how to paint watercolor

painting preparations

We are going to be painting on my favorite watercolor support Ampersand's Aquabord, an 8"x10".

I much prefer the Aquabord to paper.

For the composition I placed the butterfly to the right of center, facing into the painting.

The color scheme is a triad of colors equally spaced around the color wheel.

I mixed a dark color with Viridian and Dioxazine Violet and painted around the white spots on the butterfly's wings.

Add orange to warm the mixture and make it brown for the areas closer to the body.

Use less water for darker colors. And obviously more water gives lighter colors.

When you near the butterfly's body start adding orange, blend it into the brown.

What are my favorite watercolor paint colors?

I would like to note just a bit of butterfly anatomy. Butterflies have four wings and six legs.

The wings and legs are attached to the thorax, the fat part of the body behind the head.

You can faintly see the division between the fore-wing and the hind-wing going at an angle up to the thorax.

Paint the dark border on the hind-wing.

Feather the colors together by running a clean damp brush along the juncture of the dark and orange.

Controlling the amount of water is one of the most important aspects of how to paint watercolor.

If necessary, darken the areas around the white spots. Adjust the shape of the white spots where needed.

Now turn your attention to the butterfly's body.

Paint the left, shadow side dark. Lighten the value toward the light and leave a few highlight for interest.

The body is partially covered by the edges of the hind-wings. The tail end of the body peaks out behind the wings.

Paint the flower from dark to light purples.

Loosely paint the flower with a stippling motion.

Use your red-purple on the light side of the flower.

Use Dioxazine Violet on the shadow side.

Notice the masking fluid preserves the white highlights on the flower.

Use a variety of grey-greens for the leaves.

Mix a green from Viridian and Dioxazine Purple.

Paint the leaves with light and darker greens.

Leave a center vein on some of the leaves.

We will paint the stem after the masking fluid is removed.

I loosely paint the background with a flat brush.

Loose backgrounds are one of the joys of learning how to paint watercolor.

Start the lower left corner with Dioxazine.

Change to warmer violet and a variety of greens farther up in the painting.

Mingle the background colors together to make them out of focus.

A spray of water mixes the colors above the flower to make look out of focus.

In the tighter areas below the flower, I used a damp brush to mingle the colors and soften the edges.

The wet colors flow together. That's the beauty of painting with watercolor.

When you are satisfied with the flower and background, dry the painting thoroughly.

The painting is dry when it is not cool to the touch.

After the painting is dry remove the masking fluid (the frisket).

Remove the frisket with a rubber cement pick-up tool or your fingers.

When the frisket is removed the white paper is revealed.

One of the basics of how to paint watercolors is to repeat colors throughout the painting.

The butterfly is obviously orange. So I used a pale orange wash on the edges of the leaves.

I also used brown and orange on the twig in the lower left.

The flowers on my purple Butterfly Bush have orange centers. So I lightly indicated them in a few places.

The flower is complete and the masking fluid has been removed, so now we can finish the butterfly's head.