Painting an Apple in Watercolour- Veronica Aldous

1 . Place your apple on a white piece of paper so you can see the shadows and highlights.

2. Sketch out a simple drawing, it must be accurate- simple means without much detail.

3. Remove most of the graphite.

4. You may mask highlights;  the stalk and any other areas which need highlights ( white areas) preserved. Leave this to dry thoroughly. You may choose to mask water droplets but do ensure these are a believable shape and placed correctly.

5. You may start to paint in the base colours using a watery mix of underpaint. Put yellow- green ( Sap  Green and Lemon) where you see that colour and red-pink ( Alizarin Crimson- Permanent Rose

6.Work in delicate layers, letting each layer dry  before moving on to the next, deepening  and strengthening areas where there are stronger tones using the hues selected. Be careful to notice TONE distinct from local COLOUR. i.e. One side of your apple may be darker than the other.

7. Ensure you preserve highlights. At some point you may remove any masking fluid and glaze and soften those areas with some light washes. You may wish to re-mask highlights in any water droplets .

8. Make the area round the stalk a dark COLOUR. Do not use black.

9. Make the stalk look 3d by leaving a streak of white down it. Paint the stalk an appropriate green/yellow shade.

10. Shadows under the apple. Ensure these are a COLOUR, not grey.

11. Streaks may be painted on with a drier brush. Spots may be lifted out. ( wet the area and lift out with tissue paper).

This contains a poem , 3 drawings, 2 photos handwritten notes, a generated 'business card' a small photo of me and my brother when we were small in the Alhambra like place in Palma Majorca and a painting. There is also a fragment of one of my etchings of the dancers.

Favella Bar musician

Rose painting Tutorial in Watercolour- Diary of a Rose

Rose in Watercolour- a study in accuracy and expression.

I don't really like rather dead lifeless mechanical-looking flower studies, so I always introduce the serendipity and chanciness of watercolour paints to create life and movement.  I cannot see the point of using paint if it just looks like a photograph. I have a photo, I have a memory  I want a painting! 

Flowers are full of energy, they contain life itself. I have chosen to paint 1/2 a rose to create a tension and to abstract it from the normal expectation of a rose study.

1.
Masking fluid is spattered on all over and used to carefully mask out the areas of white within the flower. It' s really important not to just blob it on, be really accurate.I used a masking fluid brush. Originally my paper is larger but as the composition develops I guillotine it down.
The paper remains white  under the fluid until I remove it and tone it down.
I am using Winsor and Newton colours . Quinacridone Red is a superb vivid  pink red, Permanent Rose, Sap greens, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium yellow.
Paper is Saunders Waterford High White in NOT

2. Developing the patterns and striations within using simple admixtures of Quinacridone Red and Permanent Rose.

3. A Cadmium yellow is flooded through the background to create a warmth and glow.

 4.

 5. Some foliate shapes are added, I found these in other photos I had  taken.

 6. Masking fluid has been removed - lots of speckles are evident. I hate the background and it's going to get chopped off. You will notice this throws the rose into the forefront.

 7. I'm thinking of adding some water droplets but not to the flower which is pretty abstract  details

 8. Water droplets are painted on the leaf. Various pink washes are added and some Violet and Alizarin Crimson.

9. Finished.Notice some areas of the background move in and out of focus. It's not hyper realist. Thorns are painted in the same pink and there are many subtle washes so that the flower colours are   in the background as repeated local colour. Spattering and splashes are allowed! I use a tissue to remove blotches, though.

For my students to draw. They are so incredibly beautiful. Whelk shells.

Leaf Lace- Lace art

 Tutorial on painting an Autumn/ Fall  tree with a sponge and Winsor and Newton Watercolours. 

by Veronica Aldous

 Creating the tree: The branches and trunk have been masked out and left to dry using frisket

 A dampened wrung out sponge is used to sponge onto damp paper- a sienna watercolour

Details with a brush picking out some branches and shadows . I'm using a Winsor and Newton Kolinsky brush.

 Leave to dry

A green is mixed with the sienna and soft patches are damply applied

The dry painting has had the frisket removed

 A wash of reddish pink and some dry brushed curves to the trunk to give dimension. Note that the wind is blowing it's branches and leaves.

Finished and deepened with browns and blues

 Taken with flash to show the wet paint.I like wet paint!

The Other Tree

Black syrup.The nuns were outraged
At the mess, the overt juiciness,
I stole some for her, letting them fall
Into my hands like sun-wild children's kisses-
Purple from fingertip to elbow
We grabbed at them, crushing them into our mouths
While they were full of heat and sticky solar life
I will steal any fruit for my mother
Gladly immoral.

The nuns cut down the mulberry
Dirty sacrament offended them-
The blood of Pan
Was too much
For their white thin mouths.

Copyright Veronica Aldous

published  September 2015