  I've become more and more comfortable with hot pressed paper, finally enjoying the way the pigment slides around on the surface, and the bonus of amazingly vibrant colour!

Here's the final painting and then three progress images.

Fiesta - 15" x 11" watercolour on hot pressed paper

I hate roses!

They're beautiful and fragrant but they're so complicated!!!!  Every so often I need to challenge myself to paint something I don't enjoy, so here's my WIP of yellow (in for a penny, in for a pound!) roses.

I started by wetting the paper after very lightly sketching in the basic shapes, then dropped in azo yellow, cad. yellow and quin. coral, then added some greens for background while the paper was drying, which left some good lost edges. Now I gradually built up the rose shapes with glazes....

See the ugly man in the rose on the left?  Now I had to get rid of him!  I also worked on the background.

The ugly man is starting to vanish!  I gradually shaped the roses by adding shadows.

 

Sick of yellow, I did a little green leaf and the rose bud on the right

And this is where it stands now, the roses are taking shape nicely!

Tree Peony WIP

I drew out a new flower last night and after just a few hours it is already taking shape nicely!  The beauty of white flowers is that you only need to paint the shadows...

Cathedral Gold WIP

I had this reference, golden lilies in the gardens of Hereford Cathedral, in my "to paint" file for several years, but somehow I always passed it over. I imagine I was avoiding the numerous challenges it offered - the first being yellow! It's so hard to shade yellow without ending up with mud. My pet hate is the recommended complementary colour, violet, which results in a dull grey. I prefer to use colours which are closer to yellow - orange and red.

Stage one, I'm already getting some good form in the flowers using azo yellow, winsor yellow deep and alizarin crimson. The background is started using the yellows and indanthrene blue.


The first lily is pretty much done now, the stamens are painted in a strong red made with WYD and AC.


Starting to add form to the main flower, while also working on the background elements. My second challenge was the foliage, and I chose to keep it fairly loose with quick brushstrokes in AY and adding blue wet in wet.


Taking shape nicely now, most of the background flowers are done.


Now the really strong shadows are added to the main lily, using an orange made with AC and WYD. The last of the foliage is painted in the same way as the rest.


Now to finish the background and another dilemma - do I paint over the fiddly foliage or paint around it? I decided on a combination of both so some would be more defined and others would blend into the rest of the background.


A few finishing touches and it's done!

Blue Eyes - WIP

The first colour of the year in the garden, these delightful little flowers almost look like they don't belong among the greys and browns! I don't really know where I'm headed with this one, I'm hoping the composition will develop naturally as I paint.

Stargazer - backward WIP!

Blogger is fun, you never know which way round your photos are going to show! lol OK, so here is the finished painting, with backwards WIP below - start at the bottom and work up for the progression ;o)






I used my new favourite colours - Daniel Smith Quin. coral, and W&N Cobalt Turquoise. They mix gorgeous muted purples!

Opium Poppy WIP

I've been working on this watercolour for several days now and still there is no end in sight. So many tiny details, plus the dark areas have needed several washes to achieve the depth I want. Here are the steps so far:

Song of Summer - WIP

It's been a while, the garden has been demanding my attention, which means less time to paint, but the reward is plenty of exciting reference material for future watercolours!

I have found a bit of time though, and wonderful inspiration from a visit to an open garden 2 weeks ago.

I took photos of my progress, so this is a sort of WIP except it has already been finished!

Sunburst #2

Here's my finished sunflower! I'm very pleased with how it turned out, especially that I managed to retain the freshness of my colours and looseness of my brush strokes. It's very easy to overwork watercolours and make the colours muddy.

Finished, but no photo yet!

The sunflower is done, and I can honestly say I'm glad! Sometimes I start a new work and feel incredibly excited, but the process is interrupted and I lose the real excitement and end up plodding along. That's what happened with this sunflower.

Oh well, here's the final progress image!

Sunflower - more progress

The weekend is always busy in the Harris house, with people in and out constantly, so it's nice to find even a few minutes to paint amid the chaos!

I got a little further with the background (or setting) for the sunflower, and jumped in with my darkest darks in the centre.

Sunflowers - continued

I had a little more time today, in between the housework and cooking! I'm trying to keep it loose and fresh, while the pencil lines are there, they are only a guide.

Antidote to winter

On these long, dull, cold winter days I look for something to cheer me up, and that usually means painting a bright flower. This time it's a sunflower, from one of my own reference images.

I started out by sketching the outline then masking a few highlights. Once the masking fluid was completely dry I quickly wet the paper using a large brush - doing it quickly leaves a few dry areas which will stay white when pigment is added.

Here it is after the first pass - Azo yellow and gamboge wet in wet.


Now the individual petals need form, more wet in wet but one at a time, using azo yellow, gamboge and quinacridone coral.


I'm excited about this one, but life always gets in the way so this is all I've managed to do today - very frustrating!