Primroses Step By Step 2013, Final Sttages.

Primroses in Watercolour

Creating the flowers and adding detail

Now it is time to put all the "Step by step on how to paint primroses" stages together. First you have your wonderful colour wash setting the atmosphere for your primrose painting.

Next you will have added centres

The next stage is painting the now practised negative edges around your flowers.This will make them stand out in your wash.

 Darker colour worked away from my negative petal edge gives me a wonderful effect.

Next you can add fine lines around the centre to create this part of the flower as final details.I use my personalised rigger for this detailed work as it is easier to control. This brush is available from my web site

Once you have a few realistic looking small primroses as practise studies aim to paint a cluster of flowers in a larger painting, including a few buds and some leaves. Look at the painting below and observe how some flowers are only half there. In fact is any one flower totally complete? 

Readers of my books will know I love leaving sections to the viewers imagination and this is what makes my  work interesting, to me it draws the viewer of my finished paintings into my emotional connection with each piece too.

You won't have perfect paintings straight away, but with practise and by playing with this technique you may surprise yourself in beautiful results that absolutely sing with life.

Please email me any paintings you are thrilled with or excited by

And my books can be found on Amazon.com or my web site.

www.jeanhaines.com

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You can find my primrose washes on my first DVD, "Amazing Ways With Watercolour" , available from my web site and a clip of the DVD is on You Tube.

You will also find washes and techniques in both of my books. "Atmospheric Watercolours" teaches you about exciting washes, bleeding in and bleeding out techniques that will help you create soft beautiful petals.

http://www.jeanhaines.com/shop

Primrose Exercises and Practise

Primrose Shapes

I have had some wonderful emails from readers of my blog thanking me for my primrose step by step which has made me feel so happy. For me, painting is sheer joy. To keep that pleasure to myself would seem selfish.  I honestly love working in watercolour so much and if I can inspire others to enjoy this fantastic feeling,  I am thrilled. I did have one email from an established artist who is a friend of mine, asking why I am giving tuition for free online. They too paint flowers,  and prefer  for everyone to pay for workshops and all forms of tuition. But the way I see things is that nature is free. It is all around us and we can enjoy it, if we choose to. I couldn't paint primroses without  seeing their beauty naturally. I have waiting lists for places on my workshops and I know not everyone is able to get a place this year, nor can everyone travel to see me. So I am aiming to keep enthusiasm as high as I can by sharing on my blog  I also strongly believe that not everything in life should come with a price tag!

So lets' move on with more stages of working towards creating fabulous watercolours of primroses! You should  by now have practised washes which is the first stage. But on top of these washes you are going to work in two ways.

A) You are going to paint flower shapes like the ones above.

B) You are going to work negatively within your washes to give the illusion of the primroses in the composition which is a lovely way to work. You will make flowers without even painting them!

At the end of this exercise we put everything together and see what your results are in my final stage of this painting tutorial. So lets look at painting positive flower shapes first.

Painting Primrose Shapes.

Stage 1.

Do study  my text and images in this blog post because your taking time to get this part right will lead to a wonderful result when you work on your  main piece.

1)  Have several scraps of paper.

2) Have your primrose shades ready on your palette.

3) Work with a size 10 brush only

Now the exciting part!

4) Paint some primroses as you think they look. Study the petal shapes, they have  lovely, almost heart like edges at the outer petal. Look at my flowers  in the image below all painted ine one simple colour. Simplify, don't complicate your work. Keep it clean and fresh in this exercise.

 5) Have your flower shapes facing different directions for variety and added interest.

6) Don't have them all the same, paint some half flowers too!

Painting Primrose Shapes.

Stage 2.

Adding Centres.

 

When your shapes are dry you can add a stronger yellow for the centre of  each flower. Even with little detail you should be able to easily recognise the flowers as primroses. If you can't please keep practising as you will definitely get lost on the next and more complicated stage.

 

 

 Primrose centres added to  flower  shapes

I have allowed my "centre colour" to flow to the petal edge on some  flowers to create interest. I don't want any two looking identical!

Once you have two or three scraps of paper with beautiful primrose shapes on you are ready for the next and final stages. Please take your time on this part as it really helps you to get to know your subject. You can't paint anything well unless you understand how it is  formed.

For readers of my blog  who aren't able to see real primroses here is a photograph to help you paint this tutorial.

Primroses from my garden

 

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Primrose Distraction?

Primroses work in progress

I am so sorry for the delay in  my adding the final stages of painting primroses to my blog. With the snow, hiccup on exhibition delivery yesterday and everything else going on behind the scenes, finding time to add here has been difficult.  Today I was distracted by a beautiful sight which I have simply had to put everything I am currently working on aside to paint.

See my next blog post for details!

Primroses in Watercolour 2013

Primroses coming to life in watercolour 2013

I have had the most incredible studio day. Having promised myself a break from painting I gave up as my heart was screaming at me to paint. I have loved working on some spring florals which kept my mood light and  also really wound me up about my week ahead preparing for my exhibition. I can't wait for tomorrow to arrive now.

I have shared a few stages of the above work in progress on my Twitter and facebook pages. But tomorrow I hope to inspire on my blog talking about  why I choose the colours I do and making the first washes and creative stages to create beautiful flowers in watercolour.

So I hope you have time to check out my blog this week!

Happy painting!

Jean

Autumn Primroses

Primroses appearing in a first wash.

Cling Film is used  to create texture for leaves in the foreground.

I wandered around my garden again today and am amazed at how many flowers from all seasons seem to be enjoying the Autumn weather this year. I couldn't resist a few paintings of primroses because I know I eagerly wait for them to show their heads in Spring.  I am seeing so many golden leaves so the foreground in this painting will be autumnal. In my woodland I can see these beautiful  lemon flowers peeping through fallen oak leaves that have already turned gold.The colour combinations are incredible and far too good for this artist to miss as an opportunity to move my brushes.

I am very much inspired by the floral work of Madame Blanch Odin and living in France gave me time to admire her passion for watercolour.Whenever I paint flowers she is always on my mind. I doubt I will ever capture their beauty as she did but my aim is to keep trying!

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Nearly Spring 2011

Primroses : A new Spring Collection of Watercolours.

Now the clusters of primroses are really bursting to life in my cottage garden it is impossible to walk  by and not admire their beauty.We still have chill winter weather and yet these tiny flowers give  everyone hope that sunshine is on the way when the warmer seasons arrive.

Small clumps of  primroses in one flower bed nestle beneath where the summer delphiniums will flower later this year.So unlike in a natural wild woodland setting I have a backdrop alternative for colour combinations and choices. Hence the vivid blue in the top right corner of this new painting.

I have several  really beautiful washes which I started last week all tempting my brush and begging to be completed. And so I start this week with gentle colour which will pull me into the more dramatic subjects  as the week progresses.

It is truly incredible how art can  raise our spirits or calm our souls at times. There are many benefits  to being an artist and I am starting my week with quiet, peaceful soft colour to relax after a hectic weekend.

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Primroses in Watercolour

Spring 2011

Primroses appearing from a gentle wash of Spring  colours.

In between large paintings this week I have enjoyed adding a few touches to my first painting of primroses this year. Every so often I take a break and look at this piece to see where a touch of colour or an additional brushstroke will make a difference. I can now see many new flowers in the wash,some want defintion and some need to be left as hints of  petals. It really is a very enjoyable piece to work on and as this painting develops I can feel how wonderful it may look in a frame in my cottage.I rarely seem to have any of my own paintings these days so my heart is letting me know this could be one I should keep!

I really am enjoying the profile of the primroses on the left so this area could very well be complete.

Only time will tell.

Profile of primrose cluster.

There is such a wonderful feeling of light and warmth in this  watercolour. Each minute spent  creating it is sheer bliss. It is relaxing,peaceful and full of the magic of springtime bursting with new life and energy. Every now and then as an artist you have one painting that seems to have that extra ingredient that makes it special. This is one of those paintings and I really don't want the creative journey with it to come to an end.

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Spring Fever 2011: Primroses in Watercolour

The First Signs of Spring 2011

 The first primroses of 2011

 On my retrun from Asia I was taken aback to see the first primroses in bloom in my garden. I look forward each year to painting Spring flowers as they always bring an exciting burst of colour and life into the countryside after months of wintery bleak scenes.

Yesterday I had a meeting with a gallery in the morning and set off walking to my car trying  so hard to avoid looking at the primroses that my heart was literally screaming to paint. I had important appointments which  prevented me from racing to my brushes. However I could see the painting of them  in mind all the time that I was away from my studio.

Matching colour  with the real subject.

But my return home after the meeting saw me playing with colour to capture the milky  pale yellow hues of these early spring flowers. Last year I had so much pleasure painting clusters of primroses using cling film  to create the intricate veins on the leaves surrounding the blooms. It was so successful as a technique that I repeated the process in my first 2011 primrose painting.

 Primroses  cluster  evolving with cling film  in two sections to form leaf patterns and extra interest.

Strengthening the colour  to define  individual flowers

The paper is still wet in this photograph

Removing the cling film when the paper is dry. Unusual patterns have formed which act as a base for  the leaves in further stages.

Close up of  pattern created by use of cling film.

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This is such a magical time to be an artist as colour and light changes significantly  on a daily basis. But each season is short so it is essential to capture every subject for the time it is on show for us from nature.

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Watercolour With Life Spring 2011 Workshops and Demonstrations

We will be looking at techniques to bring a number of  subjects to life with unusual and exciting results that are totally unique.  I look forward to meeting everyone this year and wish this to be the best year ever for the most magical of paintings!

February 2011  will see me in Norwich and Hampshire, U.K.