Art Blog

Dahlia Closeup 03

Dahlia Closeup 04

Now the process changes for this Dahlia Closeup 03 painting with a more detailed addition of brush fulls of color added to specific portions of the wetted canvas. It is almost magical and so very entertaining to watch the colors blend themselves together. These areas appear a lot more brilliant when they are wet and pale as they dry. So, I have grown accustomed to applying way more bold amounts of pigment than I used as I go through this part of the process.

I use mixes that sometimes seem quite unusual but they work out quite well when you watch them mix themselves together.

Dahlia Closeup B1020 — 12″w x 13″h watercolor on 300lb Arches paper. Three Dahlia blossoms with unopened buds, orange, magenta on an alizarin crimson background.

The process involves me putting in dark colors and then light colors. Back and forth and judging how things look before proceeding. Painting realistic flower blossoms is fun but I like to stop painting before it becomes a photographic representation. We have lots of cameras available now for that achievement, but artists remain a real human element that keeps art alive in our society.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love photography. However, I have noticed that there are way too many people taking poor-quality photographs on their phones and sharing them. Our human creativity is overwhelmed with thousands of unnamed and unremarkable images that are shared on the internet. It is way too much of a volume of mediocrity to wade through each day. Will our loving artistic souls survive the inundation of this onslaught?

Thanks for checking out this tutorial on Dahlia Closseup painting.

Orange Rufous Hummingbird

Painting an orange Rufous Hummingbird hovering over a honeysuckle vine. I thought I’d get out the acrylics for a few “favorite things” paintings. Consequently, the subject manner falls back to one of my all-time favorites. Hummingbirds.

Hummingbird Orange Rufous 4 — 14″w x 11″h acrylic on stretched canvas. Acrylic rendering of an orange Rufous Hummingbird hovering over an orange honeysuckle vine.

Vine Background

We feed these hummers all summer long and enjoy sitting on the deck admiring them. Above, is the finished painting. Following, are the progress shots of the acrylic painting process for me.

Hummingbird Orange Rufous B0520 — 14″w x 11″h acrylic on stretched canvas.

Beginning with background darks using mixtures of hookers green, phalo green, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, and alizarin crimson in a haphazard cross stroke pattern. Carefully blocking out the location of my “flying hummer star” on the lower third right corner.

Adding Depth

Hummingbird Orange Rufous 2 — 14″w x 11″h acrylic on stretched canvas. Acrylic rendering of an orange Rufous Hummingbird hovering over an orange honeysuckle vine.

Next, I experiment with leaf shapes and brighter values for the surfaces closest to the main attraction. Similarly, I proceed to brighten specific leaves that serve as a background for the flashy orange honeysuckle blossom being positioned next. I want to see the depth to the vine behind.

Hummingbird & Blossom

Hummingbird Orange Rufous 3 — 14″w x 11″h acrylic on stretched canvas. Acrylic rendering of an orange Rufous Hummingbird hovering over an orange honeysuckle vine.

Now, is when I select where I want to place the up close blossom along with some scattered hints of more in the background. Also, the hummingbird shapes and values are defined. The layout works for my eyes, so I proceed.

Details

What follows is numerous lighting tweaks, along with the details on my winged magician, “Mr. Orange Rufous Hummingbirds“. This bright orange guy is now hovering on the canvas. The finished shot of this acrylic painting is the first one in the post. If you are interested in learning more about hummingbirds, check out the Audubon page here.

Plumeria in Process

Plumeria White Ylw 02 — Plumeria White & Yellow 02

This watercolor of plumeria in process recreates how the flowers look when they are rinsed and spread across a kitchen table while stringing leis.

Notice the yellow-centered white plumerias have a brilliant center fading out to white edges and tip. To accomplish this I wet the entire petal area so I can do a wet-on-wet process with the paint. Fill a brush with Aurolean yellow. Begin applying by pulling from the tip on the outside edge of the petal to the interior in the center and lifting the brush. This leaves a wonderful puddle of light yellow bleeding out evenly and gradually to the outer edges of the petal. Do the other side of the petal.

The next shade is New Gambouge, which is a kind of orangish yellow. Same brush loaded with color, then pulling from about 3/4 or 1/2 of the petal length to the inside and lifting again at the center to produce that darker orange tint in the center. Do both sides of petal. In the image below, you can see how the New Gambouge further defines the radiance of that center area and push it into the distance.

Darken the Center

Apply using a light touch with a smaller brush of Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold or an orange-brown to your liking, to emphasize edges and the center even more. I notice a darker shadow right under the edges of where the petal folds up on the sides remaining white. This underneath surface of the petal is where I apply the darker color sparingly.

Shadows

Finally, with the same small brush, I drop a little pool drop of Dioxazine Purple right in the middle where you would insert your needle to string a lei. Purples are a perfect “shadow maker” for yellows. The wet surface lets the purple bleed naturally out into the petal making an incredibly believable shadow and depth. I also use this same purple in very light washes to create drop shadows where the flowers overlap each other, edge outlines, and stem peek out from behind.

Reds and Pinks

The same steps are taken with the red plumeria sing the wet-on-wet process. Using a light wash of Alizarin Crimson, adding Purple Lake, touching with Vermillion then more Alizarin Crimson in the middle. Last is that drop of Dioxazine Purple in the center. For the pink the same steps but what I noticed is that there is almost a stripe effect with the different colors on each petal. I start with an Alizarin Chrimson, adding Vermillion, adding Pyrrol Orange, then Cadmium Yellow Pale in stripes that I let bleed into each other. Again, the last is that drop of Dioxazine Purple in the center.

More posts like these are under the category of “Watercolor”