Blossoming Flower Meadows

Even though autumn is in full swing, it doesn't mean the themes of our paintings must be autumnal. Reminisce with us about the blossoming flower meadows, and get down to work according to the tutorial an artist Daniela Roule Plocková prepared for you.

Prepare aniline colors, high-quality thin brushes, white watercolor paint, water, a piece of cloth, and brown paper as a surface.

When you paint a meadow with aniline colors, you're in for a treat thanks to the infinite number of green shades the palettes offer. First, start to draw stems with a thin brush.

Personally, I never use a pencil for pre-drawing. For me, it's better to paint straight away and trust my brush strokes. Gradually add leaves and twigs as you like. It's better to paint everything green first, so you don't waste paint so much, and it's also not necessary to wash the brush so frequently.

After shading stems and leaves, it's time for white watercolor! I'm especially looking forward to this moment because this white literally shines on brown cardstock. Watercolor paint has better coverage, and chamomile petals are thus beautifully rich and bold. Then shade each leaf with gray aniline color.

Highlight yellow middles of flowers and some shoots of grass here and there with opaque watercolor to create the impression of light reflection. To finish shading, use gray color. Few dots are enough, as there's no need to paint the entire shadow area.

It's good to add any living creature to the composition, such as a bird, butterfly, ladybug, etc., to make the meadow come alive.

For example, in my painting today, dragonflies circle above the waving grass. I intentionally paint their bodies bent to express movement. To depict them, I use violet and turquoise shades. Again, I gently shade everything and create reflections with white watercolor.

On the contrary, to paint dragonflies' wings, I use white aniline color for them to look transparent and soft. Then I tint, for example, with purple and pea green, although that depends on the imagination of each painter…

I think that flying bubbles will help to soften the whole picture. You can use, for example, the neck of a small glass to trace its regular shape. I, personally, do not draw anything with a pencil, not even now. I just gently trace around the edge of the glass with a brush dipped in white aniline color.

To shade the bubbles, use a little watercolor and add a few yellow, blue and purple tones that will gently reflect on the surface of the bubbles, and it's complete.

Now I'm satisfied with my work and can eagerly get down to another picture. How did the painting turn out for you?