Hummingbird with Magnolia (2)

This post continues from yesterday’s demonstration of how to paint using watercolour in a more considered fashion.

This is the final frame of the Hummingbird with Magnolia.

Frame 1

As was the case yesterday, I am painting each petal separately. In my spontaneous watercolour painting, I allow edges to bleed into one another, but using this more considered method, I am careful for this not to happen.

Frame 2

Important to note that the highlights are dry white paper.

Frame 3

Note that I am now adding colour from the flowers onto the hummingbird to emphasise their connection. All life is interconnected.

Frame 4

I now begin to add transparencies over the top of existing colour. This is why I needed the paper to dry overnight. When you apply a transparency you add depth of tone and colour, but don’t change any of the painting’s structure.

Some watercolour artists apply many layers of transparencies, which is quite time consuming – a very different technique from my normal spontaneous/direct painting.

In oil painting we call transparencies – glazes….but the concept is the same. The Dutch Masters were known for their many layers of glazes in oil painting, which provided a luminous finish.