This week i’m painting with you white flower, wild flowers of course ! There is a challenge to this subject : painting white with watercolor…
My reference image is very simple, just two wild white flowers. And i think that when you just start painting with negative painting technique, it’s easier to start with very simple subject in order to really understand the process. Et behind that name, negative painting, it’s in fact a really simple concept : in place of painting the subject you just have to paint around the subject. And it’s a very important technique when the subject is white. As you may know, we don’t use white with watercolor. Of course there is white watercolor paint and white gouache and white pencil and whit ink… but sometimes it’s better to keep the paper just white. Because sometimes adding white at the end can be too much layers. But if you keep the white of the paper, it will bring lightness to the painting.
Painting negative shapes is easier than one thought ! And even easier with a flower’s subject. You can always tweak the shape by adding or removing pigments when everything is wet. And is you’re not very sure about a certain area you can always blur it and gradient it to the white and make it very soft. If you want to add even more life to the flower you can also add some very light washes into the flower area. It will bring texture and volume to the flower !
White flowers painting in video
SUPPLIES :
Brushes : Raphaël 903 nº2, Silver Brush Black velvet 1/4″ dagger shape.
Paper : Arches rough.
Colors : Ultramarine blue (Daniel Smith), Viridian (Schmincke), Verona gold ochre (Daniel Smith), Quinacridone gold (Daniel Smith), Burnt sienna (Schmincke).
And here you have the finished painting (click to enlarge) :
