2016 Watercolor Calendar - June

We're just zingin' along on the calendar - today we're 1/2 way there and have I got some fun for you!  Today we're going to paint a watercolor meadow.

And here's my calendar page!

Obviously this isn't my calendar page - it's the example I made for photos.   My calendar is still drying so I'll be sharing that a bit later today.

Today I'll be using a fan bristle brush.  It's not mandatory as you could make grass with a fine brush but a fan brush will make it go much quicker and easier.   You can however make one rather than go out and buy one!  You'll need a fairly large size round brush - a 4 or 6 will work great.  I put down a piece of washi tape on my work surface.  Position the paint brush over the tape and spread the bristles of the brush in a fan pattern as shown.

Once satisfied with the position of the bristles I took a bit of Crystal Lacquer and glued the bristles in place.  The CL dries quickly so it's just a short wait time for the brush to dry.  Once it's dry you can remove it from the washi tape and you're ready to go!

Now we're ready to get started...  I dabbed on a bit of masking fluid here and there - no real set shape, just small dabs which will later become my (fried egg flowers) daisies.

Begin painting by adding a wash of diluted blue for the sky and very diluted green for the ground.

Tear a strip of watercolor paper and place it over the grass area where you would like to begin.  Pick up a bit of green paint on the tips of the fan brush.  Starting on the scrap of torn paper, flick upwards in various directions to create grass.  I used a couple colors of green and a bit of yellow for the grass. Re-position the scrap of paper and add more grass until you have created a meadow.

This is what it looks like at this point.  I should have added here a bit of diluted brown here and there for the ground. I added it later which still works, it's just easier to do so now before you begin adding the flowers.

Now begin adding the flowers.  I started by adding dots of yellow...

Then I brought in red...  no real design, just little squiggles of color.

Next I made a few delphiniums with purples.

You will note that I also added black dots on each of the red flowers - now poppies.

A few dots of blue here and there, a second layer of color on the delphiniums.

I painted on stems and leaves on a few of the flowers that needed it.

Once that layer had dried I peeled off the masking fluid and went to work on the daisies...

which actually look like fried eggs to me.

My calendar page...

And all of the examples made for this page - the experimental test flowers, the "in the process" example (which will be used for a card) and the finished calendar page.

So there you go...pat yourself on the back

we have 1/2 the year finished.