Are you fed up of the rain and the cold weather? I know I am – but it does mean I can spend more time in the studio getting creative.
Although outside might be grey, I’ve grabbed my vibrant Inktense Paint Pan Sets to draw spring flowers in an art journal , full of handmade watercolour paper. It took the Inktense formulation really well, holding on to the vibrancy whilst not bleeding through.
I start a drawing with the a HB Derwent Graphic Pencil and than I give the dandelion colour, starting with a light yellow before working dark yellow and orange on top.
I build the flower layer by layer. First create a layer of yellow before adding some dark shades, once the first wet layer has dried.
It’s a bit of a waiting game but not for too long, as Inktense drys quite quickly!
Once the previous layer is dry, you can build layer by layer. You can layer wet on wet if you like but, I find wet over dry works brilliantly too, just depends what effect you want to achieve.
With flowers, you’re always trying to get the delicacy of the petals whilst achieving a smooth texture. It’s best to have a light touch but make sure you get the shape correct. This comes through your shading, layering and colour selection.
You have to be careful how you can create the hues of the flowers; you don’t want the colour to be too flat but you don’t want the colours to be over worked and muddied. You’re looking for a delicate balance.
For the lilac flowers, I use the purple colour but I also add flecks of blue and pink. I mixed them in a porcelain pallet to make these lilac flowers even more interesting. It adds a realism to the flowers and depth. The greens I create with green but by mixing colours yellow and blue. By doing this, rather than just using a green, you can get varying shades of green too.
Remember as well, stems are greener nearer the flower head than at the base!
In the video you can clearly see how I run the colours in the wet layer. So that is the wet on wet watercolour technique. The flow of pigments is different then on wet on dry paper giving my piece a sense of movement. Just give it a try and see for your self what the difference is – art is all about testing, trialling and discovering new techniques!
And here is the final result!
I hope you enjoyed the film. Did you hear the birds in the background? Spring is definitely in the air.
Good luck with practising with Derwent’s Inktense Paint Pan Sets and enjoy creating!
Thanks to Julia Woning for creating this fantastic piece and video for us! You can discover her work on her website, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.
Inspired by Julia’s work? You can grab your own Inktense Paint Pan Set here.