Bluebell Woods
This step-by-step is an excerpt from our book ‘Painting Trees, Colour, Line and Texture through the Seasons’.
In the book you can learn how to develop an idea into a painting. Siân writes about the initial inspiration, how the idea was developed, the information that was gathered before starting to paint, and how the painting was designed.
Here you can follow the steps taken to complete the picture
Bluebells Woods Siân Dudley. watercolour. 33cm x 42cm (13 1/2 x 16 1/2 in)
Materials
Artist quality watercolours: Permanent rose, Lemon yellow (not the nickel titanate version), May green (Schmincke), Sap green (Daler Rowney ), Cobalt blue, Ultramarine blue, Dioxazine purple, PV 23 ( Daler Rowney Permanent Mauve, or Winsor & Newton Winsor Violet), Burnt sienna.
Paper: Bockingford NOT140lbs/300gms, stretched
Watercolour brushes: Da Vinci Series 35 size 4 (pointed round), Swordliners ( large, medium), Dagger, ¼ inch flat, Toothbrush
Other materials : Masking fluid, Colour shaper, Tracing paper, Black pen, 2B pencil, Eraser, Palette, Kitchen roll
STEP 1
Draw in minimal outlines, and then trace them. Make notes around the edge of the painting for guidance.
Begin by drawing up the position of the trees with a 2B pencil. Add in a few of the main branches , enough to give some structure to the composition. Mark the position of the sunlight coming through the trees; in addition to the main area of sun, also mark the area lower down where there is light coming through the tree trunks. Draw a line across the page where the bluebells meet the foliage, and also draw in a few bluebell silhouettes in the foreground.
This type of outline drawing can be very confusing in a woodland painting - which is tree trunk, and which is the gap between the trees? To overcome this I mark the tree trunks with arrows as shown. (I prefer not to mark within the painting area as the marks can easily be lot under paint.)
Similarly I have also written notes down the side of the image, as a guide for colour and tone, according to the plan I made when designing the painting. This will be painted quite loosely, and it is a useful device for staying on track. In a design like this where the changes of colour and tone are quite subtle, it is easy to lose the features that will make the painting sing.
Finally make a tracing of the image; it is easier to apply paint loosely if concerns about having to start again as reduced.
STEP 2
Apply the first washes of pale tones to the leafy areas. and to the area of bluebells, varying the colours as you work.
In the palette prepare some puddles of lemon yellow and May green. Wet the top half of the image, using large brush such as a sword liner. Be sure to leave some of the paper dry, and avoid wetting the area around the sun. Using the same brush apply painted with loose gestural hand movements across the page, in the directions that branches grow. Vary the tone, and avoid completely covering the page; for the brightest highlights white paper needs to be reserved.
Make up a mix of cobalt blue, permanent mauve and ultramarine in the palette, as shown in Chapter 2, so that you can choose different hues form the mix. Dampen the paper in the bottom half of the painting; do not have this too wet. Working quite slowly drop is selected colours for the mix in the palette, allowing variation in tone and colours, and allowing some texture to develop. be careful to keep the tones paler nearer the tree line. Paint about half way down the area of bluebells.
Do not be concerned with avoiding the tree trunks. This layer need to be loose, you do not need to be restricted by painting around them. The depth of tone being applied here will easily be dealt with later on.
Step 3
Continue working down the page, adding some green areas amongst the depicted bluebells.
When you get to the foreground, keep working as in Step 2, but now add some May green to the mix. Make sure that you are not working too wet, or the colours will blend together too much. Strengthen the tones in the foreground as you near the bottom of the page, but remember that this are the palest tones in this area, so take care not to make them too dark. You are aiming for blotchy paint, varied in both colour and tone.
When all the paint is completely dry, apply some masking fluid. Where the trees meet the bluebells (the distance) apply fine spatter using a toothbrush, especially over the bluebell base layer.
Higher up the image, spatter some masking fluid from a colour shape of masking fluid brush, to reserve very light leaf shapes. Use the colour shaper to draw, with masking fluid, some bluebell silhouettes in the foreground, and some of the ivy leaves up the nearest tree trunk.
STEP 4
Begin building up layers of foliage by splattering paint.
While the paint drops are still wet, gently roll a brush over them to create leafy shapes
Begin to apply paint to the foliage of the trees. The foliage needs to be built up in layers to give the feeling of depth to the wood, so do not get carried away! Keep an eye on what is happening, and if everything begins to blend together too much, stop, allow it all to dry, then continue.
Begin by spattering a mix of greens across the painting. Pick up different colours from your palette; choose greens you have mixed, yellow and some blue.Using a sword liner brush gives spatter lines that imply leaves along the length of a branch.
While these drops of paint are still wet, take a round brush, and laying the filaments on the page, roll the brush through the wet paint. This will break up some of the lines, and produce randomly shaped ‘leaves’. It will also allow the different colours to mix and blend, producing a wide variety of greens! ( Again, do not attempt to avoid the tree trunks.)
Allow to dry.
STEP 5
Read Step 4 until you are happy with the result
Repeat step 4! As well as building up layers of leaves and foliage, painting in layers like this gives you the opportunity to adjust tone and colour. Refer to the original design, and make adjustments as necessary.
You may find that you need to repeat this layer again.
STEP 6
Spatter a mix of blues across therein of the bluebells, keeping the marks smaller in the distance and increasing their size towards the foreground.
Using a toothbrush, spatter a range of blues in mid-tones across the bluebells in the distance. moving down the page, change to a brush and spatter some larger marks, remembering to vary the colours as you work. Allow the tones to become deeper as you near the bottom of the image.
As you getter closer to the bottom of the image, use more of a dabbing action to produce shapes that are making to bluebell silhouettes.
Step 7
Prepare the tree trunks for being painted, by carefully removing the paint from the first washes.Leave a little green paint in place.
Using a flat brush and clean water, wet the paint that has landed on the trees trunks. Give it a moment to soften, then lift it off with the brush, or, if necessary, kitchen roll. The thin, pale layer of paint that is left over the regions of the tree trunks will add to the colour of the trunks.
Work slowly along the trunks, leaving some of the paint in place. This will form the shapes of the leaves in front of the trunk.
STEP 8
Using a brush paint in the tree trunks, leaving some green patches for the depiction of leaves.
Paint the tree trunks. Mix up a range of grey-browns, green-browns and greens in the palette. Be sure to make thick mixes, the tones of the trunks need to be very dark for the foliage to glow.
Wet the tree trunk with water, being careful to wet around the green that is still in place (these are leaves in front of the trunks).
Drop in a selection of colours from the mix in your palette into the wet area on the trunk. Drop in the paint at an angle for one edge it will bleed across the trunk and give it a rounded shape. Waiting a few moments, then drop in either more colour or water, as seems appropriate looking at what has already appeared on the paper; this will produce textural marks for the bark.
Step 9
Build up the texture in the foreground using fine lines for painting in grasses and a round brush to begin adding some bluebell shapes
Begin to build up some more defined texture in the foreground. Using green and the sword liner brush, lightly paint in some grasses. Keep the lines very lightweight, airy and randomly spread across the image. These will only hint at grasses, the design does not call for clumps of grasses or bluebell leaves. Rather these are to break up an expanse of blue in the foreground which might otherwise look unnatural.
Also, using a round brush, paid in some loose bluebell shapes. Paint just enough to give context to the rest of the painting. Base the shapes on the silhouettes of bluebells, choosing a range of different colours and tone. Do not be overly concerned with detail, all that is needed is enough to give context to the blue marks in the rest of the painting.
Finally, add the shadows. Painting the shadows takes courage as it means painting a well define wash over previous payers. While best done in one wash you may choose to subtlety mark where they are to be. Using a very pale wash, and a very light touch, paint the shadow in is one stroke. (Make reference to your gathered information; shadows do not always follow a predicted course!)
Step 10
Stand back to assess the painting, to decide whether adjustments are needed.
The painting is nearing completion now. Remove the masking fluid, the take time to stand back and asses whether there are areas that need further adjustment. Putting the painting upright and standing back to look at it across a room can be very informative.
As this stage this painting needs some adjustment. The tones along the lower edge of the tree foliage needs to be deeper, to allow the areas where the sun shines through to appear to be brighter. The very bright area around the sun needs a suggestion of warmth. The greens (grasses) in the foreground need a little more definition, and possibly it needs a few more defined bluebell shapes.
Assess your own painting, and make any adjustments that you feel are necessary. To avoid overworking, take time to assess, and make adjustments carefully, assessing again each time you make a change.