LEARN how to PAINT Painting Poppies Presented by Willow Wolfe Level: Beginner with Step-by-Step Instructions Supply List BRUSHES Princeton Artist Brush Co. Select Artiste #3750 #10 flat shader #8 filbert #4 filbert #3 round #10/0 spotter petite PALETTE Watercolors Arbutus pink Black Brilliant yellow Geranium pink Grass green Olive green Scarlet lake Yellow ochre SURFACE Cold press watercolor paper, 140 weight, 8" x 10" OTHER SUPPLIES Clean water Painter's tape Pencil Stylus Tracing and transfer paper No drawing or painting experience necessary! princetonbrush.com Visit willowwolfe.ca for more ideas and free projects P.1
About Willow Wolfe Willow Wolfe is an award-winning artist, author, and teacher, proficient in oils, acrylics and watercolors. Over the past 15 years, Willow has taught seminars worldwide and worked with manufacturers to develop and test innovative new products, such as Select Artiste. She has written a library of how-to books, painting kits, and articles in the industry s best-known magazines. She has designed projects geared to artists of all levels, and her instructions are written in a beginner-friendly, step-by-step format. Willow Wolfe presents Jamie Dougherty Jamie has been involved in the arts since her late teens. She is a self-taught artist, and her skills range from fine arts mixed media all the way to graphic design. #10 flat shader #4 and #8 filbert #3 round #10/0 spotter petite Jamie has been in the crafting industry for the past 10 years and has had her first signature collection produced with Prima Marketing Inc, called the Bloom Collection. Her collection stemmed from her fine art pieces that have been lovingly dubbed "Bloom Girls." Jamie's Bloom Girls have become a signature of hers, and she teaches Bloom Girl workshops internationally. She has a love for art, but her creativity doesn't stop there. She is also an independent author who currently has three books published on Amazon and Barnes & Noble with more to come. Visit willowwolfe.ca for more ideas and free projects P.2
Painting Tips and Techniques Terminology Wash (wet-on-dry) A wet brush on a dry background Bleed (wet-on-wet) A wet brush on a wet background Lift To remove or pull color off the surface with a towel Basic Tips When rinsing your brushes, try not to press or drag your brush aggressively across the bottom of your water container, because this can harm the bristles. Watercolor paper can sometimes warp and buckle when using a lot of water on your project. Use masking tape (painter s tape) to secure your paper to your work surface. This will help prevent the paper from distorting. When dry, watercolors are still soluble and can be reactivated with the application of more water. Painting a Wash Princeton Select flat brushes (shown below) work beautifully for creating wet-on-wet background washes. The shape and firm snap of the bristles allow you get into tight areas and offer more control than your mop or round brush. The bristles of the flat brush are soft enough to spread the watercolor smoothly, but they still have enough structure to help control the movement of your paint. Preparation To transfer your design: Enlarge or reduce your line drawing (above) on a copier to suit your surface size, we enlarged by 200 percent, and position a piece of tracing paper over the line drawing. Use a pencil to redraw the design onto the tracing paper. Having your pattern on tracing paper allows you to better position it on your surface. Position the traced line drawing over your surface and gently tape it down. Slide grey graphite under it and use a pencil or stylus to trace the design. Press lightly. Keep the lines light to ensure they don t compete with the applied color. Visit willowwolfe.ca for more ideas and free projects P.3
Poppies Worksheet Step 1 Paint the small flowers Begin with your smaller flowers. Dampen the #4 filbert and load your brush with arbutus pink. Paint the outside edge of each petal with your brush. Make sure each petal has a generous amount of paint. This will make it easier to blend. After you have the petals outlined, blend the color throughout the petals with a clean, damp brush, working it toward the center of the petal. Step 2 Highlight the small flowers While wet, apply brilliant yellow to the center area of a petal and gently blend. Working wet-on-wet and applying the brilliant yellow while the first layer of pink is still wet will help the values merge softly. Step 3 Paint the stems Load the #3 round with olive green and apply stems to each small flower. Hold your brush at a 45-degree angle and pull the brush toward you down each stem. Colors used are olive green and grass green. To create a more free-flowing look, rinse your #3 round and pull some of the flower color down through the stem. Allow the colors to blend together. Step 4 Paint the large poppy While your small flowers dry, move on and paint the focal point. Your largepoppy will be created in many layers. To begin, load your #8 filbert with a mix of arbutus pink and scarlet lake. Paint the color heavily toward the center of the flower. Step 5 Blend the large poppy Rinse your brush, and with a very damp #8 filbert, blend the color up the petal. Step 6 Continue the large poppy petals Load the #8 filbert with a brush mix of arbutus pink and scarlet lake and block in the rest of the petals. Leave a small gap between petals to allow room to add color without your colors becoming dull. After you ve blocked in each of your petals, you can now add a darker shade of color to the inside edges of the petals. This will create more dimension to the flower. Load your damp #8 filbert with scarlet lake + a touch of black. Apply, blot the brush lightly, and blend your darker color into the basecoat. To give your flower a more abstract look, you can blend the colors of your flower further with a clean, damp #8 filbert brush. The water will separate the colors and add more texture. Step 7 Paint the stems and bulbs To paint the stems, buds and leaves, dampen the #3 round and load with olive and grass green. Begin painting the underside of each bud, and blend the color with a clean brush through the rest of the bulb. Pull the color down the length of the stems. Visit willowwolfe.ca for more ideas and free projects P.4
Poppies continued Step 8 Paint the buds Create small openings in the buds by painting scarlet lake and arbutus pink down the center of the bulb with your #3 round brush. To add texture to the edges of the petals, add a bit of water to the petal. Step 9 Paint the details Finishing touches really pull the whole painting together. Load the #3 round with yellow ochre and paint the flower center. Use the spotter to paint fine details with black. Step 10 Add shadows to the small flower centers Wet the #10/0 spotter petite and use a light touch to generously apply black paint to the center of the flowers. Begin at the base of the flower and move toward the center of the flower. Step 11 Detail the small flower centers Load the #3 round with black and apply dots near the flower center. Step 12 Detail the small flower centers Use the #10/0 spotter petite to apply smaller dots. Step 13 Lift color A fun technique to do when using watercolors is to lift color from your painting. With a clean, damp #3 round, make small dots over the center of your small flowers. Then, with a towel, dab the excess water off of the paper. This will remove a layer of paint and reveal the lighter colors underneath. Step 14 Color wash Now that your flowers are finished, you can add a soft wash of color in the background. Because you are adding background color after painting the flowers, you will need to have a bit more control of where your paint goes. If you add too much water, it can reactivate the paint you ve already laid down onto the paper. If you don t have enough water, then your background color will not blend. With a damp,clean #10 flat brush loaded with geranium pink, carefully add water around your flowers and stems. Then add color over the wet background for a wet-on-wet technique. The square edge of the flat brush allows more control of where you apply the wash of color. Visit willowwolfe.ca for more ideas and free projects P.5