Must Paint Watercolor Flowers – Jana Bouc, Artist

Becoming Begonias (third painting for the book)

I finished my third painting for the book Must Paint Watercolor Flowers (above). This one was fun and not a struggle like the orchid painting. Since the lighting in the photo reference was flat with no obvious source of light I pretended there was one coming from the upper right and tried to exaggerate it a bit in my painting to give it some life.

Now I just have to write up my process and the materials and techniques I used for the publisher and I’ve completed my three-painting commitment. There are some really fine artists contributing to the book and I am honored to be included with them.

Below are my steps in getting to the final version.

Tracing the enlarged photo onto watercolor paper using blue Saral Transfer Paper — Tracing the photo print-out onto watercolor paper using blue Saral Transfer Paper

I printed the photo on my printer and sandwiched the Saral Transfer paper between the print and the watercolor paper.

The transfered drawing on Arches 140 lb watercolor block — The transfered drawing on Arches 140 lb watercolor

Normally I would use a much lighter line, but the publisher requests we make the drawing dark so that it photographs well. At least the blue Saral transfer erases easily with a kneaded eraser.

Painting the first layer of yellows, oranges and reds

I like the sort of botanical illustration look of this phase.

Beginning to paint the blues and greens in the leaves

When this brightly painted leaf dried I glazed over it with Viridian so it would stay in the background but I enjoyed these pretty colors together.

First layers of flowers and leaves painted

After adding the darks between leaves and additional glazing on leaves

I had a good time glazing on the lines and shadows on the flowers. Then it was just a matter of adding a few more shadows here and there and signing my name.

Painting for the book: “Must Paint Watercolor Flowers” – Part I

I was given permission to post some of my work on the upcoming book, “Must Paint Watercolor Flowers” (Quarto Publishers, London) for which I’ve been commissioned to paint three floral watercolors. The painting is the easy part; taking the photos, correcting them in Photoshop, and writing about each of the steps takes much more time and isn’t nearly as much as fun. I thought I’d break this into a few posts so they won’t be too long.

My first step after being given my choice from a couple dozen excellent photos (which I’m not permitted to post) was to do some rehearsals in my sketchbook. I used several pages to experiment with how I wanted to approach the metal pitcher, mixing colors for the leaves, the buds and the yellow-green flowers (above). Then I experimented with color mixtures for the orange flowers and the large amount of darks (below — combinations of Winsor Green and Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna, Sap Green and Sepia, Winsor Green and Winsor Violet).

Next step was to transfer the photo to my watercolor paper. Initially I was going to make the painting small enough to fit on my scanner but decided to use the maximum size the publisher allowed since it was such a complex painting. I chose a 12 x 16″ Arches 140 lb. cold press watercolor block (block is easier to set up for photographing). If I’d been given more time and/or if the photo wasn’t so complex, I probably would have transferred the image by drawing freehand or using a “gridding up” method but with a two-week deadline I used a quicker method.

Transferring the photo to watercolor paper

I enlarged the photo in Photoshop and printed it in sections (before figuring out I could have more easily used my copier to do the same) and taped them together. Then I placed a sheet of Saral Transfer Paper on top of my watercolor paper and laid the enlarged print on top of the Saral. Using a ballpoint pen, I traced over the shapes of the flowers, leaves, stems and shadows which transferred graphite lines from the Saral paper onto the watercolor paper.

See what I mean about how complicated the image is! I’d left too much of an overlap on the tiled together enlarged photo and some areas didn’t get a good transfer so had to freehand some of the drawing, clean up some lines and darken others. This is my new favorite mechanical pencil, the Papermate PhD Ultra.

I wanted to paint the pitcher wet-into-wet and so I applied Winsor and Newton Colourless Art Masking Fluid to some of the shapes around and projecting into the pitcher to make it easier to paint wet into wet more freely. I used a cheap disposable brush to avoid messing up my good ones. I prefer Cheap Joes Golden Fleece rounds for watercolor and even though they aren’t expensive, I don’t want to ruin them with masking fluid.

Detail: Pitcher painted, removing masking fluid

I like pulling off the mask with the rubber cement pick up tool. I think it’s made out of the same stuff Vibram shoe soles are made from. The pitcher and the table have had their first washes. Next step is starting on the flowers and that will be in the next post.