Project 1 – floral, wet in wet with salt and plastic food wrap

Materials

Paint: Van Gogh colours: Viridian ( very strong green), Ulramarine Blue, Madder Lake Deep, Lemon Yellow, Paynes Grey (only for centres)

Paper: 300gms Windsor & Newton

Brushes: #14 + very small

1. Draw 3 large flower shapes of different sizes 2/3 of the way up the paper (flowers should touch the edges of the painting)
2. Turn painting upside-down and paint top section (not flowers) with water only
3. Drop in lemon yellow blending to madder lake + ultramarine on the left sprinkle on salt in definite areas (don't sprinkle all over - it's not pizza!)
4. Draw in some effects with water soluble crayon
5. Turn paper right way up and paint bottom area (not flowers) with water
6. Drop in blue + madder on the right and viridian on the left
7. Place food wrap on one section (IMPORTANT place before the paint begins to dry - don't use over the whole area and ) - think in diagonals, these will form your stems and leave shapes
8. Put aside & allow to dry naturally (you can't use the hairdryer as the salt flies off!)
9. When all the paint is dry remove salt and plastic food wrap
10. Paint some shadows on the flowers where the petals overlap with very pale paynes grey. Try not to make all the shadows the same size and shape!
11. Allow to dry
12. Decide where the centres of the flowers will be (not all the same size and in a horizontal line) and paint an area larger than your centre with water
13. Mix a strong paynes grey and literally drop on to the water
14. Draw the lines radiating from the centres and some dots - use irregular lines try not to make them look like spiders!

Project 2 - removing paint with a paper towel

Materials

Paper: Fabriano 300gms watercolour paper

Colours: Van Gogh watercolour tubes in ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, madder lake deep, raw sienna

1. Paint the sky with a mixture of ultramarine and cerulean. Allow the colours to mix on the paper. Paint so that there is only clean water above the horizon and add in a very very light wash of raw sienna.
2. Whilst the paint is still wet remove paint on cloud forms with a paper towel. It is a light movement, be careful not to rub too hard you will destroy the surface of the paper.
3. Paint in the far mountains with Madder lake + ultra marine - this should not be a dark colour(colours get lighter the further away they are. (click for aeriel perspective)
4. Wash out in some places so that there is not a strong purple horizontal line.
5. Continue with ultramarine + raw sienna while mountains are still wet
6. Add in the lake. Water reflects the sky colour but add more cerulean that ultramarine. Leave a thin white line on the far shoreline to denote reflections. Don't worry if the paint runs over the foreground (this will be a dark colour anyway)
7. Paint in the foreground with raw sienna + ultramarine. Avoid painting the same colour across the whole of the foreground.
8. Add splatter with a toothbrush and some grasses with a very fine brush
9. If your bush has no "birdholes" add a very thick white gouache in "V" shapes