White Tulips - a Step by Step Work in Progress

Finished painting.  A step by step tutorial follows.

Reference Photo

I modified the composition somewhat from the reference.  For one thing, the cars in background had to go.  I also decided on a dark background with a diagonal positioning of the tulips.  

The Drawing.

It's kind of hard to see the actual drawing, but you can see it's not too detailed.  Mostly it's positioning.

 Step 1.

For this particular painting I decided to start with a dark background. This is because the tulips will be almost completely white when finished. I wanted the background very dark on the left and getting lighter as it advanced toward the right. I sprinkled some salt on the far right –not sure if I like it or not, but will keep it as is until more is done.

Step 2.

I’ve built up some of the tulips with some shading and started on some of the leaves. It’s a slow process.

Step 3.

I built up some more leaves trying to get a variety of color and value.  I also added some texture between the leaves on the far lower left.  This was done by wetting the area and dropping in thick colors of green violet, orange, and brown madder.  While wet, I sprinkled some alt.  I also sprinkled salt on the lower right to give some texture to the light green.  

Step 4.

I built up the value on the tulips, added some more leaves. I also quieted down the area in the lower left by lifting some of the color and dropping in a green. I originally liked that area but as I progressed with the painting, thought it was too harsh. Now I need to think about the middle background, as the painting is easy to overwork at this stage.

 Step 5.

At this point I’m almost done. I need to build up some more of the tulips and add some definition to some of the leaves.

6. Finished Painting

A lot of little additions were added. What I tried to do was to make the white stand out by adding dark either as a wash or line.

 White Tulips 12x16

A Hill in NovaScotia

Many years ago, while in NovaScotia, my watercolor teacher  did a series of sketches of the area.   One of these sketches, shown below, is the basis of the painting I did called, A Hill in NovaScotia.

As you can see, the sketch is quite simple.   According to her, the buildings were atop a hill with the sea beyond.









I decided to make this simple sketch into a painting?  Since I wasn't there,  a lot had to come from searching the internet and using my imagination - a feat in itself.  I knew that to make this look like a hill, it needed a variety of texture and/or something in the foreground.  I decided on both.  I used a series of steps leading up to the right-most building.  I also added a cliff beyond the left-most building with the sea behind.

"A Hill in NovaScotia"  

1.  Sky was done by wetting the area with clean water and dropping in touches of blue.  

2.  The building were painted directly wet on dry letting each area dry before adding a different color.

3.  The hill and evergreen trees were painted using very juicy colors.  I dropped other colors on top, added salt in areas, and blending color out in others.

4.  The stone steps were done with direct painting. 

Recently completed watercolors

BEGINNINGS

When I was in elementary school, my class was taken to a local church where the art teacher had painted a mural.  My town was small and I never had seen an original work of  art.  I was amazed that someone I knew actually painted that mural on the wall.  That was the year I was introduced to art.