# Flowers



## Sadie cullen (Jun 1, 2013)

I don't normally use watercolours as I find them hard to work with but thought I'd give them a try, just 3 very quick paintings. let me know what you think


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## DLeeG (Oct 20, 2010)

I'm not good with them either but I think that you could get better with practice. It looks like you used too much water but I do like them.


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## pencils (Feb 10, 2012)

Gonna try this again....wrote a reply once but lost it when I hit enter and the site asked me to log in after I had already logged in.

OK...here`s what I do if the flowers were mine....I would add some detail on the petals and/or in the center where things get lost...I`d use watercolor pencils, you can go over them with a brush or not...or use colored pencils. I often mix those with watercolor and they work nicely together. Add a little detail and step back to look, or post pics here for members to look at, easier to add detail than to remove it once it`s there. Sometimes I also scratch away some color to lighten things up...weight wise I mean....no negative space at all can make a piece look heavy and these are flowers, they should be light. I often use a lot of water as well, depending on what I`m doing and I always use 300 gram paper, the heaviest, doesn`t buckle and it leaves me room to scratch off color without going through the paper. One tip my teacher gave us was to add painters blue masking tape around the border of the paper, making it nice and straight of course, leave a border around the paper useful for adding a mat...and allow the paint to completely dry before removing it and...pull it away from the paper, don`t want to life color or a layer of paper. I always paint on a flat surface, never use an easel, but again depending on what I`m doing, I may tilt the paper forward very slightly to let the paper and color do their work, I do that for distant mountains or hills for example, then come in and scratch away some color to add that light feeling, allowing light to come through the trees but not too much, they`re in the distance so only a little detail.


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## MegansBeadedDesigns (Mar 11, 2014)

When I work with watercolors I usually cover the entire paper with a gradient background before placing the focal components, and as already mentioned, masking tape makes for a nice, clean finish around the edges.


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## Sadie cullen (Jun 1, 2013)

Thanks for all the feedback I do agree I used too much water for these paintings, I was trying to go for a more abstract look. After reading people's tips and advice I went away and started another painting, this time a portrait and I think it came out a lot better, still need to get the grips of watercolours though!


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## pencils (Feb 10, 2012)

took me years to get a handle on watercolors and that was after a long time using oils, totally different animals.


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## Scott R Nelson (Jun 26, 2013)

I'm quite impressed with the portrait. Good use of colors and nice hair.

I probably have an irrational fear of drawing people. You can be a little bit off on a flower or mountain and most people won't notice. A slight distortion on a face and the whole thing will look goofy.

good job.


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## daniellemorrison (Dec 23, 2013)

I don't to better color for water painting.But i think your choice is better.


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