How to Paint Roses in a Loose Style.

Painting Roses in a Loose Style in Watercolour. 

Please be warned. Painting roses in this loose style can be very addictive. Once you master the technique it is almost impossible to stop trying these with  new colour variations and compositions! Bearing in mind this is almost a free workshop if you do find this project helpful could I ask you to consider making a small donation to a Cancer Research Charity as a thank you for my sharing the technique. I and many others would be truly grateful for your help  if you choose to do so.

This image is where you are aiming in the early stages of  working without a preliminary sketch.

Roses Beginning to form in an Initial Wash

Stage 1. Try to paint a real rose. Have one in front of you. Study its shape and how each petal intereacts with the others.  Now put it down and paint from your imagination!  

 I have peach roses here at the moment so this is my choice of colour.

I have two techniques which I often resort to.One starting with placing pigment on wet paper and another starting with dry brushwork. Lets look at how to start with dry brushwork first.

  Example of Starting With Dry Brushwork. 

Stage 2. Start painting. Begin with the rose centre as in the above example. If you look at this dry brushwork marking the centre of the rose you can follow how the first inner petals are added to surround the centre.

Stage 3. Take a clean damp brush and soften these first petals while they are still damp so that some of the hard edges disappear. 

Stage 3 Example.  Softening the initial dry brush marks.

You can build up a full painting by adding more roses  as you become more confident at painting each centre.

Starting a Second Rose to add to the Composition.

Repeat as with the first rose but aim to make each rose slightly different to create more interest in the final result.

Practise these first stages as much as possible until you can really see roses forming in them. Do not fiddle and do not overwork! Next we will be looking at how to add the background and foliage.

The first simple stages  at adding a background.

Stage 4.  Softly add foliage to the outline shape of your rose. Once you have gained conifdence in rose outlines these foliage additions can be bolder in colour. I will be adding further demonstrations  for this stage later on in another post. But for now you have some projects to master. Painting roses in all colours  with a dry brushwork beginning!

 You may find you like the effect of your rose painting without the addition of a background. If you do please leave your study and start a new piece. Never ruin a successful beginning, learn from it for future work.

I will add more roses as time goes by  with a few ideas on composition. Many students have come to me over the years and adored this way of painting roses in a loose style. I am thrilled to be able to pass on the demonstrations and if we can also help the Cancer Research Foundation I will be over the moon. For personal reasons I really would like to do as much as I can to help.

Enjoy getting started in painting roses and I wish you lots of luck!

If you do get some wonderful results in these early stages please let me know. I would love to hear from you.

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