STEP TWO

Working with my board at a 30-degrees angle, I start by wetting the paper a few petals at a time and then drop in some Indian Yellow followed by Ultramarine Blue and Permanent Rose. I allow these last two colours to mix on the paper, being careful to leave a little bit of white around the yellow.

On the shadow sides I drop in some more Ultramarine Blue and where I envisage the real dark areas to be, I follow up with a little Winsor Violet. Even though this is a very strong colour, it is transparent and lets the other colours shine through.

Making sure that I don't touch the ones that are still wet, I work my way around all the petals. Because I tend to use a lot of water at this stage, I look back occasionally on what I have done and mop-up any surplus water at the bottom of the petals.

 

STEP THREE

Now that I have a clear colour road map, I sketch and lightly paint stems and leaves using the May Green. I also paint in a couple of buds to complete the picture.

 

 

STEP FOUR

I like dark backgrounds, but don't want to introduce new colours to the work. Therefore, I mixed the Ultramarine Blue, Winsor Violet and a little of the Permanent Rose used in the flowers, in stronger pigment concentration and using less water. Once I have worked my way around the whole painting, I re-wet the stems and leaves and droped in some Ultramarine Blue to give the flowers shape and shade.

58  Artist's Palette

Copy of Artist's Palette Magazine No.33 articles by Justyna Lupa and Christine Groh.

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