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Irises

How to paint loose watercolour Irises

Level: Beginners

watercolour iris flatlay LR.jpg

We are going to use the wet into wet painting technique for these Irises.
 

Irises look complicated, but they're really made up of 6 main petals:

  • 3 upright standards (top petals)

  • 3 drooping falls (bottom petals)

 

Have a look at the real thing or the examples below.  Don't try to paint every petal, ruffle or fold. Paint the overall shape and let the watercolour do the work.  Often you can't see all the 6 petals clearly, sometimes you'll only see 5. Notice the edges of the petals and that the middle drooping fall looks quite like a tongue!
 

Look for:

✔ interesting colour combinations

✔ dramatic dark lower petals

✔ soft light upper petals

 Notice the yellow/orange beards - we're going to simplify and ignore those today
 

Don't copy every detail—borrow the colours
 

Pixabay : Irises

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You will need

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  • Watercolour paper, 300gsm, NOT (or cold) pressed

  • A medium round brush

  • A smaller round brush

  • Cocktail stick

  • Kitchen roll

  • A pencil
     

Suggested colours

  • Cadmium Yellow or yellow ochre

  • Pink or rose madder

  • Violet

  • Sap Green

  • Burnt Umber

  • Sepia

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Try mixing the colours together on scrap paper before you start to get a feel for your colour scheme. Pink and Deep Cadmium Yellow will create warm oranges, while Cadmium Red and Purple will give you deeper pinks, reds and rich plum shades.  Sap Green and a tiny amount of pink or cad red will give you a green that you can find in nature.

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Sketch
 

Keep the sketch light or try painting without one.
 

Think about:

  • large petal shapes

  • overlapping petals

  • spaces between petals

  • gentle curves

  • one bud

Iris Sketch LR.jpg
Top Petals 1 LR.jpg
1. Paint the top light petals - one by one

Drop in some fairly dilute yellow ochre at the bottom of the first petal.  Use a damp brush to encourage this colour to flow across the petal.  While still damp, drop in a tiny amount of pink at the top and let it bleed.  Use a cocktail to add veins.  Ensure these are curving in the direction that the petal is moving.  This all help show form.  

Repeat for each top petal, once it's neighbours are completely dry.

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2. Paint the bottom darker petals

Use the same method as above but use a much creamier, stronger pigment.  Start at the top of the petal.  Lay down your yellow colour,  then use a clean, damp brush, to encourage the paint to spread towards the middle.  Drop in a deep purple (with a touch of yellow to tone down the colour slightly)  at the bottom of the petal - use the clean damp brush to blend this up into the yellow.

Cocktail stick for veins

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Allow colours to merge naturally.

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Bottom Petals 1 LR.jpg
3. Stems, leaves &  Buds

Iris stems are quite thick.  To paint my stems, I used sap green and added a tiny amount of pink,  to reduce colour intensity.  For added interest, I dropped in some purple near the top of the stems.  You can also use a thirsty brush to take out some colour and bring back light spots.

For the buds, I wet the bottom half with green, then dropped in some purple/pink at the top and let the colours bleed.  Use a cocktail stick to describe the petals.  When it was fully dry, I reinforced one of the petals with some darker, thicker purple/pink paint.
Iris Stems LR.jpg
Bud LR.jpg
4. Final accents
 

Once everything was dry,  I added thick, creamy paint to the bottom petals, and softened this upwards with damp brush. Complete one petal before starting the next.

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I also added a dark centre with sepia and deep yellow stippling.  You can use the opposite end of your brush for this, dipped in neat, tube paint.

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If you have petals that overlap, add a shadow on the underneath petal.

Pass 2 bottom petals LR.jpg
iris shadows.jpg
Watercolour Tips

✓ Paint petal by petal.

✓ Darks make the lights glow.

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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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*****  Apologies for the quality of the examples,  they were painted left handed due to a wrist fracture

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