Butterfly and Tulip Watercolor Painting Tutorials

I stumbled across some more watercolor tutorials to aide in my ongoing project to learn how to watercolor paint. They were a collection of old videos posted on an art supply store's youtube channel. These both come from Susan Sheewe and are very quick and easy (well they seemed easy :)). 



I had wanted to paint some butterflies and this one made the whole process look like a piece of cake. It was a quick painting, but I felt like the butterfly wasn't the right shape when I was finished.

After it dried, I widened some of the wings just a smidge and painted in a background with a light cerulean color wash. The painting flattened out a bit more as it dried, but I decided I didn't like working on 80lb watercolor paper that I had. The paper warped too much from the water, and the paint behaved differently on it. I believe it came with a kit, so I'll stick with the slightly more expensive stuff.


Next I decided to watch a video about painting tulips--one of my favorite flowers. She used a technique where the paint was on the tip of the paintbrush and created a gradation effect. She didn't explain how to do this, and I wasn't able to recreate it, so I just did my best at painting some tulips.


This time I used some watercolor paper postcards to paint some smaller flower paintings.


For the red tulips I painted the foreground (the tulips) first, and for the purple tulips, I painted the background and just got some paint on in the general shape of tulips for the first coat. Then I let them both dry. I really like working on two paintings at once because you can let one dry while you work on the other.


After they both dried, I went back in and added more detail and color variation to the petals. I also added a light blue background to the red tulips.


So the butterfly photo I was able to do pretty much just like in the video, but wasn't happy with the way it turned out. With the tulips, I wasn't able to paint them the way she did in the video, but I liked the way they turned out. It was interesting to try to paint these with an angle brush like she does in the videos. It seems like each painter has a favorite brush. I think I lean toward a round brush for watercolor painting and an angle brush for acrylic painting. At any rate, I enjoyed painting and I keep learning new techniques.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plastic Wrap Alcohol Ink on Small Ceramic Bowl

Image
A while back I picked up some small white bowls from Big Lots ( these look similar ) with a nice satin finish. I already inked one bowl using the flame method , but I still have a few bowls left, so I decided to give one the plastic wrap treatment. I got out my craft mat and some alcohol inks . Then I cleaned my bowl with rubbing alcohol on a paper towel and removed the sale sticker from the bottom. I tore a piece of plastic wrap off the roll that was large enough to cover my bowl, and I set it down on my craft mat, being sure not to smooth it out. Then I dripped ink on the plastic wrap until I liked the combination of colors and the plastic was mostly full of color. Then I placed my bowl in the center of the plastic wrap and carefully applied the plastic wrap to the sides without smoothing it out too much (so it keeps the wrinkled pattern). Then I flipped it over to dry. I ended up using 7 colors on the bowl. I wanted something bright and fun so I we
Read more

Splatter Resist Alcohol Ink Tile

Image
I still have some ceramic tiles left from my last run to the hardware store, so when I remembered I had saved the contact paper heart from my Valentine's Day Glass Etching project, I knew exactly what I wanted to try. I grabbed some bright alcohol inks , canned air , a 6 inch ceramic tile , and my contact paper heart. I originally cut it out free hand by folding the contact paper, so it doesn't have to be perfect, but I'm sure if you have a cutting machine you could use that to make whatever shape you'd like in contact paper or vinyl. I peeled back the paper backing and applied the heart to the middle of the tile (as best as I could eyeball it). Then I rubbed down the edges of the contact paper. I squeezed out a drop of alcohol ink near the edge of the heart and used canned air to blow the drop out from the center of the tile. I usually hold the can with my right hand and a plastic lid with my left (I use the lid from the small plastic box I keep
Read more

Alcohol Ink Washer Necklaces

Image
I received a package of alcohol inks for Christmas and then bought a second set with a 50% off coupon at Michael's.  I've used them now to make coasters and to decorate some candle holders .  I was just getting my sea legs with these inks to begin with.  I applied the ink directly onto the surfaces and played around with rubbing alcohol as a blending solution.  But I thought it was high time that I used an applicator to use them the way they were intended.  Of course, the applicator is just a stamp with some velcro on it and it costs 6+ dollars....not to mention buying the pre-cut pieces of felt. So I figured I'd make my own.  I was very much in a use what you've got mentality, so I grabbed a scrap piece of wood and a couple of strips of velcro (hook and loop tape).  I used the hook side and lined two pieces up next to each other.  Luckily they were just the right width. I had the sew-on kind of velcro, so I spread some tacky glue thinly onto the surface
Read more