Category: Watercolour

Watercolour

Sunflowers, Sweet Peas & Elephants

Evelyn Flint12 Comments
Elephant - Mother & Baby - NB
Elephants – Mother & Baby, 28 cm x 19 cm on Arches 140 lb Rough paper

Painting elephants in watercolour was one of the recent tutorials in Jean Haines online watercolour school. Painting these elephants really pushed me out of my comfort zone. This is my first ever attempt at painting a whole elephant – I’d only previously done a head study. I used just three main colours – Raw Sienna Light, Ultramarine Blue and Green Apatite Genuine by Daniel Smith but I did also use just a touch of Winsor & Newton Titanium White for the tusks. I’m quite pleased with my elephants… !

Sunflower 2 - NB
Sunflower in watercolour, 28.5 cm x 19 cm on Arches Rough paper

Sunflowers and Sweet Peas were also on the agenda in “art school” too. I love sunflowers – they’re so bright, sunny and bold. For the yellow petals I used a mixture of Hansa Yellow Medium and Insoindoline Yellow and for the centre I used Rose of Ultramarine, Quinacridone Gold and Transparent Red Oxide – all by Daniel Smith.

Sweet Pea Study 1 - NB
Sweet Peas in watercolour

In direct contrast to the sunflower, Sweet Peas are so much more delicate and need much softer, pastel colours and a light hand. I love these delicate washes of colour. I painted these on Fabriano Artistico Extra White paper, 140 lb Rough. I used an assortment of colours for these but the colour that really made a difference to them was Phthalo Turquoise by Daniel Smith – it’s a stunning colour…

Sweet Peas 2 - NB
Sweet Peas in Watercolour

Lots more happening in my watercolour world. I have lots of roses in my garden, so I would like to be painting some roses over the coming week. And I feel the need to be painting some seascapes. Bye for now…

Follow me on Instagram @evelynflintwatercolours

Watercolour

Simple Landscapes

Evelyn Flint11 Comments

Here are some simple watercolour landscapes. The emphasis here is on SIMPLICITY…

The first is inspired by a photo I took in St. Ives of Porthminster Beach from quite a high vantage point. There was a huge expanse of beach and only two people on it – how peaceful and serene it must have been for them…

All ToYourselves - NB
Having The Whole Beach All To Yourselves

My Second landscape is just a simple wave crashing on the shore. The wave was created by making deliberate watermarks in the Phthalo Blue Turquoise watercolour paint…

Crashing Wave - NB
Crashing Wave

Creating waves like this is a very simple technique I’ve taught myself – it’s all about timing. I have my paper on a flat surface (not on an easel); I then carefully drop clean water into a wet wash where I want my wave to be. The wash needs to be not really wet but not too dry either – somewhere in between. Then I carefully tilt the paper so the watermarks develop in the direction I want them to go. When I can see a definite wave shape starting to form I place my paper back on a flat surface to dry – no fiddling with it !! With this technique no two waves are ever going to be the same – you will create something different and unique every single time. I like that! Something to bear in mind, if you feel like trying this, is that the smoother the paper you use the faster your watermarks will form and will the bigger they will tend to be. So controlling how much water you use and where you place it is essential. Try it – it’s so much fun…

The third landscape is inspired by by my trip to Scotland last September. This is a misty early morning view of the Moray Firth. The beach, sea and sky all gently merge into each other in the mist and everything is perfectly still and quiet…

Misty Dawn - NB
Misty Dawn

My fourth landscape is straight out of my imagination – poppies in golden fields on a beautiful summers day…

Poppies in Fields of Gold - NB
Poppies In Fields Of Gold

My fifth landscape is an abstract Cornish seascape. Stormy skies over a turquoise sea, loosely based on the unusual light and weather patterns that often occur in Cornwall…

Storm at Sea - NB
Storm At Sea

All of these landscapes I have entered into the Landscape Escape Challenge in Jean Haines online art school . They are all very different but all very easy and fun to do.

Watercolour

Alfie

Evelyn Flint11 Comments

This is Alfie and he is a super cute cockapoo!

Alfie 1 - NB
Portrait of Alfie in watercolour

It’s not perfect but I’m quite pleased with how my first attempt turned out. Dogs are the latest tutorial in Jean Haines online art school. I don’t have any pets so I asked my nephew Declan to email me some photos of his dogs –  they have two. I picked Alfie because he seemed very slightly easier to paint out of the two… !

I used Daniel Smith watercolours – Buff Titanium, Raw Sienna Light, Sepia, Quin. Burnt Scarlet and Quin. Burnt Orange. I enjoyed painting Alfie but have to admit that painting dogs and cats aren’t my first choice of watercolour subjects to paint. However, I’ve embraced the dog (and cat) tutorial and viewed it as a useful learning curve to improve my watercolour skills and techniques. Happy days!

Watercolour

Cat Portrait

Evelyn Flint15 Comments

Yesterday I painted my first ever cat in watercolour…

Cat Portrait - NB
Cat Portrait in watercolour

I painted it without a pencil sketch. I used an assortment of Daniel Smith watercolours: Manganese Blue Hue, French Ultramarine, Flint Grey, Lunar Blue, Sepia, Aussie Red Gold and Quinacridone Rose. It was painted on Saunders Waterford NOT paper, 200 lb.

I did do a pencil drawing of the cat in my sketchbook first:

Cat Drawing - NB
Simple cat portrait pencil sketch

It’s not a detailed drawing but has just enough information to recognize that it’s a cat. If I can draw a cat in my sketchbook with a pencil then I should be able to “draw” a cat with a paintbrush on watercolour paper. However, if I can’t draw a simple cat with pencil in my sketchbook then I don’t stand a chance of being able to paint a cat on watercolour paper…

Also I practiced painting cat’s eyes on small pieces of watercolour paper first. If the eyes are not right then the whole cat will not look right…

Cats Eyes - NB
Cats eyes practice

I did make a note of what colours I used for my cats eyes by each one for future reference. The potential colour combinations are endless…

My cat portrait is my interpretation of a tutorial by Jean Haines. It was fun painting a cat and it’s something completely different for me. What new watercolour challenges will there be next?

Watercolour

Spring Flower Studies

Evelyn Flint12 Comments

I’ve been continuing with my spring flower studies. Two more to share today:

Blossom - NB
Blossom – watercolour flower study

First is some blossom, seen on my daily walk. I used Quinacridone Rose (DS) for the flowers. I purposely kept it very simple, tried not to add too much detail.

Next spring flower study was some Muscari:

Muscari - NB
Muscari flowers – a study in watercolour

My muscari flowers study was based on a tutorial by Jean Haines. It’s much looser than my previous study. I love the bold blues with a hint of violet and turquoise. Exact colours I chose to use were: Indanthrene Blue (W & N), Phthalo Turquoise (W & N), Manganese Blue Hue (DS), Phthalo Blue GS (DS), Winsor Violet (W & N) and Cascade Green (DS). Below you can see all these colours (from left to right) in a “dancing ladies” exercise that Jean recommends doing:

Dancing Ladies for Muscari Study - NB
“Dancing ladies”  – a watercolour exercise to decide on colour choices

Both flower studies were fun to do. But they are also a part of a learning curve for me; learning about pigments, how they interact with each other; and learning how to capture a the essence of a subject with minimal detail.

There may be a few more flower studies to follow… 🙂

Watercolour

Spring

Evelyn Flint15 Comments

Well, spring is springing very beautifully in my little corner of the world. We may be in lockdown but you can’t lockdown spring….

Spring Flowers - NB
Buttercup & Forget-Me-Not studies in watercolour

Yesterday I did some Forget-Me-Not and Buttercup studies in watercolour. These pretty little flowers I’ve observed on my daily walk. All were painted on Arches paper, torn in to 10 cm x 19 cm strips. I used a Rosemary and Co kolinsky sable brush and a Silver Black Velvet script brush.

Forget-Me-Nots - NB
Forget-Me-Not studies in watercolour

I used Daniel Smith’s Cobalt Blue for the Forget-Me-Not flowers. Just quick loose watercolour studies, trying to capture the essence of the flowers rather than doing botanical studies….

Buttercups - NB
Buttercup studies in watercolour

Buttercups – weeds or wild flowers? Whatever your view – they add a vibrant splash of colour to the environment. For the Buttercup flowers I used Hansa Yellow Medium (DS) and Cadmium Yellow Medium (DS).

I kept all these watercolour studies simple, trying to adopt a “less is more” approach. I loved painting these. And I’m making the most of the extra time I have right now to paint and have fun with my watercolours.

#rosemaryandcoareopen

Watercolour

Ocean

Evelyn Flint11 Comments

Regular visitors to my blog will know how much I love the ocean and all things seaside related. I can’t be near the ocean right now but I can paint it. So this was yesterday’s “masterpiece”…

Ocean Wave - NB
Ocean

A huge curling ocean wave… ! Large sweeping strokes of bold colour very quickly covered the paper. I painted this on Arches NOT paper, 140 lb.  Daniel Smith watercolors were used, namely Phthalo Blue GS, Prussian Blue, Green Gold and Cobalt Blue. A little bit of sea spray was added at the end courtesy of a little Titanium White Winsor & Newton designer gouache. I used Rosemary & Co kolinsky sable brushes. It measures 29 cm x 19 cm.

Please click on the image to view it larger, the smaller one here doesn’t really do it justice. Also I did struggle a bit to capture the colours accurately in the photograph. The reality is much better than the photo.

This was so much fun to paint.  I love having more time to paint right now; I’m not bored being stuck at home and I don’t miss work one little bit… ! Bye for now…

Evelyn

#rosemaryandcoareopen

Watercolour

Landscape & Seascape Mosaic

Evelyn Flint18 Comments
Landscape & Seascape Mosaic - NB
Landscape & Seascape Mosaic

Since my last post life here in England has changed beyond recognition.  We are halfway through our second week of a three week lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. We are allowed out only to buy food, medicine and ONE form of exercise per day! Town centres and roads, once very busy, are now deserted. I’m one of those who have no work to go to at the moment because of the Coronavirus. And actually, I LOVE not having to go to work… !

But although the situation we all find ourselves in is very serious, there are positive things to embrace at the moment. Right now I have all the time in the world to paint with my watercolours… ! A situation I’m not used to at all but I’m going to make the most of it…

Above was a watercolour experiment that didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. So I cut it up into small squares and made a watercolour mosaic of it. Each little square is a lovely, unique abstract landscape or seascape. They all consist of only two colours – Prussian Blue and Monte Amiata Natural Sienna both by Daniel Smith. If you click the image to view it larger you may also notice a little gold shimmer on some of the squares courtesy of a little gold mica powder. My mosaic measures 10 cm x 13.5 cm.

Each little square is beautiful and inspiring. I’m inspired to explore abstract landscapes and seascapes more over the coming weeks. I hope every one stays safe and I will share more watercolour experiments soon…

Evelyn

 

Watercolour

Landscapes…

Evelyn Flint24 Comments

I’ve recently been working a series of small watercolour landscapes, inspired by places I’ve visited over the past year…

Lochbroom, Ullapool - NB
Lochbroom, Ullapool

My first is a view of Lochbroom, Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands. It was a very damp and misty drive to Ullapool last September but once we arrived the mist started to lift, some blue sky appeared and distant mountains emerged. I used my very own FLINT GREY for the mountains and sky in this painting.

Rosemarkie Beach - Looking North - NB
Rosemarkie Beach, Looking North

Above is a view of Rosemarkie Beach, looking towards the north. Rosemarkie is a tiny little village on the Black Isle in the Highlands. Rosemarkie Beach is  what I call an “everything beach”  – it has lovely sand, pebbles & shingle, rocky outcrops, rock pools and lots of interesting things get washed up on the shore…

Wells-Next-The-Sea - Abstract - NB
Wells-Next-The-Sea – Abstract

Here I’ve done an abstract seascape inspired by my trip to Wells-Next-The-Sea last spring. The landscape here is striped with layers of sand, grasses and sea which disappear and reappear as the tide goes in and out. Boats sit high and dry on the sand as the tide goes out. The colours I’ve used here are Prussian Blue, Monte Amiata Natural Sienna and a little Cascade Green – all by Daniel Smith. The white boats were done with a little white gouache.

Next are two more abstract landscapes:

Sea Storm - Abstract - NB
Sea Storm

First is an abstract watercolour inspired by the turbulent, powerful ocean. The colours I used here were Mayan Blue Genuine and Cascade Green by Daniel Smith. They’re colours that work together beautifully – I will be using this colour combination again…

And finally…

Earth Storm - Abstract - NB
Earth Storm

A stormy abstract landscape created using Daniel Smith’s Indigo, Transparent Red Oxide and Quinacridone Burnt Orange. Beautiful colours that complement each other perfectly and lovely added granulation from the Transparent Red Oxide.

All these landscapes measure 16 cm x 12.5 cm. They were painted on Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour Paper, 140 lb, NOT, which is 100% cotton. This is very lovely paper to paint on and I would definitely buy more.  Brushes used were by Rosemary & Co and Silver Black Velvet. Daniel Smith watercolours were used for all the paintings.

All of these watercolours I will post on Instagram – @evelynflintwatercolours – over the next couple of days, please drop in and say hello. That’s all for now and thank you for visiting.

Watercolour

Flint Grey…

Evelyn Flint27 Comments

Those of you who are familiar with Daniel Smith’s awesome range of watercolour paints will know that last year they bought out a new range of grey watercolours, some of which are named after well known watercolour artists. I was quite excited about this range of grey watercolours coming onto the market. There was (and still is) a definite gap in the market where grey watercolour paints are concerned – in many ranges of watercolours the choice of ready made greys is very limited. When the new greys arrived, lovely as they all are in their own way, I found none of them quite matched up to what I was looking for. I am a bit picky with my colours…

This is the point when I decided that I’m just going to have to create my own “ready made” grey… ! Here it is – FLINT GREY:

Flint Grey 1 - NB
Flint Grey – mixed from Daniel Smith Ultramarine Blue + Yellow Ochre

My grey is a mix of Daniel Smith’s Ultramarine Blue and Yellow Ochre. Both of these watercolour paints are transparent, granulating and have an excellent lightfastness rating. Mixed in the correct proportions they make a soft, stunningly beautiful and totally neutral grey that is just what I was looking for.

In mass tone Flint Grey is a lovely charcoal grey and it will wash out to the most beautiful light delicate grey. It is perfect for skies, landscapes. winter seascapes, soft shadows and shading. It’s uses are endless. It also mixes well with other colours to create lovely soft muted colours. To my grey I can add a tiny bit more Ultramarine Blue in the palette to cool it down if needed and I can add a touch more Yellow Ochre to warm it up if needed:

Flint Grey - Warm & Cool - NB
Flint Grey (middle), + more Ultramarine Blue (left) & + more Yellow Ochre (right)

Sometimes when I run clean water through a dark wash of Flint Grey I get a subtle separation of colour and some lovely granulation:

Flint Grey - Separation & Granulation - NB

Flint Grey is named after myself (Flint being my surname) but also appropriately named because flint stone comes in lovely shades of grey, blue-grey and yellow ochre. Flint Grey is now going to be a permanent part of my watercolour palette. I will just mix more as I need it. I store my Flint Grey in a large watercolour pan, which you can see in the first image above. I am so excited about this grey – it is so beautiful!

There are so many different ways of mixing grey. Any mix of red, yellow and blue in the correct proportions will make some form of a grey. For example: a green (blue + yellow) mixed with a red (in the correct proportions) will make a grey. Blue plus a small amount of orange (red + yellow) will make a shade of grey. Different primary colour combinations will make different shades of grey. Why not have a go at creating your own greys?  It’s fun…