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Now that the fl owers are
masked and protected, it
is time to add in some of the
bigger washes over the top.
If there are brighter yellow
areas of the fl owers that are
not required, they can be
easily overpainted with the
darker green tones.
Remember, if a colour is
used in a colour mix (for
example here, where yellow
and blue makes the green
mix used to overpaint), you
can overpaint it easily. I also
add some blues into the
shadows.4
When faced with foliage
and fl orals, you may want
to get the look of the
countryside with fl oating
seeds, buds and pollen.
A neat way to do this is to
use an old toothbrush to fl ick
the paint. Dip the tip of the
brush into some masking
fl uid, pull your thumb back
on the bristles, and lightly
spray over the required part
of your painting.
When the masking fl uid is
rubbed off at the end, you
will have a pattern that gives
the impression of tiny details
that you could never paint.5
Once I had completed
all of the preliminary
painting and I was happy
with it, I removed the
masking fl uid. This shows me
what I have to work with and
now the refi ning can begin.
Everything will look a little
course and crude when you
remove the masking fl uid,
but don’t be despondent –
this is the exciting bit! Take
your time and delicately start
to add washes over the
background to gently make
the highlighted areas
reserved by the masking fl uid
more subtle.6
Now comes the detail. I
didn’t want to go
overboard here. I wanted it to
look as loose as I can makeit, so I started on the
branches and stems of the
fl owers. A nice technique is
to paint the top half of a
stem and, while the paint is
still wet, drop in another
colour. This can give you
shading or discolouring and
make your plants look more
natural. Also, try to paint one
stem then the next, then the
next. If you fl it around your
painting, you can lose your
place and make a mistake.7
The last bits of detail are
probably the most
important: the dog and the
person. Try to paint exactly
what you see here and not
what you think you see. The
dog was really just a shape
as her tail obscured her a
little, so by painting what I
saw it gave a good
suggestion of that.
I fi nish up by picking out
some highlights with white
gouache and sharpening up
a few edges with coloured
pencils. I’m certainly not
subtle with my colour
choices, but it is an
improvement on the photo
and I am pleased with it.
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