32 Watercolor artist | JUNE 2020
demo
Summer Veranda, England
In a complex composition like this one, which is full of little patches of light, it’s
important not to burn your bridges by putting large areas of wash on the paper
at the beginning and thus losing the chance to retain a highlight where you need it.Step 1
I began by building up a series of marks over the surface so that
I had an idea of the composition before committing myself to larger
shapes. I used the point of my large brush, dipped into a variety of
greens, grays and pinks, to lightly and rapidly plot the filigree of leaf
shapes that would gradually build up as the painting progressed.Step 3
Never losing sight of the parts
of the painting I wanted to
keep white, I gradually filled
the spaces. On the foliage,
I used mostly dabs and small
broken brushstrokes so that
a sparkle of light would remain
on many of the leaves.Step 2
Next, I mixed a neutral gray color so that I could pin down the
shadows on the ground, then moved across the picture, building
up detail in a loose but controlled way, taking care not to paint
over the brightest areas. Before applying the intensely dark
trees, I made marks to position the figure, and then painted
carefully around her head, giving a crisp edge to the sunlit form.