Painting leaves: Colour Mixing

Nothing spoils a botanical painting so much as poorly painted or inaccurate leaves. If we think nobody will notice our errors, we're probably mistaken. It doesn't matter how well we painted the rest of the piece - it's only ever as good as the weakest part. But leaves can be tricky! for me the likelihood of success increases if preparatory studies are completed. I try to work out colours and approach before I even think about starting the painting. The idea for this blog post occurred to me as I gathered my thoughts for a class taught last week for Field Breaks at The Art Room in Barlow, and, as always, it was interesting to hear what problems students encounter when painting leaves. One of the most common cited is colour mixing, so this is my focus here - although I may cover others leaf painting problems in a future posts.

Ivy leaf painted as preparatory work for the class. I light the subject using a lamp positioned upper left, to enhance the light and shade. The first study is on paper and used  to work out colours and approach, before moving on to vellum. I laid 3 green washes with a size 6 brush, over an initial cobalt blue wash, which was painted with a size 10 brush. I  then worked with dry brush, using size 1 spotters and miniatures to deepen colour before picking out detail with a fine pointed David Jackson brush. I also use a Pro Arte synthetic flat brush for tidying and painting shadow under the veins

Moving on to vellum: I started by lightly painting in the veins with Winsor lemon. Then painted a rough wash of cobalt blue with a size 10 brush, this is the underlying colour and makes a good shine on a dark leaf. I left virtually no white, because the blue will be much less obvious once the dark green in on top, however, the blue highlights must be preserved to give the effect of shine. It really doesn't look great at this stage but this is just a foundation,  the wash is graded to give some indication of form. I paint around the veins with the cobalt and leave the outer edge of the leaf very soft, to enhance the form as the leaf bends away from view.  From there on, the approach differs from paper, and the whole leaf is painted using dry brush techniques. I use a mix of three colours for all parts, Indanthrene blue, Transparent Yellow and Permanent Carmine. I came up with a system on working with the light value of the blue as the predominant factor when deciding on the colour mix....basically a dark green leaf needs a dark blue colour....it's that simple! (see the chart below).  Always work with transparent colours in the layers on dark leaves. For light coloured leaves, use a high light value blues instead, such as Cerulean or Manganese blue (transparency is slightly less important in high light value colours). For the mid green leaves  for something like a Cobalt blue or Winsor blue. The browns are mixed with the same three paints, simply increase the ratio of the red and yellow to make brown.

The finished leaf on goatskin Kelmscott. Colours are gradually deepened so as not to be heavy on the vellum. Soft strokes with barely any paint at all are used to build form and colour and highlights are maintained. I use a technique, which I refer to as 'polishing' to smooth the surface and you will see that I preserved the blue on the highlights by carefully blending around the highlights.

I'm not going to list lots of colour mixes here because that not very helpful when you consider how many variables there are in the ratios. My approach is aimed at understanding the basics of colour mixing, so that you can easily work out yourself what to use. Here's my method, it's not intended to be a hard and fast rule but more of a method for guidance..... There are, of course, lots of other ways.

An approach to colour mixing:  I mix all greens from primary colours, blue, yellow and usually a small amount of red. A few years ago I developed a simple system based on the light value of the blue as the predominant factor when deciding on the green mix.  

 Below is a chart for greens and browns that I made using 3 primaries of varying light values. The blue is the colour to choose first for a green mix because it's the dominant colour. The light value and saturation of that blue is all important. If you start painting a very light green leaf with a darker value blue, such as French Ultramarine,  you may well run into problems with the leaf becoming too dark. Any single colour reaches saturation after around 4 washes, so it will become fully saturated quite quickly, adding subsequent layers of the same mix just makes paint thicker but not darker. So, if you bear in mind the light value of the blue first, you can avoid this problem. It sounds obvious but it's a surprisingly common problem, especially with beginners. Then choose the yellow and finally most greens mixes have a small amount of red, so choose this colour last. The same rule of light value applies with all three colours When you mix in so much red that it turns brown the red becomes the dominant colour instead of the blue.

 

My Rule of Thumb Light Value Chart. If you base your green mixes on the light value (i.e. tonal value) of the leaf colour that you want to achieve by choosing the blue first, you can't go too far wrong. So for a light coloured leaf choose a light blue such as cerulean (top row of chart) and for a mid light value, such as cobalt blue (middle row). The ivy leaf was a dark green, hence the choice of the darker more saturated blue, Indanthrene (bottom row). You can see how easy it is to put the leaf on the chart to find a close match.  I mix 1:1 ratio of blue and yellow first, then 2:1 and 1:2 with the blue and the yellow, thereafter I start to add a small amount of red and play with the ratio of the 3 colours.  The  red generally mar a more natural green.

My old paintbox

I use a primary palette of single pigments paints with 4 yellows, 6 blues and 5 reds. This palette allows me to mix any colour that I might need and makes it more manageable to understand colour mixing.
If you don't understand the light values or saturation of your paints, try this exercise below, it's one Ruskin used to ask students complete. Fill the brush with each of the blues and paint down the page observing how dark each colour is as it progresses down the page, you will see the saturation of the darker colours allow you to keep going much longer, whereas the light value of cerulean has already disappeared. You can easily see the tonal difference between the colours.

Tonal values of the blue paints, left to right: Cerulean, Cobalt, Winsor blue green shade, French Ultramarine and Indanthrene. I've also turned the image to black and white to highlight the tonal values difference.

For the ivy, the darkest blue in the palette is indanthrene blue and this is the obvious choice, I then chose, transparent yellow, its a rich yellow but most important is the transparncy, especially when painting dark colours. Opaque yellows are not good in dark greens as the block the light and deaden the green, thereafter, permanent carmine was an obvious choice because of its richness.

For the green mix the blue and the yellow at a 1:1 ratio and then add a small amount or the red, I can bias the mix to a warmer (more yellow biased green) or to a cooler ( more blue biased green) very easily by shifting left or right with the mix out of the puddle shown below. Adding more red reduces the brightness of the green until too much is added and it shifts towards grey/ brown.

The exact same colours in a different ratio make brown. Start with 1:1 of  the red and yellow and add a small amount of blue to make browns. A whole range of lovely browns can be made by playing with the ratio of colours.

Finally using the red and blue at 1:1 this time and adding a small amount of yellow makes neutral tint or as near as black as is possible. As before some lovely variations are possible by varying the ratio of the colours to make warmer or cooler variations.

As you can see from this demonstration above, it's possible to achieve pretty much everything using these 3 colours, including all the various green tones as well as the brown parts without any need for additional shade colours. I used a different underlying blue for the highlights and a cooler yellow for the veins. But this will vary from leaf to leaf.  It's also incredibly important to maintain highlights and this is easier if you use directional lighting on your subject, I often exaggerate the lighting to make the painting more interesting.....but that' a subject for another post.

Finally, I think we all struggle with leaves and if you know that they are a weak point for you, the best approach is to work extra hard at improving them. If you plan to enter a painting for a juried exhibition, bear in mind that judges are drawn to leaves like radar!...... they will notice poorly executed leaves or those treated as an afterthought.

Quick Leaf Check list

• Observe first - look for underlying colours and key features, such as widest point, tip, base and leaf margin.

• Make an accurate drawing observing key features and taking measurements 

• Light the subject using directional light from a lamp or window. A lamp is often better for beginners because its consistent.

• Work out the palette, is it a light medium or dark leaf? If it's a green leaf, whats the most appropriate blue to start with, test the combinations.

•  Work out the approach and techniques, underlying colour, graded or blended washes and dry brush.   

A Few Things to Avoid!

• 'Tram line' veins - check the width of your veins against the actual subject, if too wide use a synthetic short brush to 'push' them in
• Go easy with the eraser! I hear a lot of people blaming the paper for ragged edges and yes there are a few issues with some papers but nothing wrecks the surface like an eraser.
• Stylised appearance– lack of detail or inaccurate venation pattern. Close observation required!
• Over-painted edges, an absolute no no! be careful not to let washes run over the edge. if this happens its usually because you use too much water. Use a magnifier to help avoid this.
• Poor lighting - results in flat lifeless leaves, interesting paintings always have good lighting. So light from upper front left or right and play with the light until you get it right.
• Poor tonal values - usually caused by 1: poor lighting 2: bad colour with lack of sufficient variation in tonal values, and/or painting multiple layers of the same colour  3. Painting over the highlights. Light well, start with a slightly larger highlight than needed and check the range of tones and saturation of colour in the subject.
• Compensatory washes over the top, using colours such as green gold. Unless used carefully and selectively, these can often look like they've been used to compensate for poorly painted leave and can make all of your leaves look the same.

One the second day at Barlow, we painted brown leaves, will discuss browns and reds in more depth later.

Work on Leaves, paint lots of them, paint different types  – paint them over and over don't be in a rush to finish your next piece….  have patience…. It doesn't matter if you didn't post on social media for a while, concentrate on the job in hand and enjoy the process.

Looking for Winter Inspiration: A Review

I often hear people saying 'there's nothing to paint at this time of year!' So thought I'd write about  some ideas for subject material from my previous work! Perhaps it will help to inspire those of you who may feel stuck in a rut at this time of year.
It's not all brown and dead stuff either! Here's my top 10 selection of painting and drawing subjects that can be found in the depths of winter? All of these works were completed during the winter months or from material collected out of season.

Much material can be collected in late October and you can keep the colour for a while if you keep them in plastic bags in the fridge or just dry them.....but there's much more to be found! 

First of all, its a good idea to collect leaves, seeds and all manner of material when you can during the rest of the year, store them in a dry place and they'll keep you going for years! I love brown and decaying material, so make no apologies for their inclusion. But there's lots of colour to be found too.
Of course it depends on where you live to some extent, but there's no need to resort photographs when there's real stuff to be found, I always try to work from live subjects, using photos just for additional reference, it's so much easier when you can handle the subject to get a feel for it's texture and turn it around to understand the form, and, play with the lighting.

1.Dried Leaves and Leaf Skeletons
Maybe an obvious subject but these are some of my favourites
 

I love old oak leaves, I had these in a box for around 3 years, they're perfect if you're learning to paint leaves and although not green there are lots of colours to play with and you can examine the leaf structure without fear of the leaf curling up or withering.

Here's a work in progress on on vellum, I managed to keep the colour by keeping it in a bag for several weeks. Mixing the rich reds, browns and golden colours is achieved with primary colours from a limited palette.

Holly Leaf skeleton on vellum

Leaf skeletons can always be found in leaf litter

2. Evergreens and winter garden material
Plenty evergreen leaves on plants and trees, holly and ivy are always nice and usually there are some that are still hanging on in a state of semi senescence. Also cyclamen, primulas and sweet williams are easily found as are winter pansies. it's nearly the end of January, and my pulmonaria and primulas are already popping up and things are starting to come to life again already.

Why not work on practicing year round green leaves in your sketchbook....there are plenty of evergreens here in the UK, holly, ivy and laurel is everywhere, plus many more.

Winter pansies are easy to grow

3. Seed pods and pine cones
Another absolute favourite! who could ever get tired of these. Ive got a gorgeous Cardoon with the fluffy seeds popping out just waiting to be painted! Throw some together for a table top composition....there's no end of possibilities!

Found material, seed pods from Spain and Iris foetidissima, sketchbook studies

There's beauty everywhere, even as this this Scots Thistle seed head falls apart

Why not try a different medium. I'm rather fond of graphite work in winter. Scaled up Scots Thistle Seedhead....before it fell apart

You chance to get to grips with a real Fibonacci sequence

4.Twigs, bark and lichens
If you feel colour deprived, there are some beautiful subtle colours in these  subjects!

Some found twigs, bark and lichens demonstrate the variety of colours and textures to be found

More sketchbook studies, the little withered hawthorn berry adds a jewel of colour to this collection of found materials from Scotland

5. Bulbs, corms and tubers
You can always find some bulbs, and if like me you forgot to plant them, there can be colourful shoots too. There are the ones you can grow in glass too if you want, waiting for my amaryllis to flower at the moment.

Bulbs can be just as interesting as their flowers

Sprekelia bulb, an exercise in using many glazes of colour

Bulb painting process

Sprouting bulbs are great subjects for learning how to draw and paint form

Love the tangled roots most of all!

6.Glass house
Lots to be found in botanic garden glass houses and some are happy to accommodate artists ....if you ask nicely! I don't seem to have any winter studies of my own but lots of orchids can usually be found and many other exotic flowers and cacti

 7. Supermarket vegetables, flowers and fruit
For those feeling colour deprived the supermarket can be a treasure trove of subjects! In the past far less material would have been available - now it's global! from turnips to tulips and pomegranates to pineapples. I've painted so many things from supermarkets and painting often dominates my shopping choices.

A supermarket turnip, I kept it for a few weeks to allow it to sprout leaves and it even flowered for me! You can do the same with beets and other vegetables.

It's easy to grow new leaves on root vegetables, just sit them in water and leaves will sprout

Tulips in an array of colours are always available at supermarkets. Here's a work in progress in the sketchbook. Write to the grower if you cant find the name of the variety.

No shortage of colour here in this pack of mixed chili peppers

Every botanical artists should paint at least one pineapple! winter could be the time as they're always available in the shops

Pineapple details

8. Pot plants and florists
Again, many tropical plants, orchids, calla, bromeliads and jasmine etc.

This large painting was composed from rearranging a couple of pots of Calla lilies into a more aesthetically pleasing arrangement

And Calla's come in a wide variety of colours

I managed to buy freesias from the florist and some bulbs from a garden centre, so put them together as a study page

9. Insects, feathers and shells
Not botanical but fun to paint and great practice, and another example of why collecting is always worthwhile

Collections come in useful. Being trained in biology, I collected skulls, feathers and insects for years but you don't have collect your own and most natural history museums have insect collections, contact your local museum and ask if you can come in to study them.

Three British Butterflies on manuscript vellum

The stages of painting butterflies, lots of dry brush and detail, using size 1 brushes

Peacock feathers on Kelmscott vellum

10. Fungi
Also not in the plant kingdom but lots of interesting textures and colours. 

Lots of lovely fungi, not a subject that I often paint but always another option and they pop up everywhere around my home!

Oh and one more! number 11. Travel! yes you can find material elsewhere and take your sketchbook!  That's what I've been doing this last year or two, which is partly why I've neglected my blog for nearly 6 months! I had a great 2016 travelling, painting and meeting lots of wonderful people.  I'm back home for a while now and will catch up with all the unfinished posts

Feet up! From my train travels across the USA in October

 

My sketchbook from Australia travels 2015

See there really are lots of subjects! what there is a lack of, is enough time to paint them all.
Thank you for reading, it's also been a bit of a review for me too. Looking forward to many new works and blog posts in 2017!

Which Brush? Spotters and Miniatures

I'm often asked about which is the best brush for botanical work but as usual there's no simple answer! I use lots of types of brushes for different jobs! So will break this into brush types, starting with a post on one type of brush; the miniature or spotter. Here's my own opinion on 5 different brushes in the range. 

Paintbrushes accumulated over the years! p.s. only store this way when dry, otherwish water and paint lies in the ferrule and that's bad!

What is a miniature or spotter? Both miniature and spotter brushes are short haired brushes that allow excellent control for fine detail work, this feature makes them very useful to botanical artists who favour dry brush and fine detail techniques, and is especially good for the vellum painter.  A spotter is much the same as a miniature but sometimes has a slightly fatter belly, both should have a sharp tapered point for extra fine detail. 

What size of spotter is best? I don't often use anything  anything smaller than a size 1 and in these brushes certainly no larger than a size 3, although sizes seem to vary between manufacturers. 

For washes I use round or pointed brushes which have longer hairs and size 5 or 6 plus, I also use flats for some jobs such as lifting and half riggers for long flowing lines. I'll discuss them some other time in a separate post.

The five brushes left to right: Winsor & Newton Series 7 miniature, Rosemary & Co spotter,  David Jackson spotter, Raphael 8048 and Pro Arte series 107 

Pressing the 5 brushes against the paper, shows just how different they are.

The 5 Brushes 

Winsor and Newton Series 7 miniatures, Kolinsky sable size 1  £8.25 - £12

One of the most popular brushes and one that I've used for many years, but have noticed some inconsistency in quality over the past few years with stray and bent hairs. It's a lovely looking brush though and handles well. It appears to be made with hairs slightly longer hairs in the middle compared to the outside, I think maybe for this reason they splay slightly sometimes. But it's generally a really good 'all rounder' and has a lovely point, which is superior to the Rosemary and Co but not as good as the David Jackson or the Raphael although  probably on a par with the Pro Arte. The lines that I painted with it were fine but not as clean  as others.  It's good for dry brush work but it's an expensive brush to wears out if you use it for this purpose. I feel like the hairs are finer and softer than say the Raphael but not as soft as the Rosemary &Co, great for very delicate work, where little pressure is required, such as on vellum. 

Oak Leaves, watercolour on paper, painted all detail with W & N miniature

Some splaying of hairs, is annoying!

The effect on W & N and Rosemary and Co after much dry brush work!

Rosemary & Co spotter series 325, size 1 £4.25 

Half the price of most sable brushes, to me this spotter is really a different type of brush. Looking at the 5 brushes together, you can immediately see that it's much fatter in the belly than the other miniatures and has more hairs which seem softer and possibly finer - I should really put this to the test under the microscope but this is just a quick post! The point seems to dull quite quickly, possibly because of the finer hair, but initially it's a good enough point and if you don't paint so much it should last a while. The biggest problem I have with Rosemary & Co brushes is the splaying of hairs, worse than W & N and which happens fairly early on in the life of the brush, and even more so with the longer haired round / pointed brushes. The point is less tapered too and this tends to result in less of a smooth fine line compared to the David Jackson and the Raphael brushes, on close analysis the fine lines are more broken up and therefore less contact is made with the paper so perhaps this is to do whith the chunky build and maybe a bit more water is needed. Having said all that, this brush comes into its own for 'modelling' dry brush work and I use it largely for this purpose. It lasts for ages and is actually better with some wear. In particular, I love it for what I call 'polishing' dry brush work on vellum, which is an approach that I use to add a very fine layer of colour over previous dry brush to give shine, it's a very dry approach using quite a bit of pressure which allows me to layer, similar to the equivalent of a final wash on a watercolour. Below is an example of using a Rosemary and Co spotter on a maple leaf to get the 'polished, look on vellum! 

Rosemary and Co spotters are great for dry brush work to achieve rich colour and depth

Also 'Polishing' dry brush is easier to achieve with the Rosemary & Co spotter

David Jackson Spotter, size 1 £? Contact The Brushman for information

David Jackson is a true craftsman and he made some spotter brushes for me several years ago, I think back 2012. I use them frequently and they are as good today as they were the day he very kindly put them through my door! The fine line work is by far the best, the brush holds enough water in its belly to maintain contact with the paper for a flowing fine line. This is my favourite little brush for detail working on vellum, I love to use it when painting butterflies, the fine point can give incredible detail for the most  delicate dry brush work yet doesn't seem to wear at all, probably because so little pressure is required and it just glides across the surface with no friction. The hairs are quite soft though so it won't allow an lifting but that not the purpose of a brush like this. 

David Jackson's brushes are perfect for fine lines and detail, such as the fine scales of a moth wing

Raphael 8404  Red Sable size 3/0 approx  £7 -£10 

Narrower at the ferrule than series 7 and considerably narrower than the Rosemary & Co. This brush is more tapered but has enough belly to hold the right amount of water. This allows beautiful fine lines to be painted. It also seems a bit stiffer and is great for tidying edges and line work. I find the firmer brush perfect for fine tapered hairs when using body colour but also for very fine details, such as veins as well as for tidying edges. An excellent and versatile brush that rivals the Winsor & Newton miniature. Here's a link for the lowest price 8404. They also make the 8400 which is Kolinsky sable and extra short round brush, which is probably even better for dry brush.....I've ordered one! Beautiful brushes that last. I've had mine in excess of 5 years.

Using the Raphael for painting fine hairs with body colour and a grey fine shadow line too. This gives additional depth to the hairs

Pro Arte 107 spotter, size 1 £2.60 - £3.50

A great low cost synthetic brush for lovely fine detail. I've only recently started using this one but on the downside the point goes fairly soon and you get that characteristic bent tip thet happens with many synthetic brushes but for the price, and if you don't like to use animal poducts, it's a pretty amazing little brush. Below is one I purchased a couple of weeks ago, and you can see the point has bent but if you use it for fine line work and not for dry brush it will last long. The fine lines are actually marginally better than with the W& N brush and the stiffer synthetic hair means you can tidy up edges and push the paint a little more than with a sable brush als good for hairs. So again it's a brush with a slightly different role and one I use a lot! Sold by several shops, including Heaton Cooper and Pullingers but often in the craft / hobby range

Petal painted with Pro Arte spotter ( apart from the wash which was painted with a size 5 round) Its great for the veins and sharp edges and 'drawing' and 'dragging' dry brush techniques, but loses the point quickly.

The point start to bend and this happens a lot with synthetics but it's still a fantastic little brush

Sets of Brushes
 I don't bother with sets of brushes by one manufactuer, because you usually end up with one or two that you don't need and often there are good offers on some brushes, so it's a bit of a false economy. But it you have no idea regarding where to start I supose it gives a taster of whats available.

Which is the Best? 

To be fair I like and use all of these brushes, I'd say the one that impresses me the most is David Jackson's brush, because of the smoothness of the line and the lack of friction between paper and brush. But I like them all for different reasons as outlined above. I tested them all out for lines the various dry brush techniques and they all have slightly different outcomes. I actually think it's worth investing in one of each of these brushes as a learner. They will all be used and small brushes are not so expensive. You can shop around and buy all of them for under £35! You may well find you have different preference but the best way to find out what suits you is to try different types, rather than blindly following somebody else's suggestions. Your brush really can make a difference and its very personal!

Painting lines, David Jackson and Raphael were clear winners here.

Closer  ( magnified x2) inspection shows the smoother lines from the Jackson brush but the Rosemary and Co is better suited to dry brush

There's much more I could say about brushes and will try to write another post on other brushes at some time. This just filled the darkest of mornings when painting was near on impossible! hence the dark photographs.