4–>40 Foliage

Mountain meadow. Small watercolor done from imagination. $25.

I spent a couple of hours outside, this time in a chair by the patio table, working on small vignettes from my garden of a rock (moved there in my mind) in front of a lantana plant with a few blossoms left but mostly greenery.  This one bloomed into something else when my imagination took over.

I took a 12 x 16″ piece and used masking tape to break it into five various size rectangles.  It was a good way to break the page into small chunks for experimentation.  Some success, some failures.  that’s life isn’t it?

After my experiments, I have some tips on closeup foliage that I will try more in the coming days and report back!

Wet the area at the edge of the foliage out to the edge of the area. This way the foliage tops will be soft.   Then put in darker values with various shades of green, darker near the bottom (because the daylight or sun hits the tops more) and let it dry completely.  Leave interesting shaped holes for blossoms or sky/shrub holes.  Create a nice color mingling, perhaps dropping in a sedimentary color like cerulean to create additional texture. Then leave it alone to completely dry.  Resist the urge to fiddle with it.  Let the watercolor do its magic.

Then when completely dry, use a small flat brush that’s damp but pretty well squeezed out and carefully lift out lighter strips or curved pieces that could read as stems or lighter leaves.  Step back frequently.

Remember if the foliage is further away in the landscape, don’t get caught up in the details. Get the shape and value of the foliage correct and play with colors within the shape.  Save detail work for around your focal point.

Stay tuned for further experiments in foliage.  I really appreciate hearing from you.  thank for stopping by!