Table Of Contentbotanical
illustration
the next ten lessons: colour and composition
botanical
illustration
the next ten lessons: colour and composition
Valerie C. Price
Ali & Laurie who give so much
HERBERT PRESS
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published in Great Britain 2019
This electronic edition published in 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © Valerie C. Price, 2019
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Contents
Introduction 6
Colour 8
How to use watercolour 16
Colours 18
Compostition 28
LESSON 1: Green 32
LESSON 2: White 40
LESSON 3: Yellow 46
LESSON 4: Red 52
LESSON 5: Blue 64
LESSON 6: Pink 76
LESSON 7: Purple 82
LESSON 8: Orange 90
LESSON 9: Brown 112
LESSON 10: Black 124
Conclusion 138
Preservation and presentation 139
Further reading 140
Suppliers 140
Courses 141
Online shopping 141
Glossary 142
Index 144
Introduction
In Botanical Illustration the first Ten Lessons I different elements of your subject, be they
hope I was able to introduce you to the basics through time; showing the opening of a flower,
of Botanical Illustration. The techniques you the life cycle of the plant, with it’s flower,
learnt there should be taken forward to help foliage, fruit, and seeds, or the variety of it’s
with this, Next Ten Lessons, where I will look at colours, or simply, different views, showing
how a well-planned composition can take your more of it’s story. Adding the foliage to a
work to the next level. In the Next Ten Lessons, flower,balances, offsets, and enhances the
are ten compositions using ten different colours, bringing life to the page. Eventually
colours, to help and guide you to using colour you will get bored of just painting single studies
and composition with confidence of flowers.Adding other flowers,or foliage,
or buds, or seeds, will enhance the story you
Remember the lessons from the firstbook, and are trying to tell, about the variations in the
take them with you on this new journey. Refer plant, and it’s habitat. Adding dissections,
back to it to remind yourself how to measure explosions, enlargements, colour variations, or
and draw accurately, how to mix and apply different aspects or views can enhance your
washes, and how to use different techniques in composition. The placement of your subject on
watercolour to finishyour artwork. Take care, the watercolour paper, allowing space around
as always to make sure that observation, the it, can also change the balance and focus of
recording of structure, form and detail with the artwork.
accuracy is still foremost in your drawings.
Homegrown plants will give you access to the
In botanical illustration, there are only so many different stages, as well as plenty of available
studies of single plants or flowersthat you material. Foraged material has huge scope
want to do. Now consider the composition when illustrated with care and thought,
of your work. This will allow another level and the natural beauty to be found in the
of interest, and enables you to incorporate hedgerows is not to be underestimated.
7
Introduction
Allow a climbing plant to sprawl across the Think outside the box, by sometimes,
page, or crop the stems of very tall plants, to putting your study in a box.
show just the flowerheads grouped together.
You can crop out unnecessary stems to make a
more compact image, which focuses attention
onto the most important parts, like the flower. • 1 Green Foliage
You may wish to work to a format or size • 2 White Daisy
because you have a mount or frame to fill,or
because you have a commission, or even just • 3 Yellow Daffodils
to fitthe artwork onto your watercolour paper.
• 4 Red Tulip
Once you have mastered the basics of
botanical illustration, you can move on to • 5 Blue Love in the mist
having fun with your subject, illustrating it from
an unexpected angle, or just selecting different • 6 Pink Rose
leaves or flowersto make the painting more
interesting or attractive. As long as you follow • 7 Purple Geranium
the rules of botany, ensuring that your plant is
botanically correct anything goes. • 8 Orange Tiger lily
Having fun with the composition and • 9 Brown Pine cone
placement of your artwork on the paper is
one of the fun things to do with any botanical • 10 Black Blackberries
illustration.
Colour
We all see colour differently. In different lights, than working from thirty ready made colours
colours will appear to change. Always try to which lack depth and travel. Buy extra colours
mix your colours in natural light. Mix them at as the need arises. Now that you are addicted
full strength, compare them to your subject, to painting, buy the best quality you can afford,
and then dilute down to apply. If you have to replacing colours as they are used up, with
paint by artificiallight, try to use a daylight professional ranges, as these will give you the
bulb, which is kinder to your eyes, and gives best results
a better light for colour matching. It is often
necessary to begin with a dilute over bright Make a colour chart of each of the colours you
version of the colour, changing the mixture as have, showing them at a weak dilution through
you paint, or glazing another colour over the to full strength. (Figure: 1a & 1b)
top. This is especially so for pinks and reds, and
is often the only way to achieve a bright fresh You can also cross this with different colours
colour or an iridescent finish. coming down vertically to see how they react as
glazes on top of each other, Or paint mixed boxes
As a general guide to mixing watercolour, of two colours, at varying amounts to see how
the use of a colour straight from the pan or they interact. (Figure: 2, 3 & 4)
tube will be bright and vibrant, but lacking in
subtlety. Experiment with the colours available to you.
Try different combinations, for instance, a heavy,
Two colours mixed together should result dirty colour, such as yellow ochre, can balance
in a subtle colour, which can be altered and out a very bright one such as cerulean blue, to
adjusted as you work, giving you a range of produce something interesting and useable.
rich vibrant tones. The mixing of three or more
colours will be strong, but may also become When mixing colours, remember to change your
muddy, though this may be what is needed. water frequently, or have two water pots for
different colours. Ditto for kitchen paper, to avoid
Get to know the colours in your paint box, cross contamination. Cover unused sections of
as a subtle blending from a set of twelve artwork with clean paper, and have a piece of
basic colours can often be more effective paper for under your hand when painting to
9
Colour
• Lemon Yellow
• Cadmium Yellow
• Yellow Ocre
• Sap Green
• Viridian
• Ultramarine
• Cobalt Blue
• Cerulean Blue
• Payne’s Grey
• Burnt Umber
• Burnt Sienna
• Cadmium Orange
Figure 1a
