Hello, my lovely artists. Hope you all are enjoying painting in watercolors. If not, don’t worry I am here with such an amazing subject to paint this week, you simply won’t be able to resist painting- Purple hydrangeas! These are my favourite flowers. Sometimes I wonder why I don’t have them in my garden yet. Hmm.. Looks like I got to make some space for them in the garden this season.
DID YOU KNOW?
Hydrangeas change colors based on the pH level of the soil! If your hydrangeas are changing color from blue to pink it indicates that the pH of your soil is moving from acidic to alkaline. If pink hydrangeas are turning purple it means that the soil is acidic!
It is monsoon season here in India and I am enjoying it to the fullest. The beauty of monsoon is such that our life moves slow and we feel more connected to our inner self! Such calming weather to be going on a two-day retreat. So I and my husband along with some of our friends headed to the mountains of Mahabaleshwar. We could not go out of the resort much, due to the heavy rains but I did manage to capture some amazing snaps of flowers blooming In the property gardens. All I needed was an umbrella and my phone for some quick shots. All the flowers were looking so vibrant in the drizzling showers and my inner artist was swaying around capturing as much beauty as I could. I truly feel rejuvenated to paint again!
This is my second time painting the hydrangea flowers. I painted the blue-colored hydrangeas back in 2015!
I love this flower so much that the original painting is hanging in my bedroom.
THE COMPOSITION
Let’s talk about the composition a bit. Since the flowers are pink and purple, the yellow centres look attractive against the purple petals. The reason is yellow and purple are complimentary colors and sitting next to each other they make a really powerful composition.
I have divided the tutorial into two parts:
Part 1- Hydrangea flower petals
Part 2- Hydrangea plant leaves
Today in part 1 we will be painting the petals. The petals themselves have been divided further into two parts: Purple petals and greenish-yellow petals.
WATERCOLORS USED
1. Lemon yellow
2. Sap green
3. Permanent Rose
4. Dioxazine Purple
5. Ultramarine Blue
6. Indigo blue (for dark interiors) can also be covered in Part 2
BRUSHES USED
#1 round brush for fine details and
#2 and #4 round brushes for glazing
I suggest you to do a glaze test before proceeding with the painting process to check how different colors will interact with each other when applied one on top of the other. Simply let the first glaze dry completely and apply a glaze of the other color that you want to test. Let them dry and you will see the final result!
THE PROCESS
The initial two layers have been painted very light using the wet-in-wet technique. Once everything dried completely I started adding details with #1 brush to add texture to the petals. This is done using the wet-on-dry technique. Below you can see how the flower took shape with each added layer of color.
THE FINAL RESULT (Scanned Image): After some more layers and tonal adjustments this is where I called it done!
SOME USEFUL TIPS:
1. Make sure to switch your water when you start painting the yellow petals. We don’t want any amount of purple in our yellow petals. Or else it will result in a muddy color.
2. Simply dab in the pigment with the tip of your brush when working wet-in-wet.
3. Make sure to lighten any pencil lines if required before proceeding on yellow petals. Reason is that any dark pencil lines will show through the pale yellow washes and cannot be erased later.
4. Let each layer dry completely in between different layers or you might end up with muddy layers of colors.
5. Most importantly BE PATIENT and don’t forget to ENJOY THE PROCESS. I promise you will land in a serene world!
THE DRAWING: Make use of the drawing and feel free to trace the parts you want to paint.
Do paint this and share your artwork with me via email . I would love to see them.
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Here are some more suggestions of flower subjects which we painted previously. Feel free to explore them. Who knows something might spark joy for you!
Realistic Parrot Tulip in watercolor
Realistic Pansies in watercolor
Realistic Water Lilies in watercolor
Feel free to follow me on Instagram and Facebook where I post some behind the scenes of the subjects I make tutorials on.
I will be back with another tutorial soon.
Till then, happy painting!
Swati