Paint flowers with water, colour and texture

Transcription

1 Paint flowers with water, colour and texture monique day-wilde

2 Contents Introduction 6 Material, tools and techniques 8 Odds and ends 22 A few notes on colour 24 Simple pleasures 27 Daisy, daisy 28 Colour magic 30 Go dotty! 34 Flutter by my garden 37 A rose is a rose 40 Ex libris 42 La Resistance 45 Line of defence 46 Hold your ground 49 Hogweed 52 Fit for a king 55 Blossom batik 59 A little bird told me 63 Happy accidents 67 Fanciful flowers 68 How does your garden grow? 71 Sun-kissed 74 Mix and match 79 A rose by any other name 80 Geranium 84 The notebook 87 A new leaf 91 Go with the flow 95 Dyeworks 96 Nasturtium 99 Allium fistulosum 102 Moonlight and roses 106 Go green 109 Roughing it 113 Strelitzia 114 A dry spell 117 Queen Anne s lace 121 Letting go 124 Acknowledgements 128

3 Introduction Every painting is a different journey. There is an abundance of indigenous flora in the Western Cape where I live. This sows seeds of intrigue in the colours, patterns and even abstract qualities that flowers offer. I grew up surrounded by my grandfather s floral watercolour studies, and helped my florist grandmother wire flowers at a very young age. That, coupled with roots in textile design and nine books already published, writing this book with flora as the theme, was possibly inevitable! Watercolour is often thought of as a difficult method of painting muted, delicate and translucent. It can be challenging, but if you look beyond the traditional boundaries and broaden your approach, you can create rich, vivid images, not only with watercolour on paper, but with other water media and materials, while still retaining a watery feel and enhancing and expanding the possible texture effects. In this book a mix of water media is used in familiar and unconventional, experimental ways. These include paint, ink, coloured pencils and fabric dye. Texture mediums also form a part of the repertoire. While watercolour paper is used a fair amount, canvases, board and drafting vellum are also incorporated. Some really simple, structured techniques have been explored which can be followed step by step to achieve very similar results and are suitable for crafty projects. I also encourage you to use the more spontaneous and less controlled techniques (also shown step by step) to further your own creative path develop a sense of adventure, learn to take risks and work with your happy accidents. Most of us have a fear of failure from time to time, but it s good to remember that what you re actually working on is just a piece of paper (or board, or canvas!). There are lots of things one can do with unsuccessful work I once had a lecturer who said that you hadn t spoiled your work till it was black and then you could start all over in white anyway. I have included ideas here and there to incorporate not so successful endeavours into other art work. Even the absolute beginner will be able to play and experiment along with me. The quotes at the beginning of each section are some of the things I often say in my classes (there s a life lesson in there somewhere too) so please indulge me! 6

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6 Simple pleasures No one can see the picture in your head don t point out your mistakes. There are so many ways to paint and so many materials to choose from that it s always great to go back to basics. Have fun playing with colour, pen and ink and watercolour crayons using simple painting techniques. Fabric dye is also part of the pleasure. Use wonderful paper and drafting vellum too! 27

7 Daisy, daisy Create a bookmark using water and fabric dye powder. This has to be the easiest technique ever and the most addictive! Work on a disposable surface like newspaper, as the dye has a tendency to get everywhere if you re not careful. If you like the simplicity of the idea but are not too keen on the fabric dye, you can achieve a similar, though less textured, effect by dropping watered paint or ink onto the water drawing (see page 49). You will need Glossy card I used triplex board Pencil Water Pipette or fine brush Fabric dye in powdered form this works best with a secondary or tertiary colour, i.e. where different colour powders would have been mixed like purple Salt cellar for the dye Spray varnish or fixative 1. Draw your image or pattern lightly onto the card in pencil, unless you want to wing it and draw freehand with water. Replicate the pencil lines with water I used a pipette, but a brush will also do. The water needs to sit on top of the card. 2. While wet, sprinkle the dye powder sparingly over the water drawings. If you re too heavy handed, the dye will completely fill the water areas and become one colour. This looks best when the particles of dye can spread, resulting in a slightly mottled effect. Allow to dry naturally and thoroughly on a flat surface. 3. When dry, gently brush the excess dye onto a piece of paper: it can be added to the cellar again for reuse. Repeat to make sure all the specks are gone. Even once this is done, you may find the odd speck or two lurking on the card. Leave the background white or work around the flowers gently, with a wet brush. This will colour the background slightly. Allow to dry, then spray well with varnish or fixative and allow to dry. Varnish again. 26 simple pleasures

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9 Hogweed Decorate paper with a simple masking technique and splattered paint. One of the most established resist techniques in watercolour is to reserve white areas with masking fluid before painting. This has a shelf life, so buy the smallest amount you can and store upside down. Don t shake masking fluid as this will cause air bubbles, which you don t want. Masking fluid is quite hard on brushes, so first paint a cake of soap to coat your brush. This doesn t need to be applied with a brush one can use anything that applies paint. Be aware, though, that as this dries rubbery, it may damage the applicator. In this project I have used it to block out the white and painted over it with splatters in various harmonious colours, and then added more layers of fluid and paint. Also see the project on page 106. You will need Masking fluid Paint I ve used acrylics in cobalt blue, phthalo turquoise and permanent green deep Pipette or brush Watercolour paper stretched or in a block Pencil and brushes of various size 1. Draw your images with a soft pencil. Suck up masking fluid with a pipette and, working from the top down, redraw the lines you wish to preserve as white. Press gently for a thin line of fluid. Add dots and squiggles for the frilly flower effect. Allow to dry thoroughly. The fluid will change to a gold colour and gets harder to remove from the paper with time. 3. Using a larger brush, add a second, darker colour in the same way, making sure that the areas around the hogweed are covered in paint. Allow to dry thoroughly. 2. Thin your paint to a watery consistency. Dip the brush into it and flick across the paper, leaving a spatter. Repeat until the paper has a relatively even spread of spatter. 52 la resistance

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12 1. Paint in the tips of the stamens with yellow ochre, as well as the edges of the leaves. Allow to dry. Wax the areas to remain yellow and light pink. 4. Paint the leaves in shades of green: the more yellow the more lime the green will be. Add a tiny bit of crimson to make a darker, dirtier green for shadow. and not add any crackle and that s fine! If you want crackle, read on 2. Add more permanent rose to the pink wash and paint the blossoms again. This time the pale pink, yellow and white areas will remain as they are. Allow to dry. 5. Paint green into the background, adding yellow ochre here and there to vary the hue. Mix a little blue into the green to make a slightly grey green for the branch area and paint in. Wax the leaves and the branch areas. For texture you can also spatter some wax into the background. 7. Wax the entire picture, and scrunch up into a loose ball the more tightly you do this, the more cracks you will get (some of the wax may even chip off), so be careful not to overdo it. 3. Add crimson to the pink wash and with a fairly dry brush, paint in some darker detail, particularly in the centre of the blossoms and the bottom of each bud. When you re happy that there are enough darks, wax the rest of the flowers, avoiding the leaves. 6. Mix more blue with the green, perhaps adding some crimson too. This should make a lovely dark bottle green - paint the entire background up to the edges of the wax border. Add shadow areas in dark green, e.g. next to the branches, for more depth. Allow to dry. You may be tempted to leave it just there, 8. Paint over the entire waxed, crackled picture, including the border, with a dark mix: green, crimson and blue. Allow to dry. 61

13 water marks Paint flowers with water, colour and texture Monique Day-Wilde 193 x 260 mm 128 pp Softcover RRP: R ISBN Publication date: June 2014 Available in Afrikaans: Water-(verf)-kuns ISBN Metz Press is an independent publisher of high quality information books and illustrated non-fiction for the local market as well as the international co-edition market. We have sold rights to our books in countries all over the world, having impressed reputable international companies with our quality of content and production and our ability to deliver. Publisher: Wilsia Metz Tel: +27 (0) Fax: +27 (0) info@metzpress.co.za Web: Postal address: PO Box 7322, Welgemoed, 7538, South Africa Street address: 1 Cameronians Avenue, Welgemoed, 7535, South Africa ALSO AVAILABLE FROM METZ PRESS

14 This book takes you beyond the traditional boundaries of muted, delicate and translucent watercolour to create rich, vivid images, not only with watercolour on paper, but with other media and materials, while still retaining a watery feel and enhancing and expanding the possible textural effects. The projects showcase a mix of water media in familiar and unconventional, experimental ways. These include paint, ink, coloured pencils and fabric dye, with texture mediums forming part of the repertoire. While watercolour paper is used a fair amount, canvases, board and drafting paper or vellum are also incorporated. Some really simple, structured techniques have been covered, which can be followed step by step to achieve a very similar outcome and are suitable for crafty projects. Readers are also encouraged to use the more spontaneous and less controlled techniques (illustrated step by step), to further their own creative path, develop a sense of adventure, learn to take risks and work with their happy accidents. There are lots of things one can do with unsuccessful work and the author has included ideas for incorporating discarded endeavours into new art work. Filled with fabulous ideas for both artists and crafters, even the absolute beginner will be able to play and experiment along with Water marks. Author of nine books with Angie Franke, this is Monique Day-Wilde s first solo effort. Growing up surrounded by her grandfather s floral watercolour studies, and helping her florist grandmother wire flowers at a very young age, it was probably inevitable that she would do a book with a floral theme. She is a qualified textile designer specialised in weaving, with several prize-winning designs and commissions. She lectured in textiles and graphic design and compiled official training courses in weaving and spinning. Monique enjoys teaching and working with people, following their journey of self-discovery through creative expression. She recently relocated to Pringle Bay on the Western Cape coast known for its abundance of indigenous flora. Here she is truly inspired by the colours, patterns and even abstract qualities that flowers offer.