Fearless Friday, Hibiscus in a Blue Pot

 

Happy Friday!

I am continuing to explore the wet in wet technique we discussed last week

I find it fascinating to let the colors blend on their own

and watch wonderful effects appear on the paper

 

 

This painting, “Future Raisins” was painted for the Doodlewash May prompt of raisins

 

 

 

I did the grapes above with this technique

and had a lot of fun with different color combinations

 

 

 

 

Today we’re going to paint this sunny hibiscus in a blue pot

 

 

 

 

First I laid down a clear wash of water where I wanted the 3 yellow blooms

 

 

 

 

I dropped in lemon yellow and let it flow in the wet areas,

adding a touch of New Gamboge for some darker areas

 

 

 

 

Next I established the pot with a few quick wide strokes

 

 

 

 

Then leaf shapes

 

 

 

 

 

Stamens

 

 

 

 

Here’s where it went a little South…

I decided to drop in some ultramarine blue into the yellow blooms for interest,

Yikes!  😱

 

 

 

 

I tried to lift it out without much luck…

I decided to leave it alone for awhile and went to work on the leaves

 

 

 

 

I finished the vase and darkened the leaves,

hoping the dark blotches on the blooms would recede 🤞

 

 

 

 

I added the shadow by first painting a clear wash of water

where I wanted the shadow to be

and then dropping in the colors from the flowers, leaves and vase

 

 

 

 

 

Ultimately I used yellow and orange gouache to help cover “my mistakes”

using dabs of the gouache to camouflage the blue and add texture

Gouache is an opaque watercolor paint,

You can use white gouache to add highlights too

You can get an inexpensive set of gouache paint on Amazon here

 

 

 

 

I also added some darks to the flower centers and the suggestion of a background

 

 

 

The final touch was ink to make the shapes really pop

 

 

“Hibiscus in a Blue Pot” 9″ x 12″ watercolor and ink on 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper

 

Juicy Details

I use a mixture of tube watercolors, mostly Daniel Smith and Windsor & Newton, which I put in half pans in metal tins

 

 

The half pans have a magnetic strip on the bottom so they hold in place.  You can rearrange them too.  I got an extra pan recently because I wanted space for more colors.  I put the yellow and orange gouache in the bottom corner of the tin on the right to keep them separate from the watercolor paint

The tin on the left is filled with my favorite colors that are indicated by position on the watercolor chart…the tin is  upside down 😬 in the photo, pretend it’s flipped around and then the half pans would match the positions on the color chart…the bottom 2 rows of the chart are the colors by position in the top of the second tin

These are the closed tins, they are approx 3 1/2 inches wide, 6 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch tall.  About the size of a smart phone! You can toss them in your bag and add a waterbrush and you can paint anywhere!

These tins hold 40 half pans and are available in many designs on Amazon here

 

 

 

I use plastic palettes for mixing

The flower shaped one is great for mixing large amounts of washes

 

 

 

Oh!

the blue crab that was used for an example of wet in wet last week

was so popular

He is now available in my Society 6 Shop here

 

“Crabby” Framed Print          “Crabby” throw pillow

“Crabby bath mat”          “Crabby cutting board

 

I’m going to get the Crabby bathmat for the boys bathroom,

they will love stepping on him when they get out of the shower 😂

 

There are always sales going on too!

Shop here

 

Happy painting, Be Fearless!

 

🎨  🌼  🎨