Sycamore tree reference

Not living nearby, and as the commission came in the late autumn, I had to work from photo reference.  For more on the challenges this poses check out my earlier blog.  Luckily, the client supplied photos of our tree in full leaf (although with the top cut off).  Combining this with a fuller image of the tree in winter, and of the same tree from another angle allowed me to draw up the Sycamore.

Pencil rough

I always draw directly onto my watercolour paper using a propelling pencil.  I love Pentel P205s with a 0.3mm HB lead.  I work on Stonehenge Aqua hotpress paper, and use a triangular Factis eraser.

Normally I avoid putting any tone in these rough drawings, but with this Sycamore tree I had to add a little so I could find my way around the foliage.  I chose to add the wall at the base of the tree to provide some context, and to help people recognise “their” tree.

Painting the Mid-tones

I used to say I began an illustration by painting in the darkest darks.  I’m no longer entirely convinced by this statement.  Iris M Gross, who follows me on Youtube and Facebook, pointed out quite correctly that I start by putting in the mid-tones.  Then I work on the paler areas before finally concentrating on the darks.

I begin by mixing up a decent green.  Nothing too stark or alarming, and with plenty of browns and yellows.  I use Winsor and Newton paints, mixing Sap green, Yellow Ochre, Gold green, a little Burnt umber and a touch of purple.  As always, I use my beloved W&N Series 7 sable brush, a number 1.

I build up texture and colour with lots of little brush marks, trying to emulate the shapes and shadows seen in Sycamores in summer.  Very thin lines are used to pick up emergent branches.

This first step takes ages.  By the time it’s done we have a basic tree on the page.  In order to make sure I don’t get lost in all the leaves, I paint in the tree trunk and branches next.

Painting the Trunk of the Sycamore tree

The trunk of this tree is quite pale.  I mix Yellow Ochre with a little brown, a touch of purple, and a little green.  I build up the texture of the wood before adding a top wash.  This is the same colour, but diluted with water.  I keep this wash quite wet.  When it dries, the sharp edges that come with wet paint that has dried will emphasize the edges of the trunk and branches.

Below you can see the tree with the completed branches and tree trunk.

Painting the lighter leaves of the Sycamore Tree

Next I work on the light foliage of the Sycamore.  The green I use is a mixture of Sap green, Cobalt blue, a touch of purple, and Cadmium yellow light.  Using a stippling motion, I try to build up the feeling of leaves, as well as some depth of colour.  Even though we’re working on the lightest areas of the tree, it’s vital to leave plenty of the paper untouched.  With watercolour, your paper provides the highlights.  Without this, the whole painting becomes dark and muddy.  Adding white will simply muddy things further.

I tend to apply this stippling to the edges of the darker green areas.  Suggesting leaves blowing about in the wind, and a more organic silhouette, I add a few of these around the external perimeter of the tree.  When it’s finished, I believe I’m getting closer to the feel of the tree.  However, I also feel a little saddened as something of the crispness is lost.

Top wash

I often witter on about top washes.  What I mean is a colour mix which is far more liquid than the paint I normally use.  A watery but vibrant paint instead of one with the consistency of blood.  In this case, the colours used are Gold green, Sap green, and a good dollop of Cadmium yellow.  You can see from the photo just how wet the mix is.  I put this over the whole of the tree, and even cover the branches with it, albeit in a far more dilute form.

It’s vital to let the paint dry between layers.  With really wet washes like this one, that can be annoying and time-consuming.  I tend to have several illustrations on the go at once so I can get on with something else as the paint dries.  With this tree, I was busy planning teaching workshops between washes.   Another option is to use a heater, hair-dryer, or (in summer) place the painting in direct sunlight.

Once dry, it becomes apparent that the tree needs a great deal more work doing on the shadows in the leaves.

Working into the Shadows of the Sycamore Tree

I mix up a dark blue-green.  Winsor blue, Pthalo green, a touch of purple (always a touch of purple!).  Using the same stippling motion, I try to go deep into the shaded regions between the clumps of leaves.  I use a similar approach with the brush that I do when working in pen and ink.  In fact, the pen and ink illustrations of trees I’ve recently done for The Living Wisdom of Trees by Fred Hageneder was helpful as I worked on this illustration.  Different medium, same approach.

I work into these dark areas across the tree.  The fact that there are no trees with leaves on in the garden means I’m having to work from memory rather than life.  The photo reference is good, but wasn’t taken on a bright sunny day.  This means figuring out the intensity of shadows, and shapes of these regions is a matter of conjecture.

When I’m done the tree is better.  But far from good enough.

More shadows

I try to emphasize the dark areas with more of my dark green.  Another green top wash is added, this time avoiding the brightest areas of the tree.  I do a bit of cursing, and I struggle.  Truth be told, I’ve never loved painting trees.  Somehow the mix of their enormous size and the desire to capture their lovely tiny and delicate details baffles me.  Trees themselves are things of wonder.  My botanical illustrations of them?  Less so.

This second top wash helps, but doesn’t solve the problem entirely.  The tree looks flat.  Again, I go over and add more depth to the darkest parts of the canopy.  This time it helps a little.

Once dry, there’s only one corner of the tree that particularly offends me.  There’s something deeply dissatisfying about the unnatural curve of the central branch.  Unfortunately, it’s in a position where I can’t alter or edit it.  This is the drawback of working in watercolour.  You can’t apply “sticking plasters” when you mess up.  You have to decide if you can live with it, or start from scratch.  I add a further wash on top of the region and decide to live with it.

Finishing the Sycamore Tree

The last thing to do is the churchyard wall.  Normally I’d enjoy this, but I was in a rage and a funk, so I didn’t.  However, it worked out well.

Often when illustrations don’t go swimmingly, walking away then returning helps.  That was certainly true for the tree.  I went and had a cup of tea and some Marmite on toast.  When I returned, it was ok.  It’s not the best illustration I’ve done.  But I think it’s competent.  It’s a decent watercolour illustration of a tree, and it’s not nearly as disastrous as I’d believed.

See, even people who draw and paint for a living get these crises of confidence.  I thought you might like to see one of mine evolving, then ebbing away again.  The client paid, so it can’t be that bad.

And now, when I look at it, I rather like it.  Like the tree on the wall, perhaps it’s starting to grow on me.  I still hate that bendy branch, though.

It’s worth noting that the commissioner found my work when she saw it in one of my Field Studies Council (FSC) leaflets, and got in touch.  This one was about plants of church and graveyards, and was produced in collaboration with Caring for God’s Acre.  Sometimes people setting out as illustrators ask where art commissioners find out about you, where work comes from.  The answer is that it comes from wherever you manage to have your illustrations published, and wherever you make your work visible.

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About Sweet peas

Members of the legume family; Sweet peas are classed alongside peas, gorse, beans and lupins.  Lots of food crops are members of this family; alfalfa, chick peas, and soybeans spring to mind.

Alfalfa Medicago sativa

The sweet pea flower has 5 sepals and 5 petals, and their leaves are hairless.  Each leaflet consists of two pairs of leaves and a terminal tendril which helps the plant to cling as it climbs upwards.  Sweet peas have winged stems and the leaves carry distinct veins.

There are lots of different species and cultivars of these pretty flower; some smell amazing and come in a wonderful range of colours.  These flowers can be found in gardens around the world.

Garden Sweet Pea Lathyrus odoratus

The species I’m illustrating today is the Two-flowered Everlasting Pea Lathyrus grandiflorus.  This plant grows as a thick hedge in my garden every year, so there’s no trouble finding good specimens!  (For a step by step guide to illustrating the Garden sweet pea (above) check out my earlier blog.)

It’s worth looking at the structure of the sweet pea before painting it.  This may involve dissecting it, or taking it apart.  Each flower consists of a standard petal, which stands upright. Two wing petals are in the middle of the flower (in this species these are a darker pink), and then there’s a claw petal below these which consists of two fused petals.  For more on the biology of this species, have a look at the Wild Flower Finder site.

Step 1: Draw up your flower in pencil

Decide if you want to focus on the flower, or want to include leaves and tendrils too.  It’s worth concentrating on the flower first as they can wither fast.  You can extend their lives a little by putting a twist of wet tissue at the base of the stem.  It’s wise to take a photo of the everlasting sweet pea flower early on for future reference.  Make sure you have several flowers on hand before you start.

Think about the composition, and how your illustration will sit on the page.  Be sure to leave plenty of paper around the edge of the illustration.  Have a cup of tea.

Using a pencil, and drawing direct onto your watercolour paper, draw the flower.  I like to use the Pentel P205 mechanical pencil, and my current favourite hot press watercolour paper is Global Arts Fluid 100.

2. Add the veins

Now plot in the network of veins you can see within the petals.  Concentrate on getting the pattern correct, and anchor the veins at the edge of the petal with extra little brush marks.

I use Winsor & Newton watercolours, and work quite dry.  This mix is Opera rose with a touch of Cobalt blue.  I always use a Winsor & Newton series 7 paintbrush, normally a number 1.

Now do the same for the veins in the central winged area of the flower too.  The colour mix here is the same as before, but with some purple added.

Step 3. First wash

You’re going to be putting a layer of pale pink on the flower next.  Mix up a very pale tint of pink, and be sure you make it paler with clean water rather than with white paint.

Apply this to the outer edges of the flower, and the darker zone at the centre of the flower.  Be sure to follow the lines of growth with your paint brush, and don’t be heavy handed.  You can always make watercolour darker, but you can’t lighten it!

Mix a darker pink for the central petals.  I used purple lake, Alizarin crimson and opera rose; but be informed by the colour of your own specimen.

Make sure you leave the white of the page to act as a highlight; you’ll knock it back later on.

While you’re waiting for the wash to dry, plot in the green of the stem.  A good trick is to outline either side of the stem, then put a paler green wash across the top.  It adds a touch of depth.

4. Work into the detail and go for a second wash

Once your botanical illustration has dried, work into the inner petals a bit more.  Add some detail, and balance the different parts of the flower by adding pinks to this central zone.

Mix up an ever paler and wetter tint of pink.  Apply this wash across almost the entire flower (including the parts which got the first layer of colour).  Leave the palest areas as white paper, right next to the stem of the flower.

5. Adding depth to the colour

Once dry, work into the petals some more.

Use your paint pretty dry, and build up layers of tiny brush marks.  These should echo the areas of light and dark on the flower.  Be sure to follow the line of growth, and adding some extra paint marks at the outside edge is a wise move.  Your eye likes to feel anchored at the edge of a petal.

I used Opera pink and a touch of the purple used for the flower veins.  Go slowly and make sure you don’t take everything too dark too swiftly.

I add another wash of pink to the centre of the flower.  You’re trying to keep the lights and darks in tact, but also want to unite the different areas of the flower.  It’s something of a balancing act.

Doctor Martins PH Hydrous inks come in a lovely array of jewel-like colours, and I often add a tiny drop of these vivid hues to my watercolour washes.  In this case it’s the turn of Quinacridone Magenta.

Step 6: Add darks and shadows

Work into your darkest areas with a blue purple mix.  Be brave and don’t dilute it too much.  I love the colour you get when you mix Cobalt blue with purple lake and often use this mix to add dark areas.

I then add the tiniest dashes of yellow to the inside regions of the claw petal.  This not only echoes the colouration of the flower, but adds something of a “pop” where the dark central zone abuts the yellow.

Last thing to do is to check it all looks right.  Look closely at your illustration and at your everlasting sweet pea flower.  Do you need to add a pale blue wash on top?  Are your shadows dark enough?

Excellent!  You’ve finished.  Now you can go and have a well-earned cup of tea.

Below is a real-time video of me painting this everlasting sweet pea.  It’s a very long film, over an hour, but I discuss every process in detail as I go along.

If you’d like to print off a summary of this blog as a step-by-step handout, please visit my Pinterest site.

The post Step by Step Everlasting Sweet pea botanical illustration appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

In order to complete a decent botanical illustration, you need to understand about lights and darks.  You must be able to see where your shadows fall.  One of the excersizes I recently got my flower painting workshop to try was to complete a detailed pencil study of a relatively simple leaf, in this case the leaf of a runner bean.

Step 1: Draw up the basic shape of the leaf

Working on cartridge paper, with a soft eraser and a sharp pencil (I love mechanical pencils like the Pentel P205, and use HB and H leads), I started out by plotting the outline of the leaf shape onto the page.

Step 1: Basic rough outline

Step 2: Add the main structures and veins

The second step is to start building into the structure of the leaf, by giving each leaf its mid-rib.  With these steps, it’s vital to avoid putting a line just anywhere.  Closely examine the leaf in front of you and draw exactly what you see.   Avoid drawing what you think might be there.  Do this by observing the leaf closely.

Step 2: Positioning the central vein

Step 3: Draw in the veins

The next step is to build into the structure by plotting in the intricate network of leaf veins.  In this picture you can see how this is done.  Start with the largest lateral veins (on the left hand side) then work into the veins and capillaries which branch off these.  If you think about it, the leaf needs to have every cell of itself serviced by a network of veins delivering water and nutrients, so it’s no surprise the network is complicated!  A magnifying glass can be useful, and the key is to not lose your place as you plot the veins in.

Step 3: Drawing in the network of veins, built around the main side veins

Step 4: Plot in your shadows

Now you need to start looking at the lights and darks.  Although this sounds straight forward, it can be really tricky to see until you get your eye in.  Put your leaf somewhere that’s lit by a directional light.  (Traditionally in botanical illustration, your light source comes from the top left corner – don’t ask me why).  Remember that there will be consistency here.  If the shadows tend to fall below the side veins, then they’ll do this throughout the leaf.  Every shadow or area of dark has a cause.  A shadow is caused by something above it being hit by light.

Different areas of the leaf have different intensity of shadow.  This depends on how prominent the vein is, how creased that area of leaf is.  It’s all down to variations based on the structure of the leaf.  Try to think about these as you draw, it helps to assign logic to an illustration.

Step 5: Complete the shadows on one side of the leaf

I tend to work on one side of the leaf and then the opposite side.  Because I’m right handed, I’ll draw up the left hand side first.  This means I don’t lean on and smear the completed work  when I move onto the other half of the leaf blade.  Work with your drawing hand leaning on a sheet of clean paper.  It won’t interfere with your drawing, but helps protect the initial pencil lines lying under your hand.

To get dark tones, push harder with your pencil.  Try a softer pencil lead.  Perhaps try an HB or a B instead of the usual drawing point of an H or 2H.

Practice on scrap paper first if you feel anxious.  Try making gentle gradations of tone between white and very dark.  Getting this gradual darkening of tone can be tough.  However, it’s neccessary as it makes a pencil drawing look natural.

Step 4 and 5: Working into the lights and darks on the left hand side of the leaf

Step 6: Plot in the shadows on the 2nd side of the leaf

Moving on to the other side of the leaf, look afresh at the lights and darks.  This side may be hit differently by the light.  This will result in a different pattern of shadow.

Remember that shadows often have distinct shapes.  Don’t be tempted to smudge your work with a finger.  Your observations of shadow shape inform the drawing and shouldn’t be muddied.

Finally, once you’ve faithfully recorded your shadows and tonalities, go over the illustration a final time and pick out your darkest darks.  Use a sharp pencil and a heavier touch.  This often helps bring the whole picture together.

Step 5: Finishing up the tonality on the other side of the leaf and plotting in the darkest darks

So why work in pencil?

I realise that doing detailed pencil studies may not feel very glamorous, or produce paintings you may want to frame, but it is an essential building block for anyone who wants to draw…anything!  The same tricks relating to seeing and recording lights and darks are directly transferable to your watercolour work, and the knwoledge you get from working into a detailed tonal study stands you in good stead for understanding leaf anatomy better (which means your pitcures will be better too).

Here are a couple of finished pencil tonal studies to show that pencil work can be a medium in which to produce finished art work, as well as a way to learn about tone. The cucumbers appeared in Rodale’s Vegetable Garden Proble Solver by Fern Bradley, while the Reed mace and White waterlily were completed for the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.

Cucumbers

White water-lily

Greater Reed mace

For more of my pecnil illustrations, have a look at my blog.

The post Step by Step pencil illustration of a bean leaf appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

I decided to work up one single leaf, and found it remarkably tricky!  However, here’s my best attempt at painting a leaf and at breaking it down into easy to follow steps.  (If you can find a sprig with a red berry on, then you’re all set to make a really lovely illustration.)

In theory, this approach should work for any shiny leaf.

Step 1:

Draw up the leaf in pencil line.  I like to use mechanical pencils, the Pentel P205 is a firm favourite.  Draw the shapes of the areas of highlight in pale pencil too.

Step 2:

Mix up a nice dark hue.  For this leaf I mixed paynes grey, Vandyke brown, a touch of Yellow ochre and lots of a dark blue green colour like Pthalo green and blue.  Mix the paint nice and thick so it has real solidity about the colour, but not so thick that it’s too dry to go on smoothly.  I use Winsor and newton paints and always use a Winsor and newton series 7 sable brush (normally a number 1).

Paint in the shapes of the darkest parts of each area of shadow, leaving any areas which are shiny as white paper.  Be brave about where the edges of these dark areas are, you can soften them with lots of tiny brush-strokes but don’t swallow up those areas of white, you’re going to need them!

Let the paint dry fully before moving onto the next step.

Step 3:

Mix up a paler and yellower green (I just added sap green to the mix) and work into the edges of your highlights, referring to the leaf all the time.  This is really tricky, so concentrate.  Blend the lighter green into the highlights with lots of tiny brush strokes.

Paint over the lateral veins unless theyre starkly highlighted.

Let the paint dry fully before moving onto the next step.

Step 4:

Mix yet another paler green, I added yellow.  Make this paler by diluting it slightly with water.  Lay this thinly ontop of the painted areas, then, where his yellow colour touches your highlights (white paper), pull the paint out and away from the white using tiny brush marks.  Keep the brush clean and dry, those highlights need to stay white.

Once dry, mix a brightish yellow and work into the highlights, your areas of white paper will be quite small by now, don’t cover them up completely

Pop in the rest of the colour on the veins and work into the stem of the leaf.  Let the paint dry fully.

Step 5:

Mix an extremely dilute yellowish green (cadmium yellow light with a tocuh of yellow ochre is good) and apply it to the whole leaf, keeping it very light on your highlights.

Blot off the paint in the brightest areas of highlight with a twist of tissue.

Work into your darkest darks with a really dark hue (brown and purple, perhaps).  Add detail like spine tips and stem detail.  You can pick out the sharp tips of prickles with a tiny dark line of paint, and look at your leaf to see where the veins have cast shadows alongside them.

If you need to, work into the highlights again with more tiny strokes of bright yellow.  Spiny tips which are white can be picked out with a tiny brush and white gouache, but go easy on the gouache as it can make a leaf look milky or chalky.

Here’s the finished leaf study along with the leaf itself and my paintbox.  I wasn’t delighted with this study, and think there’s definitely room for me to improve on this technique; however, as a basic way to start painting a shiny leaf I hope it has some value.  The light on the leaf differs from my angle of drawing, but overall I think the leaf could afford to be darker and less bitty.

Looking at the paintbox

In my paintbox you can see most of the colours mixed for this study; at the top there’s some dark green which was the original paint on the darks, the second palette area has the lighter greens and the yellow greens used in steps 3 and 4, the third palette has yellow hues which were used to work into the edges of the highlights, and the bottom palette is the dried out ochre wash that was laid over the whole leaf.  Darkest shadows were provided by the dark colours in the second and third well of my mixing palette, and that tiny patch of crimson was used for the base of the stalk and some tiny regions around the tip of each prickle.

<y other step by step botanical illustration blogs can be found here.

Preparing handouts of the step by step process

This is me thinking through and preparing a handout (two handouts) of this process.  One is below, the other version of the holly handout (with close ups of an area of leaf) can be found on my “step by step handouts” board on pinterest.  Feel free to print these off it it helps, but please only use them for your own personal learning.  Thanks.  I was clearly also thinking of doing a step by step of an ivy leaf, but think that can wait for another day!

For plants that interest you, like the Holly, in addition to collecting and drawing them, you can also make them into Custom Lapel Pins.  I did this with an Oak lead illustration and with a Fly agaric, and they are lovely!

And finally. can I wish all of you a very happy holiday season, Christmas, Hannukah, New Year and 2018!  Thanks for your interest in my work and blogs, and for taking the time to read my ramblings.

The post Step by step botanical illustration of a Holly leaf appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

These feature on a series of stamps completed for Jersey Post in their Fruit and Berries issue, out now. (Click here for a blog on this job).

Bloom on fruit

Other fruit which have this distinctive blue-ish bloom on their skin include plums and grapes.  Sloes differ from these in having a far blacker underlying colour, which you can see if you rub off the bloom on a berry.

It’s surprisingly easy to get the bloom on fruit effect, and I have to say a massive thankyou to the wonderful botanical illustrator Christina Hart-Davies who taught me how to tackle this subject, and is a maestro when it comes to capturing bloom on fruit.

Grapes by Christina Hart-Davies

Step 1

The first step, once you’ve drawn up your illustration and are ready to paint the fruit is to cover the whole fruit with a layer of slightly mauve water.  Mix this up by adding the tiniest amount of blue-purple to some clean water.  Make this layer really wet, you want the paint you’re going to apply to the page to blur into it in an organic way, so no half measures!

Step 1: Putting a very dilute wet wash on the fruit

Step 2

Next, mix up a very wet purple watercolour mix.  I used purple, cobalt violet, and cobalt blue; all Winsor and Newton paints.  Apply spots of this mix to the body and margins of the wet fruit, making sure you keep the palest and highlighted areas clear of paint.  Allow the purple colour to gently bleed into the water, then allow it to dry completely.  Don’t be tempted to mess with it as it dries, or move onto the next step before the paint is fully dry.

Step 2: Purple wash seeps into the wet on the fruit

Step 3

Next, mix up a darker blue, less watery than before.  I used winsor blue and some Cobalt purple.

Mixing up a good blueish purple

Use a really good brush (I always like the Winsor and Newton Series 7 ones).  Now add some areas of this darker paint to the top of the dried painting.  Don’t overdo it and go too dark, and remember to leave your highlights as white paper.  A dark line delineating the base and top of the fruit can be a useful addition, if you blend it in with the dark blotches.

Step 3: Adding darker ares to the Sloe with a dry brush

Step 4

Once dry, and being brave, mix up a darker blue again (using indigo and greenish blues) and with a comparatively dry brush this time, pick out some areas of the darkest bits of the fruit.

Step 4: Adding really dark areas to the fruit

Treat all other fruit in the same way.

To be honest, I rather wish I’d stopped working on the sloe at this point.  But the brief required a highly polished finished illustration.  In working toward this I fear I lost some of the tonal spontaneity that I quite like in this stage.

Step 5

Using a slightly less dark blue, work into the areas around the darkest darks, allowing there to be a gradation between the shadow and the light.  These dark areas cross regions of bloom and highlight, so keep a look out for exactly where they fall and be true to your subject.

Step 5: Blend in the dark areas woth midtone purples

Step 6

Now mix up a watery white gouache, I use Winsor and Newton permanent white, and apply blobs of it to the edges of the brightest highlights.  Try not to be too precise, the bloom on each fruit isn’t.  Also, make sure you bring some of this white around to the very edges of the fruit, not only to the central highlighted area.

Step 6: Adding white gouache

Step 7

Yet more work into the darks is needed, so pop some more depth into the darkest regions of shadow.

Step 7: Add darker areas ontop of the gouache

Step 8

Now, with your heart in your mouth, closely observe the fruit in front of you.  Where the bloom has been scratched off and grazed (as it inevitably is in places) you reveal the almost black fruit below.  Using a very fine brush, pick out these tiny details.  Don’t be half hearted about it though, these need to be definite decisions and accurate, bold paint brush strokes.

Step 8: Add scratches and pock marks

Step 9

Last step is to add tiny brown and magenta markings to the skin, which can be seen on most sloes if you peer long enough.  The brown is a red hue, Vandyke brown with Cadmium orange light.  The purple is Opera pink with Cobalt violet and a touch of Alizarin crimson.  The brush marks need to be very discrete, observe the fruit carefully and replicate them on the page as closely as you can.

Step 9: Add brown and pink details

A few final touches of a very dark blue, almost black, and the illustration is done.  The scan below is slightly misleading as it is of the finished plant, so the leaves and fine details of surrounding areas are also finished.  The illustration was also scanned not taken by a camera, hence the discrepancy between the black of the image below and the blueness of the earlier photos.  (The scanned image below is truer to the colour of the final illustration.)

Completed Illustration

Detail of Sloes illustration

And here are our two sloes with the rest of the plant.

Final Illustration: Sloes, completed for (and copyright of) Jersey Stamps 2017

I doubt I’ll ever manage the sublime subtlety of Christina Hart-Davies’s work on fruit bloom, but by following these steps, many of which were a revelation to me (working wet on wet?  Using blobs of white gouache? Putting in dark scratch and pock marks?  Who knew?), I think it’s possible for everyone to give it a go.

For more of my step by step botanical illustrations blogs, click on the link.

The post Step by step Painting Bloom on a Fruit appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Here is an explanation of the steps involved in creating a botanically accurate illustration which is also visually appealing.  It needs to allow a novice to identify that flower in the field.  The approach is similar to my other step by step botanical illustrations.  The species and colours change, but my approach remains more or less consistent!

Getting reference

First, I gather my reference.  The illustration rough was done in January, so no Willowherbs were around.  This means I rely on stalwart books like Collins Guide to Wild Flowers of Britain by David Streeter and Wildflowers of the Bristish Isles by Garrard and Streeter.  For accurate anatomical information I use my volumes of line drawings by Stella Ross-Craig.  These are a must have for any botanical illustrator working with the British flora.

I use a mechanical pencil (I love the Pentel P205) and draw direct onto hot press watercolour paper.  In this case I worked on Botanical Ultra Smooth HP produced by St Cuthberts Mill as my trusty Fabriano paper has changed and is no longer good for botanical work (here’s a link to a recent blog on this topic, it’s quite an issue in the botanical illustration community!)

Pencil rough of the Greater willow herb

The pencil rough needs to be clear, and to include all the traits that clearly identify this plant as Epilobium hirstutum rather than any of the other Willowherbs.  As the name suggests, these include an all over hairiness.  Traits also include information on how it grows with basal side shoots, leaf shape, and presentation of the flowers and seed pods.  A cut stem shows height, this is a tall plant.

Once I get the go-ahead from the client, I can start “colouring-in”.  She  and three other botanists pore over my roughs to make sure they’re are no inadvertant errors.

Adding watercolour to the leaves: Structure and darks

I use Winsor and Newton watercolour pans (which I top up with watercolour tube paints, I know you’re not supposed to mix pan and tube, but it works for me!)  The best brush in the businesss is a Winsor and Newton series 7 sable brush (size 1 and size 000); I love them.

I always start out by plotting in the darkest areas of the leaves.  These show form, and explain to the viewer the shape of the leaf as it’s described by the light falling on it.  In this case, I used a mix of Hooker green dark, Cadmium yellow (pale hue), Yellow ochre, Cobalt blue, and Winsor blue.  I sometimes test to be sure my green is mixed right by applying a tiny spot of the paint to a leaf of the plant I’m painting.  Obvisouly, when I don’t have the actual plant itself to hand I can’t check my mixing this way.

The leaves cling to the stem (they’re amplexicaul, curling around and up the stem they arise from).  Using shadow helps underline this feature.

The underside of the leaves  are a paler green.  I only plot in one line to suggest where each vein casts a shadow.

Plotting in the darkest greens on the Greater willowherb illustration

Midtones on the leaves

Next, I dilute the green paint with water, and work into the areas around the darkest parts of each leaf.  It’s vital to keep the palest areas of each leaf clear white paper at this point, with watercolour you can always make a colour darker but it’s tricky to make it paler again without muddying the painting.  Again, the structure of the leaf, dictated by the veins, is the map for laying these paler green regions down.

I leave the midribs white, painting either side of them but being sure to leave them clear of colour.  The lateral or side veins may get a layer of this green, it depends on their position in terms of where the shadows fall onto the leaves.

Second paler layer of green applied to the leaves

Painting the stems

A third green is now mixed, this is much paler and yellower than before.  Sap green mixed with cadmium yellow pale, and a touch of turquise and yellow ochre.  It’s quite a wet mix, which helps keep it pale.  I paint the margins of the stems, the calyx, and the underside of the leaves with this colour.  Then I dilute it to a paler shade and put a wash ontop of the calyx, tops of stems, pale regions of the leaves, and underside of the leaves.  The midribs get painted with some of this pale green.

The stem is flushed crimson, but I’ll add this a little later, for now this pale green gives the definition required to show its form.

Adding a paler and yellower green to pick out the stems and calyx

Seed pods and calyx

With a bluer pale green (Cobalt blue added to the mix) I pick out the seed pods and elongate areas below the flowers, then cover them with a more dilute version of the same green.  It’s important to allow the paint to dry between layers – luckily I use the paint quite dry so this doesn’t take long.

A yellow green (sap green and plenty of cadmium yellow) is used to pick out more detail in the calyx and buds.

I also use a windsor blue, hooker green dark, and purple mix to work into the darker areas of the leaves.  This requires a bit of patience, it takes a while to build up the darkest areas of shadow without swamping the entire illustration.

Working into the greens

A purplish crimson gets mixed up and popped onto the seed pods and distinctive lower bits of the flowers.  This is Crimson lake, Violet, and a bit of Vandyke brown.  I draw the edges of these structures with the paint, then once dry use an incredibly dilute verison of it as a pinkish top wash, carrying this onto the stem at the base of the Willowherb.

More work is put into darkening the darkest regions of the leaves with windsor blue, purple, and vandyke brown.  Shadows aren’t black, so a mix of richer colours is always better than using a black paint direct from the pan or tube.

Adding purplish crimsons and working into the shadows

Colouring the flowers

Now for the fun bit, getting the colour onto the flowers.  Willowherb have very distinctive pink flowers, it’s a dark magenta but slightly blueish, and very delicate.  I mix up this colour using Opera pink, a tiny bit of Cobalt blue, and Doctor Martin’s inks (Quinacridone magenta 5H).  This one bottle of ink is a key ingredient anytime I’m painting a plant with pink or purple flowers – radiant and clear without being overwhelming.

I use lots of small lines to build up both colour and flower detail, heavier toward the petal perimeters and much paler toward the centre of each flower.  The underside of the petals is paler (as with the leaves) so requires a lighter touch.

Leaving areas of white paper within the flowers is vital, too much colour and they look dull and clumsy.  This applies to the buds as well as the open flowers.

Plotting in the magenta of the flowers

As I reach the end of my illustrations I become increasingly absorbed by them, so fail to take enough “in progress” scans – apologies.  Next I put a very dilute mix of the magenta over the top of the petals and buds, again, ensuring that the entre of each flower remains almost uncoloured.

The internal structure of this Willowherb isn’t too challenging; egg yolk yellow anthers held at the top of pale green stamens, and a white stigma.  I used purple to delineate the details of this structure.

Finishing up: Flower details and shadows

Final touches are put to emphasise the darkest shadows, making sure any leaves which overlap others cast a drop shadow.

Next is the addition of the hairs.  I used a mix of Yellow ochre and Hookers green to make a greenish yellow.  Using my 000 briush I plot in the hairs over the entire plant (barring the petals, buds, and lowest stem), adding some hairs to the central regions of the stem as well as to the stem edges.

Next, I use Permanent white gouache, mixed quite thick, and the same tiny brush to pop in the hairs on the areas where structure overlaps a dark background.  Also, to suggest hariy leaves, I put a few tiny white markings on the leaf blades.

Finished!  Time for a cup of tea and to get out the next pencil rough that needs to be “coloured in”.

Final illustration of the Greater willowherb (hairs, body colour of flowers, stamens and stigma details added)

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Gathering reference

First step with any sciart botanical illustration is to get good reference.  Not only do I know where a local patch of red clover is growing, so I can gather leaves to work from, but I also back this up with good reference books like HarperCollins Guide to Wild Flowers by David Streeter, Streeter and Garrard’s The Wild Flowers of the British Isles, and the immaculate line drawings of Stella Ross-Craig (I finally have a full set of her drawings of British wild flowers!).  These are the main visual reference books I refer to for any  botanical illustration job. As this commission came in during winter, it means I can get the flowers right despite not being able to get my hands on any living ref.

I also consulted my trusty sketchbook notes, which have visual and written info on all the wild flowers I look at, and bits of leaf and dried flower heads glued in.

Sketchbook study of Red clover

Pencil rough

A pencil rough is the next step, I prefer mechanical pencils as you can sharpen the lead by snapping it on the page, and thus regain a graphite point without pausing in your drawing.  This one’s done with a Pentel P205, H lead, 0.5mm.  Rough drawings need to include all the botanical information required to identify that specific plant, and to catch the “feel” of the plant.

Pencil rough of Red clover

Once this gets the go-ahead from the client, I can start painting.

Starting the painting: Leaves

I drew this one up on my old stock of Fabriano Classico hot press paper (manafacturing changes mean this paper is no longer a good option for botanical illustration, but luckily I still have some stock-piled from before the changes.)

First, I plot in the darks on the leaves in watercolour.  For the blueish green of Clover, I mix Sap green with some Turquoise, yellow ochre, violet lake, and cobalt blue.  I tend to favour Winsor and Newton pans, and always use a Winsorand Newton Series7 paintbrush (they hold their tips like no other brush).  The darks on a clover aren’t that dramatic; the leaves are comparatively flat, so it’s more a matter of giving a suggestion of the veins, and ensuring the leaflets all have some areas darker than others (generally those close to the stipule and midrib, where the leaf dents down to join these structures and shadows are cast).

Red Clover – plotting in the shadows and leaf veins on the trifoliate leaves

Painting the stem and bracts

Next, I wanted to get the bracts and the stems down.  This means mixing a far yellower hue.  The hue is based on a viridian light green,  with plenty of winsor yellow, yellow ochre, and a touch of turquoise added.  Initial painted lines are quite distinct, the paint will be thinned to a wetter and paler consistency later on.  I make sure the stems are darker where they join one another or are shadowed by bracts or leaves.  I also plot in the green areas within the flowering heads, and take the yellower colour out along the mid ribs of the leaves.

Red clover – plotting in the stem and bract edges, and painting in the leaf mid ribs.

Next stage is to cover each leaf with a very very pale yellowish green.  It’s vital to make sure the distinctive white patches aren’t swallowed up.  I also pop in the underside colour of the leaves which is a chalky blue colour.  Leaving details of damage on leaves is a lot of fun, so enjoy working into the hole on the leaf.  Mixing up a maroon (crimson lake, Purple, and vandyke brown), I put in the intiricate network of veins you can see on the bracts.

I also use this same mix to bulk up the darkest areas of bract.  The flushed stem shadows use a similar hue.  I plot in the blue and pale underside of the leaves.

Watercolour: Painting the clover florets

I paint in the darkest parts of each clover floret. I love this bit, playing with such incredible bright colours is a treat after seas of green.  This magenta colour is a mix of Doctor Martin’s hydrous inks – 9H Cobalt violet with 5H Quinacridone magenta.  I get a paler hue by diluting the mix with water.

Red clover – painting the florets

Red clover – Magenta areas all plotted in

Adding depth to the leaves

Now I work into the green of the leaves, to give them some bulk and colour.  I do this by using the same colour I used earlier, but with a touch of yellow added, and in a far wetter, more dilute mix.  I pop this over the entire leaf which helps give colour to the paler patches without swallowing them up in dark green.  Make sure the leaf tips are where the wash collects to dry, this darkening of the leaf apex gives shape to the leaflets.

Red clover – working into the leaves

Finishing touches and shadows

A few more steps are involved before the illustration is complete.  First, go over the flowers with an exceedingly pale pink watery wash.  This stops the dinstinction between the painted areas and the white of the page from looking so stark.  I also add some bright yellow to the base of each floret, where they attach to their individual bracts and to the stem.  I also use the same bright yellow to pick out the midribs of the leaflets and the darker areas in the white leaf splotches.  This is, in retrospect, ill-advised.

I also mix up green and yellow ochre, and add the haris to the plant.

I add shadows with a mix of winsor blue and purple lake; sometimes I mix cobalt blue and cobalt violet to the mix to soften it a little.  This helps the leaflets jump out a little more.

Red clover – finished!

This Red clover is a funny one, because of the simplicity of the shadows on the leaves, and the complexity of the flowers, it’s a reversal of the normal process where the leaves take a great deal longer to work up than the flower.  However, I’m pleased with the finished illustration, and the fact that it took 3 hours instead of my more average 5-7 hours is an added bonus.

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The first step is to get your hands on the moss itself; drawing mosses is so unusual and new for me that unless I have a reliably identified specimen to work from, there’s no way I can even begin an illustration of the species.  I’ve been incredibly lucky in having the support of Ray Woods (Radnorshire Wildlife Trust botany and mycology expert) and Jonathan Sleath (British Bryological Society), both of whom collected and delivered samples for me.

Drawing a moss

Drawing up the pencil roughs of the mosses required a different approach from my normal atonal line drawings, this is because the moss makes very little visual sense without shadows, so each pencil rough is almost a finished tonal study.

Pencil rough of Sphagnum tenellum

Getting into the detail of the bryophyte was a challenge, until I took my contact lenses out (I’m very short sighted).  Suddenly, by peering closely and getting right down to the moss, I could see every tiny detail of the plant, and just drew what I saw.

I also made sure I was “seeing” the plant correctly by checking for distinctive and species-specific traits with a couple of brilliant reference books; Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland: A Field Guide by Ian Atherton, Sam Bosanquet and Mark Lawley, The Moss Flora of Britain and Ireland by Smith, and British Mosses and Liverworts by E.V. Watson.

Adding colour to the Sphagnum

Once I got the go-ahead on the roughs, I started by delineating the edge of each leaf of the moss in various shades of green.  S. tenellum is a very yellow species, tinged with orange (but also green at times), so I used a variety of hues.  Without my trusty Winsor & Newton series 7 sable paintbrush (sizes 1 and 000) this would have been impossible.  The brush holds its point, and enough paint, like no other paintbrush I’ve ever used.

Delineating the leaves of S. tenellum

Because I was mixing colours in the paint-box and looking closely at the moss specimen (and my drawing), I put one contact lens in (so I could see what colours I was mixing) and left the other out (so I could focus on the minutae of the plant.)  An odd approach, but it was really effective!

I made sure one area of the moss was significantly brighter and lighter than the rest of the clump.   I hoped this would help give it depth, and convey the cushion-like habit of the Sphagnum.

S. tenellum with all the details outlined

Next I added colour to the background; again, this was a mix of greens, yellows and ochres.

S. tenellum with spaces between the moss stems blocked in

Adding depth to the Sphagnum clump

I applied a very pale yellowish wash to the whole clump to try and unify it, but left the top of the clump on the right hand side white – this is the area that needs to look raised; by putting a wash there I’d have flattened it.

S. tenellum with wash applied

Back to the background of the clump, and I picked out the darkest areas of shadow with a mix of browns and blues.  Although this gives the moss clump substance, it also knocks back the more subtle detailing done with lighter colours.

S. tenellum with dark areas of shadow picked out

Another layer of wash is applied to the picture, this time making the different colours of the areas of the moss more distinct (and still leaving the raised area white).

S. tenellum with a second layer of wash applied

At this point I was beginning to wonder if the moss would ever look right, so I had a cup of tea and a 5 minute break.  When I came back, I noticed the flush of red around the tips of the shoots, so added a suggestion of this to the painting.  Instantly the illustration was improved.

S. tenellum with red added to the shoot tips

I was feeling a little more cheerful by now, so happily worked further into the darks with greens, browns, blues and reds.

More tonality and detail is added

I considered leaving the pale areas on the right of the moss white (they looked good on the paper), but when I scanned the illustration they stood out and looked forced and clunky.  I added a very pale top wash of yellow ochre which knocked them back without swallowing them up.

Adding botanical details and final touches

The last step was to illustrate the associated diagnostic structures, and a side view.  Compared to the main clump this was straightforward (although I was still working very small).

Final Sphagnum tenellum

I won’t pretend that working on these moss botanical illustrations is easy, but it is incredibly rewarding, and I am becoming quite passionate about the glorious variety and intricate details of these stunning lower plants.

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Demonstration illustration showing different steps involved in painting a blackberry leaf.  There’s also a breakdown of the colours used to mix the greens that I used for each step.

I thought it might be worth deconstructing and explaining the processes in a blog.  The illustrations below are magnified, and so are a little out of focus.  My apologies.

Explanation of my process

It  needs to be pointed out that the way I use watercolour to illustrate leaves is not true to the methods used by many botanical illustrators.  There are various norms that I seem not to adhere to.  For example, you’re never advised to mix more than three colours together for one mix.   Most illustrators work from light to dark, not dark to light as I do.  With these caveats in mind, I thought I’d still go ahead and show the processes I use.  Just remember,  they are a little renegade.  I don not think my approach would gain universal approval or acceptance.

Draw the leaf properly

First step is to draw the leaf making certain that the shape, leaf margin, and position of the most visible side and lateral veins is correct.  I do this in atonal pencil, mostly with an 0.5 or 0.3mm propelling HB pencil (such as the reliably good Pentel P205).

I draw directly onto hotpress watercolour paper, everyone has their favourite, I like Fabriano Artistico or Fabriano Classico best.

Mixing greens

I then closely examine the leaf and mix up a green that matches the leaf blade.  (More on mixing greens can be found in my blog).  I test the colour by applying a spot of it to the leaf itself.   I plot in the shapes of the darkest shadows with my Winsor & Newton series 7 brush (choosing a number 1 or  0).

I use my trusty watercolour box.  It’s a mix of Winsor and Newton and Daler Rowney pans.  Colours that get used repeatedly in mixing of greens include: yellow ochre, cadmium yellow light and dark, cobalt blue, winsor blue, ultramarine, cereleun, vandyke brown, violet, sap green, hookers green, viridian, and chromium of oxide green.

I never use a ready-made green without mixing it with other colours.  The colours straight from the pan are nothing like the greens found in nature.

Step 1: Paint in your darkest shadows

I use a mix of cereleun, burnt umber, yellow ochre, and sap green.

A more dilute version of the same colour is used to soften the edges of these blocks.   You can see this on the lowest part of the leaf above.  It’s vital to leave plenty of white, and not to swamp the paper with colour.  With watercolour it’s always possible to make a colour darker, but almost impossible to lighten it.  Trying to often makes the area look muddy.

Next, I mix up a mid-tone green and apply this to the flat areas of the leaf.  These are areas which are not caught in the bright highlights nor swallowed by the darker shadowed parts.  For this blackberry leaf, this was a mix of sap green and cadmium yellow pale.

Again, it’s vital to leave the white of the page.

Step two: Working into the midtones with a lighter and yellower green

I tend to leave the veins white.  They are often yellower and paler than the leaf blade.  If not, they may be a very different colour such as crimson or purple.

Next is a third mix, far paler and more dilute than the others.  This knocks the stark edges off the white highlighted regions of the leaf.  In this example I also apply this wash to the veins which are a yellowish green colour.  The mix is composed of a lot of water and sap green with lemon yellow.

I also cover some of the remaining areas of white with this pale shade.  This helps the palest regions of the leaf stand out.  It also adds some shape to the leaf.  The areas closet to the veins tend to receive this treatment as they are often marginally darker than the central highlights between lateral veins.

Next, I’ll mix up quite a thick dark colour and pick out the deepest areas of shade with the tip of my paintbrush.  This mix often features browns, purples, and blue.  It needs to be added very carefully to avoid swamping the greens.  For this bramble leaf it was a mix of sap green, burnt umber, winsor blue, and purple.

Step three and four: Applying a very pale yellow-green wash, and working into the darkest shadows.

The final step is to put a very very dilute and pale overwash across the entire painting.  You can see this in the lowest area of the blackberry leaf.  Frequently this will be yellow ochre with lots of water.  In this case it was yellow ochre, lemon yellow and plenty of water,.

This last wash tends to help unify the gradations and colours of the leaf.  Yet it is pale and light enough not to compromise the white of the paper which still remains.  This paper shows the highlights on the leaf blade.

The left hand side of the leaf below shows the whole process in play; it was done as a demonstration for students so is far from perfect.   However, it shows how the steps described look on a larger segment of a leaf.  This is the same piece, but for some reason this scan is brighter and yellower than the others.

Blackberry leaf with breakdown of steps on the right, and a segment fully painted on the left.

Showing this approach in context

This page of studies of the Hazel shows a graphite study of the lights and darks on a hazel leaf, and a leaf painted according to the methods described above

Sketchbook study of the Hazel Coryllus avellana

Leaves with less stark areas of light and dark

Not all leaves have such sharp distinctions between areas of light and dark, and in these cases a more gradual and smoother gradient of shadow is required.  The processes used, however, remain true to the steps explained above.  There’s just a gentler approach to the edges of areas of colour (as shown in this study of a Dandelion leaf).

Dandelion Taraxicum officinale leaf showing smoother transition between areas of light and dark on the leaf blade.

Using this technique with all my botanical illustrations

Whether the illustration is for a sketchbook study where I’m gathering reference, simply painting for the joy of it; or whether it’s for a commission for a client, the plotting in of darks, tackling midtones, tweaking the darkest shadows and then unifying the entire leaf with a pale overwash remain a constant.  They’re pretty evident in this finished illustration of the Hazel done for a Field Studies Council identification chart.

Hazel illustration

As I mentioned, this approach to botanical illustration seems rather different from many traditional approaches, and I wouldn’t for one moment reccomend it above techniques which have been tried and tested for centuries.  I just wanted to present a detailed deconstruction of the processes I use to illustrate the beautiful and gloriously diverse leaves which are all around us, in the hope that they may be of use to someone out there, somewhere…

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The Goshawk is a gorgeous bird of prey, and has long been used in falconry.  They’re really hard to spot, and are fearsome predators. (A recent and beautiful book on the Goshawk is well worth a read;  H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald)  Therefore, getting good reference for them is very tricky.  Luckily I had permission from some top ornithology photographers to use their photos for reference purposes, and thus could get  the information I needed.

Drawing up the pencil rough

After drawing up the Goshawk in pencil (I like mechanical pencils like the Pentel P205) onto watercolour paper, I struggled with the feet.  All the ref. I had showed the talons partially obscured.  Using a hopeful outlook, a bit of biological knowledge, and various different sources of reference I pieced the hawk’s feet together.  Even now I feel this is the weakest part of the illustration.

Painting the darkest areas of the Goshawk feathers

Next I plot in the structure and texture of the feathers using a mix of Vandyke brown, yellow ochre, sap green, cobalt blue, purple, cadmium orange light, and cerulean blue (no, it really did take all of them to get near the correct shade of brown!).  Generally I stick to Winsor & Newton watercolours, and needed to throw out my old number 1 series 7 brush in favour of a new one for this job.  As I build up the feathers with repeated tiny strokes, I try to give extra weight to one side of each feather as this gives depth and texture to the wings.

I also work into the white feathers by suggesting shadows.  These have to be bold in colour to ensure the feathers look white when the illustration is complete, and I use a mix of cobalt blue and violet, very watery and lightly applied.

A unifying brown wash goes onto the wing area – Vandyke brown mixed with yellow ochre and lots of water.  I suggest  the central rachis of each feather on the wing.  Mixing Vandyke brown with a violet and a deep greenish blue, I paint in the beautiful chest feathers.  Tiny little brush strokes are needed, and again I try to put more weight on one side of each feather.  I believe I made the Goshawk chest region too dark and not quite as stripy as it should be; an example of slightly overworking a painting.

Illustrating the feet and beak

After so much feathery work, it’s a relief (and a challenge) to plot in the bright yellow expanses of the bird’s beak, and to start building up the structure of the legs.  It’s an alarmingly bright yellow, so I used cadmium yellow light and Indian yellow with only a touch of yellow ochre to knock it back.

Getting the murderously sharp point of the beak and the claws acute enough inevitably proves a real challenge, and I find I stop breathing as I paint the tiny dark lines that suggest these apexes.

More washes build up, the wing and tail feathers took about five increasingly dark washes before they started to look like they had any depth.  I work further into the purple of the shadows under the wing and on the rear leg, and paint in shadows on the tail.  More tiny strokes give a better sense of form to the back of the hawk’s neck and to his facial markings.

A yellow wash is applied to the legs, and I work further into the beak and claws.

Painting the eye and completing the illustration

I always leave the eye til last, I always have done.  This was tricky, as every written description talked about the fierce red eye of the adult male goshawk; but none of the photos or illustrations showed the bird with anything other than a yellow eye.  I decided to go with the written ornithological descriptions, but err on the side of caution by making certain there were plenty of yellow highlights within the depth of the iris.

Another couple of brown washes on the wings and tail, and a little more work on the shadows on the legs, tail, and superciliary area saw the bird nearing completion.  A bit more work on the pupil (always the hardest part of a painting to get right), and a touch more dark on both talons and beak, and the bird was complete.

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