Drawing Peonies Till The Last Petals Fall

Orange peony in watercolour & watercolour pencil

Hi there, how are you?

I’ve spent the week drawing and painting the peonies I’d bought last week. It’s been really interesting watching the flowers change each day.

They stated off as deep pink balls of tight petals, as the petals unfurled they changed to an orangy pink.

Above the flower fully open with loads of lovely petals.

As the flowers aged the colour faded completely, they look like totally different flowers and were a soft yellow.

Mine is a little too yellow as I struggled with the shadows but you can see how the petals are starting to loose their shape.

One day I came down and all of the petals were on the counter, just a brave few petals hanging on, I thought the shapes were really interesting so drew them any way.

The first one I’d started in graphite but it was very smudgy so it was finished off with a with a black coloured pencil.

dead peony in pencil — Dead peony dawn with coloured pencil

The second one is drawn with brush pens, one grey to make the shapes and a black one for the lines. I always love the graphic look of anything drawn with brush pens.

It’s fascinating to follow these flowers and document all of the changes they go through and of course there are lots of photos for future drawings.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.

Till next time, have fun x

I Bought Some Peonies

Watercolour peony

After watching Renee Mullers paint peonies last week I really wanted to draw and paint some myself and as luck would have it the super market was selling single blooms so I bought 3 peonies. They’re not cheep but I’m determined to get my moneys worth.

The first two painted with watercolour, one with and one without line work. I think I prefer the first one without the lines but you have to try these things to see which one works best.

Since I’m unable to make a smooth wash on this paper (the watercolour resists the sizing in some places) I’ve decided to work with it and not against it and make very scrubby washes and sprinkling salt oner the top. It gives a nice effect as long as I don’t use too much salt.

2 peony watercolour peony — A watercolour of 2 peonies

This next one was drawn with watercolour pencils. The intension was to go over it with water and move the colours together but after trying this on one of the leaves decided I preferred it as it was originally and left it alone.

Fountain pen drawings are always fun and quite meditative, again I liked the way it looks so didn’t wash the ink out with water like I usually would, maybe I’ll do that with another drawing.

fountain-pen-peony — A peony drawn with fountain pen

To make good use of my fancy peonies I’ve also been taking lots of photos so my camera roll is full of many photos like this and many more, definitely getting my moneys worth here.

camera roll peony photos — camera roll of peony photos

The more the flowers open up the better they look so I’m trying to take lots of photos every day to capture all of the lovely stages of opening.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.

Till next time, have fun x

Iris Studies

iris in water soluable oil iris in water soluble oil

Hi there, how are you?

It’s been a while, we’ve been having interesting times here.

Every month we visit our aged relative who lives roughly 200 miles away, to fill up the cupboards and freezer with food, talk to carers, nurses and the like and generally make sure everything is working as it should.

This time I “decided” to trip over my own feet and whack my head on the train platform floor.

Don’t worry I’m fine, the lovely first aider patched me up and apart from some bent glasses and the beautiful black eye I sported for about a week after no real harm was done.

Whilst there I realised Renee Mueller was selling her floret class half price and couldn’t resist buying it.

I’m only a few exercises through it at the moment but I’m really enjoying it.

Renee is using peonies and though I love them they’re not in the shops just yet here and after perusing the flowers at the supermarket came away with a lovely bunch of iris’s reduced to £1!

She starts by taking lots of fancy photos of her flowers on lots of lovely painted backgrounds, something I’ve never thought to do before.

I don’t have many painted backgrounds so just used coloured paper instead.

There’s lots of sketching Renee uses charcoal but I cant deal with the mess so I’ve made a few very loose pencil and watercolour sketches and also this next one drawn with a purple biro.

This makes me want to find all of the other coloured ball point pens in the house to have a play.

This is the photo taken on a pink paper background, I think it’s quite an interesting colour combination.

Next colour palette swatches for the painting. In this class Renee was using oil paint, I don’t have any but I do have water mixable oil paints so I’m using them for the first time. They’re not as smelly as traditional oils though there is still some odour just not the awful turps and solvents.

After making the swatches there was a fair amount of paint left on the palette so I decided to take an iris out of the vase and paint it to use up the remaining pant (see image at the top of the post.)

It’s not perfect but considering I’ve never used oil paint before I’m calling this one a win.

Painting with oils is not my favourite thing, maybe I could use gouache as apparently they work is a similar way.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.

Till next time, have fun x

Quince Cuttings

red quince watercolour Red quince painted with watercolour.

Hi there, how are you?

Whilst cutting the hedge this week and I accidentally cut the top of the quince bush as well. Oops!

I collected all the stems with flowers on and placed them in a vase (jam jar) as it was a shame to throw them away.

These tiny twigs were the models for this week, experimenting and drawing them with different media and tools.

Below I was trying to add shade only with hatching using a fine liner, working out where the different tones belong is always difficult.

I’m not sure it is completely successful but the practice is good.

The flowers above were drawn the same way but i didn’t really think it was working so I used watercolour to liven it up a little.

red quince fine liner — Red quince drawn with a fine liner.

Still playing with the new fude nibbed fountain pen. It’s quite unpredictable at the moment, although I do like the effect. Hopefully I’ll get used to it eventually.

The ink is drawn out with a damp paint brush to add a little shading.

red quince fude pen — Red quince drawn with a fude nibbed fountain pen.

The last one is a complete experiment using a ¾ inch flat brush to try and create the shapes. Sometimes it is easy to get lost in the details and I wondered if it was possible to use a big square brush to paint small round flowers.

It’s very loose and more of a suggestion of flowers but I think its recognisable.

red quince flat brush — Red quince painted with a ¾ inch flat brush

The garden is now starting to wake up and now the hedge has been cut the birds are free to build their little nests any where they like and I’ve had a lot of fun with my accidental cuttings.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.

Till next time, have fun x

Mothers Day Chrysanthemums

watercolour chrysanthmum chrysanthemum painted with watercolour

Hi there, how are you?

It was mothers day last week here in the UK, I received a very lovely bunch of flowers.

The intention was to draw all of the flowers but by the time I got around to the drawing most had sadly expired.

The chrysanthemums did survive so I’ve contented myself with using these as models.

They are painted pink although in reality they are more of dark wine, a colour I find very hard to mix, so the flowers above in watercolour look quite a bit more delicate than they are.

Playing with my new fude nib I drew some in ink. Working out how to use this pen is still a bit of a learning curve and surprisingly enjoyable to draw with.

chrysanthemum drawn with a fude fountain pen chrysanthemum

This next one was drawn with watercolour pencils, washed over with water to dilute them then painted over again with watercolour as they were too pale.

Then wondered what it would look like on a dark background so painted one around the outside to find out.

mixed media chrysanthemum — A chrysanthemum drawn using mixed media.

This last one is a favourite way to sketch things, using a brush pen filled with grey ink to draw out the shapes then outline with a black brush pen. The finer lines are filled in with the back of the fude pen nib

it’s a nice quick way to sketch things out using big shapes and outlining for the details.

brush pen chrysanthemum — chrysanthemum drawn with brush pen.

A most useful mothers day gift and even though the real ones don’t last these will live on in my sketch book.

Happy memories.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.

Till next time, have fun x

Watercolour Background Experiments (Cont.)

watercolour snowdrop 1 Watercolour snowdrops with a sponged background

Hi there, how are you?

Last week I was experimenting with background techniques, trying to match a digital background made in procreate.

After sponging and scraping with plastic cards and pallet knives it was time for painting.

I put some masking fluid down to retain the white of the paper so I could paint in the snowdrops later.

The first image above was painted mostly with a sponge, sometimes the paint was helped along with a brush. It was painted on 25% cotton watercolour paper.

The image below I used the sponge and a plastic pallet knife trying to be careful as it was painted on a cheaper less durable watercolour paper and the card was damaging the paper surface.

watercolour snowdrop 2 — Watercolour snowdrop using a sponge and a plastic pallet knife.

Next I used a sponge and slightly more water on the cheaper paper more for curiosity than anything else. There are only two colours in this one,

I’m liking the softer look.

delicate watercolour snowdrops — Delicate watercolour snowdrops

For the previous paintings the masking was removed and the snowdrops painted into the preserved paper.

The last two were made using backgrounds from last week. They were painted quite thickly and I wouldn’t be able to paint with watercolour over a darker colour so thought it would be interesting to see what they would look like painted with gouache.

Interesting but I think I prefer the plain watercolour, still have to work on colour mixing too, especially with the greens.

gouache snowdrops — Gouache snowdrops on pre-painted backgrounds.

Masking fluid on the cheaper paper was a no. It pulled the surface of the paper up quite a bit. I burnished it down with a spoon so it’s not as noticeable but lesson learned.

On the 25%cotton paper the masking worked fine and I was even able to lift out some colour missed by the masking.

Lots to learn from these experiments and lots of fun too.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.

Till next time, have fun x

Watercolour Background Experiments

snowdrops digital procreate Digital snowdrops drawn in procreate.

Hi there, how are you?

The snowdrops are out and for the first time in ages so is the sun, spring is on its way.

I wanted to paint some with watercolour but the background are always washy and dull so did something quick in procreate.

It’s not a program (app) I know much about though I am trying to learn. There’s a lot of cutting and pasting in this image above as the snowdrops weren’t the main objective, I wanted to try out different backgrounds.

The background I ended up with is dark, moody and shows the snowdrops up well; now how to get this effect with watercolour. Time for an experiment.

The first attempt was using a sponge, I don’t have a natural sponge so I used plain kitchen one and pulled pieces out of the surface to make a more uneven texture.

Cartridge paper worked best for this as the paint stayed pretty much where I put it.

On the other papers everything ran together. Obviously patience and some drying time in-between would have helped.

watercolour backgrounds sponge — Watercolour backgrounds made with a nylon sponge on cartridge paper.

The next one is softer and yes more drying time in-between layers needed. moving along.

watercolour backgrounds nylon sponge — Another watercolour background made with a nylon sponge

I had tried using a plastic card but it couldn’t pick up enough paint and it just ended up scuffing the surface.

The last two were made using a plastic spatula. Using the paint quite thickly and smearing it across the surface gave some very interesting marks. This one has possibilities.

watercolour backgrounds plastic card — Two watercolour backgrounds made with a plastic spatula.

I could have just worked on the digital one to make it into something more finished but it’s far more interesting to learn how to interpret these things in my own way. I’m not ready for AI to take over just yet hehehe.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by.

Till next time, have fun x

Inktober 2023 – Quick Round-up

inktober-1-9

Hi there, how are you?

Inktober is long over and were half way through November. This is just a quick round up of last month and a few thoughts.

Did I complete Inktober? Er no. In the last week of October I had to take a trip to London during which I contracted COVID. For a few days I took to my bed with chills aches and a huge headache.

After a week or so I felt recovered enough to rejoin the family safe in the knowledge I hadn’t passed it onto any one else. (if your feeling ill people please wear your masks, the rest of the population don’t want your viruses!)

Now to the challenge, I set out to draw with dip pens, gold and black ink, this gave me lots of practice with all of the nibs I have accumulated over time. I found I was happier using some nibs more than others and even became quite comfortable using them.

Officially I drew twenty one little art works but there is one, not posted because I didn’t like it at the time although it’s not too bad looking back at it.

I also tried a little calligraphy using a free hand out from The Postman’s Knock website. Sometimes she gives a free practice page in her news letter, very generous.

I plan to use some of these as cards for family and friends and may even cut out the happy birthdays to use inside them.

The last time I used acrylic ink for Inktober I gave up half way through because it took ages to get out all of the materials and then clean up after myself after.

I work on the kitchen table and everything took so long to set up it and clear away didn’t seem worth the bother.

This time I made up a little kit containing washi tape, a few bottles of ink, pens, nibs, all I needed in a small box. So much easier to set up and clear away. Definitely something I’ll think about doing in the future.

Even though the challenge is incomplete I don’t consider it a failure, it generated some ideas I really like and will probably use in the future plus my dip pen skill have improved a lot. So winning.

If you would like to see clearer images you can find them week 1, week 2, week 3 and week 4 week 5

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by. Till next time, have fun x