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Drawing and painting materials

Botanical painting need not be an expensive pursuit; what is most important is the ability of the materials to perform their task well, and the skill of the painter. Good results can be achieved with a minimum of investment and refined technique. Even if used on a constant basis, many of the materials, such as watercolour paints or pens, should last for years. The illustration below suggests some of the media with which you may want to experiment. Beginners may prefer to start with watercolour or dip pen, whereas painters with a moderate to advanced level of skill may wish to progress to using opaque media such as gouache or acrylic, a command of which is necessary to portray some of the more challenging subjects shown in later chapters. Your first investment should be in an A3 or A4 pad of smoothsurfaced heavyweight cartridge paper (220 g/m2), such as that available in the UK from Daler-Rowney. Botanical painting requires an artist to

Some of the materials used in botanical painting; heavyweight cartridge paper; dip pen and ink; watercolour, gouache and acrylic paints; variously sized round synthetic watercolour and acrylic brushes.
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render the subject in a fine degree of detail; the rough or textured surfaces of many watercolour papers will scatter light and obscure fineness of detail. The surface of watercolour paper also absorbs paint like a sponge, so does not make it easy to work quickly. It also does not easily support media such as ink or pencil. Therefore, it is best to use smoothsurfaced general-purpose papers and boards, such as the cartridge paper mentioned above, or hot-pressed illustration board that is suitable for line and wash work. These surfaces are designed to support a wide range of media, such as pencil, ink, watercolour, gouache and acrylic, and do not need to be pre-stretched. The heavyweight cartridge paper used for the illustrations throughout this book is inexpensive to purchase and has an attractive, smooth, creamcoloured surface. It is not suitable for wet-in-wet technique; those who are accustomed to working in this manner may find that some adjustment to their painting technique is necessary, as cartridge paper does not have the absorbency of watercolour paper, and the smooth surface will be spoiled and disintegrate if over-wetted. Some control will therefore be needed over paint consistency and the application of paint layers. Conventional standard copier paper (not coated or specialist) may be used for ink drawings that are intended for reproduction only and not display. If intended for display, an investment should be made in the luxury of hot-pressed illustration board. Illustration board is pure white, has a beautiful smooth-textured surface giving a professional finish, and allows for an even laying down of washes. Also, paint on this surface will stay wet for slightly longer than on cartridge paper, so that colours diffuse into each other. (A description of board types and suppliers can be found in the Appendix.)

Drawing and watercolour technique

For drawing, a propelling pencil with a 0.5 mm HB lead is preferable to a traditional wooden pencil, since it does not need sharpening and will not smudge as easily. A plastic eraser is also preferable to a kneadable eraser since the latter becomes oily and will leave a residue on the paper. The best palette to use is a glazed white china plate, since it is easier to clean than a plastic palette, particularly if using acrylic paints, which are themselves a form of plastic and will set hard when dry. Brushes should be wholly synthetic, as sables and sable/synthetic blends are not robust and are liable to be ruined within a very short time. The brushes I use are of a round type (Daler-Rowney Series 111); I would recommend sizes 4 and 7 for laying down large areas of colour, and size 0000 for detailed work. Watercolour brushes should be used for

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Watercolours with watercolour brushes and propelling pencil.

watercolour painting; acrylic brushes for gouache and acrylic painting. The finest size of watercolour brush can, however, be used to paint fine detail in gouache and acrylic paintings. If painting is your full-time occupation, you can buy fine brushes in bulk; each one will have a life expectancy of two or three weeks. Watercolours are supplied in tubes or pans; both are equally suitable for beginners, although tubes allow fresh paint to be used each time and do not soil quickly, as pans do. It is advisable to purchase artists quality watercolours, since these are usually provided with a longer guarantee against fading. Prior to commencing work, with a set-square I rule a faint border inside the edges of my sheet of paper, between 1 and 21/2 inches wide

Ruling a border.

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Draw horizontal and vertical lines to help with construction

How a drawing can be constructed from basic shapes.

depending on the paper size. This provides a frame within which to work on the painting, gives a guideline for mounting or framing, and prevents soiling of the painting through handling. It is essential to draw your subject in full detail before painting it, for the reason that subsequent painting is likely to be easier, quicker and more accurate. Provided pencil marks remain sufficiently light, they can be gently erased or covered with paint or another medium at a later stage. Drawing the subject accurately is fundamental to your painting; the accuracy of a foundation drawing will invariably affect the finished work. Plan your drawing on the sheet of paper, using a light pressure so that your pencil marks can be easily erased later and will not blemish or groove the surface of the paper. Use straight or curved lines to plot stems and leaves, and basic shapes circles, ovals, ellipses, diamonds, trapezia or kidney-bean shapes to plot subjects such as flowers. Horizontal and vertical construction lines will also assist in the alignment of parts of the plant, so that the final drawing is in proportion and appears visually

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Plotting the drawing.

correct when paint is applied. Awkward shapes can be obtained from the amalgamation of several basic shapes, and drawings of subjects that change shape according to viewpoint can be constructed from different basic shapes. Using the construction lines and basic shapes of your sketch as a guide, begin to refine your drawing. Each individual part of a plant has a shape or form of its own, which must be accurately defined. At the very least, the aim should be to define all forms comfortably visible to you with the naked eye. For example, all petals, or all leaves, should be distinct from each other and clearly defined, but certain floral parts may sometimes be insufficiently large to be shown in this manner. Your drawing should be as crisp and as clear as possible, so that the plant species it represents can be clearly identified from it.

Refining the drawing.

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Erasing construction lines.

The finished drawing.

Block in an entire margin

Use the construction line to help draw a serrated margin

Drawing complicated margins.

Continuity should be present in complicated margins such as those found along a carnation petal or serrated leaf. Sketch in the outline of a margin, then work over it, drawing in any serration or crenellation. This will create a smooth, definite flow of movement, preventing the line of the margin from meandering or being drawn off scale, which is often a problem if guidelines are not used. Only draw outlines; do not draw in shadows of any type at this stage, since pencil marks may show through light washes when paint is applied later. If patterns or markings are present, lightly indicate the edges of these. Erase your construction lines on completion of the detailed drawing.

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D E

Colour wheel.
C B A Yellows Reds/Pinks Oranges F G H I KEY A B C D E F G H I Lemon Yellow Winsor Yellow Cadmium Yellow Hue Cadmium Orange Hue Cadmium Red Pale Hue Winsor Red Alizarin Crimson Permanent Rose Quinacridone Magenta J K L M N O P Q Mauve Dioxazine Violet Ultramarine Cerulean Prussian Blue Viridian Hookers Green Dark Hookers Green Light

Greens Q P O N L Blues

Purples KEY COLOURS J Yellows K Oranges M Reds/ Pinks Purples A B C

Colours
The colours suggested below are only a guideline, since colour recipes and qualities will vary from range to range. These are the basic colours that I use personally, that I have found to be adequate for my needs and which fall within an affordable budget. However, there should be no restrictions on the colour range you choose to use. It is perhaps best to buy a standard set of tube or pan watercolours and augment your colour range gradually by purchasing individual tubes or pans. It is important to have good cool and warm versions of your various colours. Cool in this instance denotes a colour with greener or bluer overtones, whereas warm describes a colour with overtones of yellow or red. It is a good idea to spot your colours on a colour wheel to assess their relative warmth or coolness to one another. To appreciate the qualities of your individual colours and familiarise yourself with your palette, it will be necessary to make colour charts using groups of colours within a certain range. For example, colours with yellow overtones are mixed with colours with blue or green overtones in the chart below, to create a variety of greens. It can be seen that the clearer and more vibrant colours produce the brightest greens, and that cooler colours produce cooler greens. Warmer colours such as ultramarine (a warm blue) or light orange, or earth colours such as yellow ochre, will produce more muddied greens. These colour charts can subsequently be matched to any subject that you are painting and an accurate colour blend picked out; for this purpose they prove an invaluable time-saver.

Blues

Greens Earth Colours/ Neutrals

Suggested paint colours, from the Winsor and Newton Artists and Cotman ranges.
KEY A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U Lemon Yellow Winsor Yellow Cadmium Yellow Hue Cadmium Orange Hue Cadmium Red Pale Hue Winsor Red Alizarin Crimson Permanent Rose Quinacridone Magenta Mauve Dioxazine Violet Cerulean Blue Hue Prussian Blue Ultramarine Hookers Green Light Hookers Green Dark Viridian Hue Yellow Ochre Burnt Sienna Burnt Umber Ivory Black

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Colour matching and shading in colour

Some artists advocate the use of a complementary colour, or grey, to shade; whilst this technique can be used to some effect, I find the brightness and purity of flower colour is best preserved in watercolour paintings by using a darker, or less dilute, version of the same, or a similar, colour. A little grey may be used in shading pale-coloured flowers, however, though some caution should be exercised when doing so, as shading may be very easily overdone. White flowers can be shaded and outlined using a very pale grey mixed from Permanent Rose and Viridian. Alternatively, a similar redpink and blue-green, which are opposite each other on the colour wheel and will therefore produce a grey, may be used. White flowers are rarely completely white; many have a hint of some colour present (see also Chapter 9). In white flowers, and in some paler-coloured ones, coloured reflections are likely to occur. The sources of these may be either internal to a flower (patterning or colour on the inner petals), or external (the coloured petals of another flower). The reflections may range in colour from yellow through to pink, blue and pale green. Look for these reflections in white or paler-coloured flowers and endeavour to include them in your painting. An example is present in the painting of the rose shown on page 25. Representation of these reflections breathes life and warmth into the painting, imbuing it with a three-dimensional quality. Yellow flowers should be shaded with the grey mix used for shading white flowers, adding a touch of yellow ochre. Special care must be taken not to over-grey yellow flowers. Red flowers may be shaded with alizarin crimson, or a mixture of cadmium red and permanent rose. Mauve may be very occasionally used in the darkest areas. This same method of shading with a darker colour may be applied to blues, greens and earth colours in turn. Certain colours can be matched to the base colours of certain flowers. For example: Lemon Yellow Primrose Winsor Yellow Celandine Cadmium Orange Wallflower Winsor Red Quince Cerulean Gentian Ultramarine Grape hyacinth Dioxazine Violet Violet Permanent Rose Rose Quinacridone Magenta Cyclamen

YELLOWS AND ORANGES A B C D E

BLUES AND GREENS

Colour chart: mixing yellows and blues to create greens.

KEY A B C D E F G H I J K Lemon Yellow Winsor Yellow Cadmium Yellow Yellow Ochre Cadmium Orange Hookers Green Light Hookers Green Dark Viridian Hue Cerulean Blue Hue Prussian Blue Ultramarine

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Watercolour painting technique

The following technique is the basic painting technique that I use when working in watercolour. However, its underlying principles can be just as easily applied to other painting and drawing media (see Chapters 5 and 6). The basic technique consists of laying progressively darker washes down using the largest brush that is appropriate for the task: for example, a size 4 for general work, or size 2 for smaller flowers. Paint consistency is very important; neither a wet- nor dry-brush technique is used. Instead, the paint consistency should fall somewhere in between the two, so that it covers the paper easily without over-wetting. With practice you will find the consistency becomes easier to assess; it is recommended that you test it first on a swatch of spare paper. The painting is then shaded using the fine 0000 brush and small, hairlike strokes that blend into one another; the short bristles of the brush make it easier to control than liner or rigger brushes. Using progressively darker shades of paint will result in an area of graduated tone. With an appropriate brush size and colours, the painting should then be further enhanced to achieve a simultaneous naturalism and a crisp clarity. Outlines should not be uniform; instead, the outline thickness should vary. In darker areas, shading should be blended from the outline to achieve continuity of the surfaces form. I sometimes work over parts of the painting with permanent white gouache, which in a dilute form can emulate a whitish bloom, as well as highlighting specific areas, and emphasising solidity and reflectivity. These areas are then reworked in colour to give a clear final result.

OPPOSITE This painting shows how certain colours can be matched to particular flowers. CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Lemon Yellow primrose; Cerulean gentian; Winsor Yellow celandine; Ultramarine grape hyacinth; Cadmium Orange wallflower; Winsor Red quince, Dioxazine Violet violet.

The qualities of watercolour

Watercolour, unlike some other paint media, has a translucency that lends itself especially well to the depiction of flowers. Flowers have an ethereal quality, and simultaneously a vibrancy and a softness that watercolour appears to be the best medium for expressing. Watercolour is the most popular and widely used medium in botanical art, and most botanical artists use it exclusively. Also, it does not dry as quickly as gouache or acrylic and thus is easier to use, particularly when applying washes. Single washes of watercolour will tend to be less intense than single washes of gouache or acrylic, since the pigment is less concentrated. This quality can be exploited through the very sensitive use of shading.
Make outlines uneven in thickness Shade using fine strokes that blend into each other

Shading using fine hairlike brushstrokes.

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Painting a rose

1 Draw the rose in detail, in pencil.

2 Mix up a wash of the lightest colour present, using a swatch of paper to test the colour and paint consistency, and paint the relevant areas using a size 4 brush.

3 Mix up progressively darker versions of the same colour, and shade darker areas using the shading technique and your fine 0000 brush.

4 Paint in any other colours or reflections visible, such as the intense yellow glow towards the centre of the rose.

5 Use a pale grey (a mixture of Permanent Rose and Viridian) to apply shading to almost-white areas and give the rose form.

6 Intensify and deepen the shading over all areas of the rose.

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7 Use Permanent White gouache in highlighted areas to give the petals solidity and form, working over the whole flower.

8 Further intensify the colour over the whole flower.

The finished painting.

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Blue spring flowers.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP

Forget-me-not (Myosotis sp.); Chionodoxa; sweet violet (Viola odorata); grape hyacinth (Muscari); periwinkle (Vinca major); Viola cv.; rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis); Anemone blanda; Primula cv.

Red-purple spring flowers.

CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT

Clematis cv.; Helleborus cv.; snakeshead fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris); Daphne odora; auricula (Primula sp.).