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Painting Alliums

This one is full of interesting mark making with bristle brushes

Watercolour Alliums LR.jpg

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Materials​

  • Watercolour paper (cold-pressed), 300gsm

  • Bristle brush, 1 x large, 1 x small

  • Round brush (size 2 and 6)

  • Pencil & eraser

  • Water jar & kitchen roll

  • Cocktail stick
     

Colours (suggested)
 

  • Pink / Rose / Opera Pink

  • Crimson or Alizarin Crimson

  • Yellow - warm

  • Sap Green

  • Violet or Purple

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Re Bristle Brushes,  I had some old battered ones kicking around in smaller sizes.  I also found a few at the local DIY stores.  Some students went on to try old pastry brushes at home and were very successful.  Anything with stiff, spiky bristles is good, especially children's old paint brushes.

Bristle Brush Examples LR.jpg
Step 1: Observation
 

Before painting, look at some real alliums or photos:
 

  • They are essentially a ball on top of a straight stem

  • They come in shades of light green through dusty pinks to violet

  • They are denser in the middle and feathery towards the edges

  • The buds are a beautiful shape - notice the melting of green into pink on the bud

  • You can enhance the form of the spherical flower by shading.  See the diagram below

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Step 1: Painting the flowers (first wash)
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  • Very lightly sketch in where your stems and flowers will go, just a light line for the stem and a circle for the flowers.   I find it helps also to add a curved line across the flower so that I know where my lights and darks will go.

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  • If your light source is coming from the right, then you just need to show a light side drifting into midtones, then more sharply (along the curve) into the shadow side

    A couple of lightly curved lines will remind you as you start to paint.

Allium Steps LR_edited.jpg

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Step 1: Painting the flowers
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  • We're going to use neat paint (no water in paint or brush) and stipple the flower shape with the bristle brushes.  Mix sap green and yellow together.  Dip your smaller bristle brush into this mix and lightly tap the outline of the flower ball,  add a little extra where the ball meets the stem.  Keep it all very light, especially around the edges where there are less flowers.  When I look at the flowers, I seem them as a very slightly flattened ball.
     

  • Now switch to your bigger bristle brush,  remember don't wet it.  Using pink or crimson, start to fill in the shape of the ball, being mindful of lighter areas.  Don't get carried away 
     

  • Using the same brush, start to get progressively darker with your colours, mix in darker pink, then purple as you start to fill out the shape.  Be mindful of the light and dark areas.  It's always better to add less than more, as you can always add more at the end if you need to
     

  • Using a regular small round brush,  add some little flicks out,  all the way round the edge of the ball.  I varied my colours as I went round.

 

Let the flowers dry

Allium LR.jpg
Step 2: Stems
 

  • Using a round brush, paint a straight stem in light green (with a touch of pink to desaturate it),  I find it helps to turn my paper round, so I can paint the line horizontally.
     

  • While the stem is wet, drop in some pink/purple for interest here and there

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Step 3: Buds
 

  • We're going to paint these wet into wet

  • Mix a light green colour - more water than paint.  Dampen a brush with this colour.  Map out the almond shape buds with this colour. The paint should be light and shiny on the paper, not rolling around.  Use a cocktail stick to draw in the curved lines - this will help to show the form of the bud.  
     

  • Notice there is both purple and green in the sepals.  Drop in some pink or purple and a stronger green on the shady side of the bud while it is still wet. This paint needs to be of a slightly thicker consistency, so that it doesn't travel so far.  Less is more here

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"The magic of watercolour is letting the paint move. Don’t try to control everything.”

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If you give this another go, I'd love to see it.  Please tag me on instagram @kerryslackart

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