Creating a dynamic floral painting

I have taken one of the demonstrations from my book 'The Organic Painter' to show how I develop a floral painting using inks, teas and watercolour and use a little masking fluid to preserve some of the more intricate hilights.

Also I will be running an art retreat in the south of France this September where we will be creating similar pieces, there are just 2 places left on the course if you would like to join me and stay in the beautiful "La Cour de Husson!" More details here; https://www.lacourdehusson.com/artist-retreat-carne-griffiths/

For this painting I have used graphite, inks, teas and watercolours to create vibrant expressive florals, with energy and making use of white space by using masking fluid from the drawing stage onwards.

For this piece I begin with photographing floral elements in strong sunlight to so I have lots of vibrant colour and strong light and shade details.

Start by making a lively drawing of interesting shapes within the photograph, try not to add too much detail and keep the linework light

Quite often masking fluid is used carefully but in this example I have added the fluid in an expressive style so that it doesn't fight with the rest of the painting, this means using a technique whereby the fluid is poth painted on and spattered from the brush to create dynamic shapes. You can also see directional drips within this stage running upwars from the top of the flowers.

Once the masking fluid is dry it is time to start adding our base colours using brewed tea and a little ink. Each of these are added seperately to the piece but we are allowing the paint and colour to run freely between the different areas

In this stage I am using a bristle brush to flick tiny spots of watercolour onto the work and allowing the paint to run, the piece is also tilted upright to allow a downward flow of colour. towards the stem of the flowers.

This is always an exciting stage, peeling away the masking fluid to reveal the dynamic white spaces left behind, at this point I start to add dynamic lines with fountain pen - looking at the overall flow of the piece.

As the piece develops it is a case of deciding which areas will benefit from detail and bursts of colour and which areas your expressive mark making suggests enough! Below you can see where I have added colour and pen detail to a bright pink flower in the centre of the piece. It is good to remember at this stage that you are creating a painting that reflects the energy and beauty of the subject and not necessarily recreating the photograph. Take the interesting shapes and beautiful parts from the photograph and blend these into your painting for the best effect!

One of the most difficult parts of a painting and a question that comes up so often is knowing when the piece is finished. I have avery simple rule when I am creating a painting and that is, the moment I feel I am not contributing anything to a work, or the time whne I am searching to find what I should act next rather than impulsively painting, it is time to step back and assess. Will that next brush stroke do a better job of capturing nature than that accidental drip I made earlier? Will more detail add to the overall feel or will it cover the beauty of a simple brushstroke?

In this piece I have used various techniques to approach detail. I have used simple outline with a fountain pen to suggest flower shapes, drawn over blank areas of colour with a same coloured ink using fountain pen to add texture and interest, Used very fine splatters of watercolour to emphasise 'floral bursts' but too much detail would have covered up the lovely energy this piece had at the start and that I worked hard to create,

Use your instinct and remember that it is sometimes harder to step back and say 'it's complete; than it is to soldier on and overwork the piece.

Thanks for following this run through of my process and if you would like to join me on the art retreat in September at 'La Cour de Husson' it would be awesome to be there painting with you! Carne x