46 Artists&Illustrators
- Mix your greens
The structure of my composition was starting
to come together: we can see all the flowers,
a few suggestions of green leaves, and some
background around the flowers. The greens
were a mix of Sap Green with a little Burnt
Sienna or New Gamboge (for warm greens)
or Sap Green plus Olive Green and a little
French Ultramarine (for cool greens).
Note there’s just one white flower –
I wanted to draw attention to it, it’s part of my
focal point. There are many soft edges at this
moment and some of them won’t become
hard edges, we need to have a balance to
create a sense of depth.
- Suggest the vase
The glass vase was transparent so I painted
it with a very dilute mix of Cobalt Blue, Sap
Green and Ultramarine Violet, and a round
size 10 brush. After adding this layer, I added
the stems using a size 6 flat brush with a mix
of Sap Green plus Cobalt Blue and Indian
Yellow. I also suggested a water line inside
the vase, using the larger size 10 brush.
As it was an ordinary glass vase, I didn’t
want to show all stems and draw too much
attention to them. Suggesting it was the
important bit; if I added too many colours,
it would not appear transparent anymore.- Pick out details
I wanted to add a few details to the flowers, so I needed to change my flat brush for a pointed,
size 8 round brush. I added rose sepals using a mixing of Olive Green and Gamboge Yellow.
Sometimes we can start adding too many details too soon, so they become stronger than the
main subject itself (in this case the central flowers). These were not the final details or final
touches. They will be added later with a rigger brush.- Paint leaves subtly
Using the same round brush, I kept adding details. The leaves were made from a dilute mix
of Sap Green plus Burnt Sienna and New Gamboge, applied as a transparent layer.
More shadows can be added to these transparent leaf layers later – remember, a leaf is not
a flat object, so we need to add light and shadow to it too. The leaves and stems are part of my
composition too. They will add a sense of structure to the painting, but they are not the stars
here so be careful: your greens shouldn’t attract more attention than your flowers. Flowers are
the main subject here, so everything else should purely be added to enhance them.