HOW I PAINT
RIGHT Riverside,
watercolour on
paper, 73x54cm
LEFT Garden
Red Poppies,
watercolour on
p a p e r, 74x 5 6 c m
POSITIVE COLOURS
Quality of colour is always essential in
a painting. The key to using colour is
context and strength. Watercolour
dries lighter so go deliberately over
the top. Feel the strength of the colour
as you mix and apply it, and then it will
turn out just right. The same colour
will look quite different with a change
of colours around it. To make a colour
shine, you need to place contrasting,
neutral or darker colours around it.
For example, if you are painting
daffodils, a wash of slightly purplish
grey around them will enhance the
yellow, purple being a complementary
of yellow. Likewise, very pale or white
flowers will be enhanced by
surrounding with mid-tones or darks.
The first place to go if you want
to tone down a colour is its
complementary. Adding a small
amount of purple to a yellow, for
example, will reduce its strength
of colour, creating a more subtle
variation useful for shadows on yellow
flowers. The same is true with red and
green or blue and orange. If you need
a shadow for a bright orange flower,
try adding a little blue to the orange
as a starting point.
Overall one needs to use colour
positively. The sheer power of red
in my painting of red poppies was
overwhelming. Working my way down
the reds, from Cadmium Scarlet to
Alizarin Crimson, with the addition
perhaps of a little Dioxazine Violet in
the darkest places, is a heady and
effective process. The red was further
enhanced by the green leaves and
foliage around the flowers.
Painting white flowers is always a
challenge. Masking fluid can be used
for looser and more expressive
subjects, but in order to show all the
subtle variations of shadows on white
flowers, it is better to leave the white
surface of the paper showing. This is
where a simple line drawing becomes
necessary. I use a propelling pencil or
well-sharpened B or 2B.
Once the shape of the flower is
drawn, I can leave the paper blank for
all white parts and then apply subtle
washes for shadows and structure.
The outline and outer edge of the
flower can be contrasted with darker
background washes and the greens
of surrounding leaves.CREATIVE RESPONSES
The act of painting always involves a
balance between control and freedom- or control and intuition. How that
balance is achieved becomes central
to the character of the painting and is
dependent on the unique sensibility of
the artist. If you are lucky, you can get
moments of affirmation where the
base materials of paint and paper
become transcended into new life.
A while ago I painted a patch of wild
undergrowth by the River Stour in
Suffolk, where tall wild plants such as
thistles, sorrel and nettles were all lit
up in a blaze of sunshine. In this sort
of painting, freedom of brushwork
becomes essential. Large brushes
and vigorous, direct responses.
As always you need some idea of
composition and, having established
that with a sketch, you can then take
off. Painting from observation is
always so fascinating. I find myself
responding not just to the look of
things, but to the whole experience.
The idea of being creative is always
popular but in the case of botanical
painting, I think that being receptive
is more significant. The artist as
receiver rather than creator.
Everything is there. You can pick up
and follow rhythms of natural growth
which in themselves provide the
substance of the painting. It has more
to do with sensitive involvement and
response than with any kind of
invention. Mine is botanical painting
done in a freer and more ‘painterly’
way. Not the excessive detail of
botanical illustration, but an approach
designed to give greater freedom and
expression of the spirit of the subject.
http://www.christopherryland.co.uk