Watercolor pencil hydrangea Video Lecture - Master the Art of Watercolour

hi there Lindsay here the frugal crafter
I just filmed this tutorial on how to
paint hydrangeas in watercolor and um
just as I was ready to say goodbye my
camera shut off because I'd hit 20
minutes and so I'm gonna watch that back
and see if see if it's not too awkward
and I'll post it if it looks okay I
guess um or if anybody really wants to
see it um but I thought you know what I
bet that this technique would go better
with watercolor pencil this was a
request to paint a hydrangea um I was a
little stumped as to what I wanted to
work on today so I looked through my old
request list and about two months ago
somebody asked for a hydrangea so I
decided that I could do that we're gonna
sketch with watercolor pencils and we're
gonna do I think I'm just gonna end up
with like maybe two hydrangeas in a
mason jar I'm gonna try to pack so many
in so what I'm doing here is just
sketching I'm doing the bottom of a
mason jar and I'm just gonna pull up two
lines on either side nothing fancy just
try to keep it as symmetrical as you can
I know it's difficult I have a hard time
when I'm working upside down I've had a
hard time when I'm working right-side up
Who am I kidding um and then I'm just
gonna throw in a little bit of uh of
detail you could even you know put words
on there if you want um I certainly
can't do that upside down let me just
see there we go look at that fan say
your thorvald on there oh boy will
wonders ever cease okay now I'm just
gonna put a couple um kind of pom-pom e
shapes here very lightly I'm actually
doing this a little darker than I would
normally because I want you to be able
to see it cuz if you can't see it's not
much of a video I think I'm just gonna
do two and undo one pink and one um blue
and it's kind of funny cuz I'm
hydrangeas the blue hydrangeas can be
pink and the pink ones can be blue white
ones will always be white but um it's
something to do with the not only the
acid in the soil but also the aluminum
in the soil hum to put a couple leaves
they kind of have these heart-shaped
pointy leaves very similar to what
lilacs have and actually drawing
hydrangeas very similar to lilacs
because they are a multi-headed flower
flower like
one big pom-pom and you get all these
little buds on it so very very similar
technique there I'm gonna need to
sharpen this and think I don't have my
sharpener right here so I might have to
pause that in a minute um and that was
grass green that first color I used was
jade green and the blue eyes for the
villa pom-pom was small blue now I'm
going to go and kind of draw a few of
the of the flowers here maybe I'll zoom
in a little bit not probably a little
hot more helpful if they zoomed in a
little bit for ya cuz the key here it
when you're working with a multi head
flower like that is not to put in every
single petal you just want to kind of um
hint at it you know the brain knows you
know if it sees one petal and then it
sees all these kind of school gully
lines it's gonna know that there are
other petals there and they're all their
own little flower but you don't want to
draw everyone in because that's how
pictures get flat looking and it can be
very hard if you're a perfectionist not
to want to put every little detail in
there but trust me it'll look better if
you don't and you know just kind of fill
it in with your little lines we're just
going to do a simple wash over this
anyway we're not even going to get to UM
too crazy this is uh number thirty if
you're using the regular watercolor
pencils by Derwent and I will also let
you know that I'm just going to go over
it with this light blue number 33 they
look different now they've changed the
color of the of the barrels I think
they're now dark blue but they do have
that kind of like non-role hexagon
hexagonal surface alright now I'm going
to use a wet brush just to wash over
that
okay just kind of um just pay attention
to the edges that you drew you're just
kind of I'm dragging that color around
this is gonna be a super super simple
project okay we're not gonna we're not
gonna spend 20 minutes on this I'll tell
you that right now huh well that's what
I say we'll see I tend to uh tend to
take longer than I planned on and if you
want a little bit more color just use
your brush on the pencil to pick up
color just as if you were using like
from a pan of watercolors and go ahead
and just add a little bit in there your
first lines are still there so you know
you're just um you're just kind of
enhancing here okay
less is more I really believe with this
I think this one's gonna turn out better
than my first one that may or may not be
uploaded it's funny I don't think I'd
ever they I don't tend I do love to play
lilacs because my mother grows lilacs
and I every May when they're in season I
grab a bunch and I take him home and I
paint them in either watercolors or oils
or sometimes both and I just love the
smell of it makes my husband sneeze
though I think he's uh he's developed a
tolerance to lilacs since he got married
I'm gonna do the exact same thing using
um number 21 Rose madder Lake which is
all here I'll show you on my chart
because sometimes it's hard when you
look at the pencil that's what it looks
like that's why I swatch out my colors
because look at the barrel it's quite
decieving this is much lighter than you
would think it it would be and it's the
same the same thing we're going to draw
a couple of the flowers in detail well
not even that much detail just kind of
like that
spent all morning cleaning didn't get
down to my studio till after 1:00 then
you get kind of that feeling like oh I
only have a little about of time what am
I gonna do and I was all flustered so I
looked at my request file and saw that I
had not painted hydrangeas yet for
somebody who's been waiting patiently I
should write down their the names of who
requests it to I
I usually just write down the the topic
that's requested and um I think I
actually want a little bit of yellow in
there so I'm actually gonna go over this
with a little bit of yellow to warm it
up and I'll probably need to add a
little bit of more pink and after I
liquefy this so let's liquefy this and
see if we get give me a lovely peachy
pink this make a pretty Mother's Day
card or Valentine's a Valentine's coming
up next week
Easter even anything soft anything you
want a nice soft spring is what it looks
like to me I drained you so it can bloom
for quite a long time - we had some
growing um out front but they never
really did that well I thought they do
really well because we have really
acidic soil because we have pine trees
but I think has more to do with the
aluminum in the soil than it does the
acidity and again I'm going to pick up
my color from the tip here of my pencil
this is one of my favorite techniques
I'll go a little crazy with that that's
not a big deal though
there's going to enhance and drop in
some color I think I had a little bit
too much water there but I'm not gonna
let that ruin my day you're painting
better than digging ditches nothing to
complain about here just kind of outline
some of the petals so the color can kind
of wick in I'm using a paper that's not
that great for blending it's actually
one sit wall not great for lifting I
should say it's Fabriano soft press I
don't even know if they make this paper
anymore but I am quite a stash from when
I used to teach so I've been using that
up paper doesn't go bad as long as you
don't let it get an ill dude or anything
it's fine
oh right now I'm actually gonna pause
the video so I can go grab my pencil
sharpener her back in a second I thought
I was being wicked SMAT by putting my
pencil sharpener and my prismacolor box
but then I needed it for this my
favorite one I'm gonna color in these
leaves here actually I can zoom out a
little bit now I think we'll there we go
it's gonna color these in quickly
something tells me I'm gonna be 20
minutes on this video oh well you know
you just get kind of relaxed when you're
when you're painting something I like to
do in the summer when the weather's warm
is just take my paints right outside and
kind of sit down on the ground next to
my flowers or whatever I happen to have
growing I'm gonna put a few stems in
here you know what I want to put my
water line in and I think I'll do that
with this blue because it's gonna be
reflecting the color sometimes I like to
actually turn my paper while I'm working
I want to put a water line in there and
I just want to turn it so make sure I
look at from other other angles to make
sure I have it fairly correct and if not
that I'll show you how to fudge it so if
it does really matter and I want to put
my stem in here then when it gets down
below the water line actually kind of
distorts and gets a little bit bigger so
I'm kind of putting that in and I want
this guy to have a stem to put a little
bit of a brown in here
to green just kind of
darken it up a little bit and maybe a
little bit of that on the leaves as well
this is a very soft palette I'm using
we're not gonna have a lot of contrast
and I'm also going to want some of that
color that I used to this is this right
here that I used to sketch the on the
jar and I want some of that out here too
cuz that's gonna be reflected alright
now I want to do a wash and go back to
my I'm pretty much gonna use this number
6 round throughout and I am going to I
think I'll actually do the stems here
first then I'll wash the glass color
over everything
I'll let in well Matt I'm gonna do my
leaves
I'm working pretty quickly because if I
want to add a shadow and wanna I'll add
it in there well it's still wet so I'm
just gonna kind of zip along and get all
these painted another reason I have to
work kind of quickly is that my kids
will be getting off the bus pretty soon
with friends so we know painting
downstairs he'll be you know snack duty
and keep an eye on the Rugrats
alright to intensify that I'm gonna grab
a little bit more of that green might
actually grab another green pencil think
I'm and I think I might have to see what
we can do with this in some of the blue
I don't like to introduce too many new
colors I like to try to work with what I
have so that I create harmony and unity
throughout the picture also repetition
those are some of the elements of and
principles of design that that you want
to think about while you're working
because it just kind of makes everything
feel a little bit more thought-out it
makes things feel a little bit more half
well composed and just a little bit more
um I guess pleasant to look at
we go and put some more green right in
there though right in here
all right and I'm going to blot what
that has gone into my flower let's see
if we can get dark enough with this if
not I can always grab more a different
color but I'm going to think I'd rather
just stick with what I have try to make
a decision at the beginning of a picture
the colors I'm going to use I try not to
deviate from it it's just a personal
preference just cuz you have a little
box of color doesn't mean you want to
use it every time how long oh my gosh my
my accents showing it's very faint wash
on the table in front of the mason jar
very soft light liquify your mason jar
color and drag it in
you could spend hours painting a jog in
the glass looking exactly the way you
want it and you absolutely if
that's what you want to do but for this
video it's just going to be a quick
little sketch I feel like I have a
little too much water I just kind of
pinch it with my fingers that takes out
any little little extra drips so that I
can control my water a little bit better
I think this is the color I used for the
top of the water line so I just want to
throw a little that across and then I
want repetition I'm going to repeat it
down here I find the original watercolor
pencils not the intense a little bit
easier to control it might be a better
situation or solution for a beginner but
you know everybody's different choose
what you like
if you already have watercolor pencils
you so is before you now see if those
will get you to look that you want I
want to pull over that color down here
too I like to repeat my color I want a
little bit of yellow in the water as
well kind of indicate that there is some
Sun very much room there to grab that
yeah I'm getting plenty that right in
there
I love how glass like a glass with water
and it can capture so many colors and
usually do if you really look you'll see
all those colors within a glass than a
vase
and let's see I had I had pulled this
color I haven't used it yet it was burnt
carmine so I was thinking I would put
some more intense colors in the pink
flower but I don't know I think that I
will kind of leave that just the way it
is
I'm gonna go whoops I just good let's
drip some water on there I'm gonna go in
with my um with my green and add some
veins on my little leaves here
a little bit with some brown to remember
I'm keeping this very soft looking very
light colors
now I think that hydrangeas have a
little yellow speck just in the center
each of the flower so I'm just going in
and I'm just giving a little twist with
my pencil just to give those little
centers I'm pretty sure maybe they don't
I'm sure somebody knows better than I do
but I think they like a little teeny
tiny little dot of yellow in the middle
and if not well yeah well artistic
license right that's what I say okay
take a look at this right-side up and
it's something I like to do that not
everyone does and if you don't want like
to you don't have to I also feel like I
need a little bit more grounding shadow
here on the bottom so I'm actually gonna
mix a little bit of my blue and a little
bit of my brown here just like I would
if I was painting on a pallet and I'm
gonna make a little bit of a that's
quite a bit of one just a little bit of
a shadow here and I will bring it
elsewhere in the design so I'm not just
having that on selim somewhere I'll drag
it out drag it up a little bit
just one of those things that comes with
uh with practice you just can feel that
you know something just isn't right in
the value of a piece you just know you
need a little bit of contrast somewhere
and if it's too harsh
everything about these watercolor
pencils you can go in and soften them
with water the ink tents will tend to
stain a little bit more and the regular
watercolor ones don't so just something
to think about when you're choosing
pencils till we use on a project a
little bit more blue and I think I'm
gonna call that done oh yes you got to
sign your name get us on your name
something like this I would just
actually know what you can even just
write it on with your pencil think I'll
just put my initials on this because
I'll probably put it on the card
alright and there you have it if you
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others I want to thank you so much for
watching until next time happy crafting