Step 10: Finished painting

This is the finished painting. Tropical Patterns #2.  It is 22" x 30".  If you look back at my last post, you can see where I darkened some areas to send the leaves farther back into the background.  In my next post I will show details of those darkened areas.

Step 9: Almost totally covered with paint

I continue to paint both positive and negative shapes.  Even though it is almost entirely covered with paint, the painted areas are not totally completed. I will be going over each shape to paint final touch ups.  Some of the leaves will be glazed with another color to darken it so that it recedes farther into the background.

Step 8: Painting negative space

To add variety to my paintings, I like to paint some negative shapes.  Typically, in my tropical paintings, I do this in the dark areas.  See the photos below.  I start by painting different dark colors (values from 3 to 5), blending wet-in-wet.  After these paints are dry, I will paint my darkest color (value 2) around a shape. I will also lift some of the dark color from the area to create a shape.  I do this by brushing clear water onto a part of the leaf in the top painting, then I blot it with a tissue,  This removes some of the pigment to uncover some of the lighter green.  Sometimes an abstract shape will appear and I will leave it alone, which I feel adds even more variety to the painting.

Step 7: Continuing to paint positive shapes

I continue to paint the positive shapes of the leaves.  Most of each leaf is painted wet-in-wet.  Dry brush is added after each leaf is dry.  When I paint more of the dark background, I will paint negative shapes to create more variety in my painting.

Step 6: Start painting each shape.

Typically, I paint from light to dark except for one dark spot on the painting.  I find a place where I can paint my darkest dark.  Here it is at the top of the photo, see below.  It stands out and gives me a reference point to use to judge the lightness and darkness of all the other areas of my painting.  After painting the dark spot, I painted the three lighter leaves at the bottom using a wet-in-wet technique. I also use some dry brush painting for texture.  There was no masking fluid used around any of these leaves.  Actually, the only place I will use masking fluid again, will be when I paint around the left side of the main yellow leaf in the top center of the painting.  I do not use masking fluid very often because it removes the paint under the fluid.  These three leaves are not finished.  I will wait until the entire paper is covered with paint and then decide how much detail to add to each area of the painting. I like my paintings to look the way the eye see things.  By that I mean that when we look at something, our eye focuses on one area and the rest of the area is slightly out of focus, so we see less details the further away from the center of our vision.  The exception to this is when I like another area of the painting. I may add more details to create a secondary, or third focal point that is smaller and draws less attention from my main 'center of interest'.  This allows me to create a path for the viewers eye to follow and rest on these other focal point.

Step 5: Underpainting

When I start a painting, I always do a wet-in-wet under-painting.  First, I will mask any areas where saving the white of the paper is critical.  This lets me be freer with the under-painting. I use a colorless art masking fluid. This is applied with cheap disposable brushes; I mean really cheap brushes. Test the brushes in water first because sometimes the hairs come loose and you wind up with hairs in the fluid. On this painting, I only masked the edges of the main leaf, which will be my center of interest. Usually, I drop in different colors throughout the entire painting.  On this one, I mostly used Winsor Yellow. The masking fluid also allowed me  to add the green at the bottom of the leaf.  The masking fluid acted as a dam around the leaf, so the green did not bleed into other areas of the painting.  This main leaf is almost totally completed.  All I need to add is the stem down the middle of the leaf.  When the paint is dry, I cover it with a piece of tracing paper and lay a Masonite board over it to flatter the paper for the next painting step.

Step 4 Pre-mix dominate colors

After transferring the drawing to my watercolor paper, I will pre-mix several of my dominate colors, if I am painting on a large painting. I label them with a grey scale value of 1 to 10, with black being 1 and white being 10.  I do not use any black pigment or white pigment on my paintings.  You can see which pigments I use for each color.  I also keep this reference sheet for future use. I file it along with a photo of the completed painting, value drawing and other notes about the process.

I do not use these colors without adding something from one of the other colors or from another color on my palette.  These pre-mixed colors are a starting point for all my leaves and stems.  For instance, there is a banana leaf in the very middle at the bottom of the painting.  When I paint the stem that runs down the middle of the leaf, I will paint the entire stem with color/value 8.  While it is still wet, I will add some paint from color/value 7 at the very bottom of the stem, and add a little Winsor Blue to the stem at the top of that leaf.  It adds a little variety to the stem.

Step 3: Enlarge the drawing and work out details.

After I have worked out the value plan, the next step is to enlarge the drawing.  I project my small drawing onto a full size sheet of transparent paper.  In this case the size will be 22" wide by 30" tall.  The photo below shows this large drawing.  When you go from such a small drawing to something 10 times that size, the drawing can get distorted by the projector lens.  I also work out more of the details of the background.  I want this drawing to be as completed as possible.  When I am finished with the drawing, I transfer it to the watercolor paper using graphite tracing paper.

Step 2: Value plan

In this step, I have taken my preliminary drawing, which is only 2.5" by 3.5", and created a value plan for my painting. This value plan helps me to spot any problems that I might run into when I start painting.  I typically follow this plan pretty closely, although I can make adjustments along the way. The next step will be to enlarge the drawing and transfer it to my watercolor paper.

Starting a new Painting

These are the five different photographs that will go into my new painting.  I may only use a leaf from one photo. I may also flop an image to make the leaves go in a certain direction in order to make your eyes move around the painting. These are old photographs taken in Hawaii many years ago. The next time I go there I will be photographing with a digital camera.

Here is my finished preliminary drawing. Next, I'll do a value plan for the painting.

This painting will be 22' wide x 30" tall.  It will be painted on Arches 300 lb Cold Press watercolor paper; it's my favorite paper.