Mixed media experiment - tulip study in watercolor and colored pencil

I have some gorgeous red and yellow tulips in a vase this week. One of my very favorite flowers, I have always wanted to draw them, but get intimidated by the feathery red that blends into the yellow on the petals. I tend to use colored pencil and sometimes get too heavy-handed with it. I often end up with a muddy mix, rather than a delicate layering.

Clearly, I could practice just using a lighter touch and sharper pencils! However, today I wanted to try out a little mixed media technique and lay down a watercolor wash to give me some background on top of which to add pencil.

One of my retreat friends used this technique beautifully this weekend while painting a skunk cabbage in all of its maroon and cream glory. It reminded me that although I have not done much painting with watercolor, I could definitely use it as a base for a detailed colored pencil drawing, especially when layering very light colors with darker ones.

I started out with a light graphite pencil sketch to get the shapes. I have a small Windsor & Newton travel watercolor kit and used one of my travel watercolor brushes to grab a little bit of yellow and do a light wash on the petals. I also did the same with a light wash of green on the stem and leaves.

I painted on Fabriano Artistico Extra White hot press watercolor paper. I took some quick snapshots to show the process, but apologize for the poor quality of the photos! It should give you an idea of how I worked through the study, at least.

Next, I started adding in layers of colored pencil. I use Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. For this particular study, I used dark red for the deepest shadows in the petals and layered deep scarlet red and pale geranium lake on top for the red sections. For the yellow, I added some shadows with light yellow ochre and dark naples ochre. I kept layering, attempting to capture the subtle texture of these silky petals.
 

 


  
















I used light green, permanent green, may green, and pine green for the leaves and stem. 

As you can see below in the photo of my whole page, I did some test patches for each pencil before I used them to make sure I had the right colors. I need to do a color chart of all of my pencils to use as a reference! Those can be fun to make and good pencil practice - perhaps another blog post?

When I finished, I set the drawing aside for a few minutes and came back to it, darkening some shadows for definition and adding some highlights with my kneaded eraser. Here is the final. It's a photo (couldn't get the scan to look right) and even this doesn't quite show the darker reds as much as the actual.

Overall, I really liked using a watercolor wash as a base. I have more practicing to do, but look forward to using this technique again. 

Do you use mixed media in your work? What combinations do you like and why?

Red Eft Studio Promotion and Contest!

This is the first time I have done this, but the artwork is fantastic and features some of my favorite media to view (ink and watercolor), so I just had to spread the word!

Red Eft Studio, a blog I have been following, is having a promotion and contest in January and February. The artist will be posting a small pen & ink & watercolor painting each day, each available for purchase for $28.

On the last day of February, the names of everyone who comments on her blog during February will be put into a hat and a name drawn out. The winner will get to choose any one of the paintings she paints this month. 

 

Here is the first of the paintings - my favorite water bird! If you don't win it or buy it, I will! :)

 

So go - look, enjoy and comment. Maybe you will be a winner!

Botanical Ornament - American Holly

This is one of the ceramic ornaments that I have recently put into my online Zazzle store. It features a small botanical painting that I did of an American Holly.

The ornament can be personalized on both sides, and I am actually going to add the date and order one for our tree :) They make great gifts for the holidays. 

Keep in mind that you don't have to just choose holiday themes. I have a number of ornaments available, including:

Traditional:

Poinsettia (pen and ink)

Rose (colored pencil)

Noel (calligraphy)

Botanical and Wildlife:

African Daisy (colored pencil)

Camel (graphite pencil)

American Red Raspberry (ink and colored pencil)

Lone Cypress (pen and ink) -- this one is metal, not ceramic.

Come on by and take a look!

Looking for a holiday card?

Are you looking for a unique holiday card? Consider a botanical art card that can be customized to include your holiday greetings. The American Holly above is available for ordering through my Zazzle page:
http://www.zazzle.com/ccreech21*

Cards are available in the traditional greeting card size or in a smaller note card size. Bulk order discounts (in as small a quantity as 2) are available, so the more cards you order the lower the cost per card. It's a great way to obtain distinctive cards this holiday season.

UPDATE 2010: I have also created matching return address labels that can be customized with your information as well as a beautiful ceramic ornament, stickers, and stamps - all featuring my American Holly painting. 

Impatien flower - monochromatic watercolor study

This is an interesting little watercolor study of an impatien flower that I did for a botanical illustration course. It was our introduction to watercolor and we were learning how to do a variety of washes, get the feel of the brush(es), and learn lifting techniques for the leaf veins.

We were allowed to pick any color to work in, and I just loved this shade of blue. I think this was Windsor-Newton blue-green shade. Obviously, it doesn't reflect the actual color of the plant, but it turned out so beautifully. I really enjoy the purity of just using one color. Probably why I like pen and ink and graphite so much. :)